Kindly note that PARSA sessions will run parallel from the 15th.
SUNDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2025
14h00 – Check in for accommodation opens
14h00 – Registration opens
18h00 – Welcome Reception at the Safari Lodge
MONDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2025
08h00 – Plenary Session 1: Keynote 1
08h50 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
10h10 – Poster Session 1 & mid-morning refreshments
11h00 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
12h15 – Lunch at Safari Lodge
13h20 – Gold Sponsor Presentation
13h30 – Plenary Session 2: Guest Speaker 1
14h05 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
15h00 – African Parasites Network Meeting & WIMANET Workshop
17h300 – Close of Day 1 (free evening)
TUESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2025
08h00 – Plenary Session 3: Keynote 2
08h50 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
10h10 – Poster Session 2 & mid-morning refreshments
11h00 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
12h15 – Lunch at Safari Lodge
13h20 – Silver Sponsor Presentation
13h30 – Plenary Session 4: Guest Speaker 2
14h05 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
15h15 – Close of Day 2
18h00 – Braai @ Cattle Barron Boma – All Delegates (limited to 80 guests)
WEDNESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2025
08h00 – Plenary Session 5: Keynote 3
08h50 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
10h10 – Poster Session 3 & mid-morning refreshments
11h00 – Parallel Breakout Sessions
12h15 – Lunch at Safari Lodge
13h20 – Bronze Sponsor Presentation 1
13h30 – Bronze Sponsor Presentation 2
13h40 – Plenary Session 6: Guest Speaker 3
14h10 – Close of Congress
14h30 – PARSA AGM (PARSA Members only)
18h30 – Gala Dinner & Presentation Awards
We are pleased to announce a special session on Wildlife Malaria at the 5th ICPOW 2025, immediately following the keynote address by Dr Jenny Dunn on Spatiotemporal variation in avian host-parasite communities. This session will be dedicated to highlighting research on malaria parasites in wildlife. Please join us and submit your abstract if you are interested to contribute.
AFRICAN PARASITE NETWORK MEETING
The overall focus of the African Parasite Network (APN) meeting is Embracing and advancing interdisciplinary research in parasitology on the African continent. The meeting will focus on parasitology research in Africa.
The APN meeting will follow a workshop-format that will include information sessions on two initiatives: 1) the “Africa Network” that was recently established by the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (https://www.waavpafrica.org/home/) and 2) the Wildlife Malaria Research Network (WIMANET), a COST Action (CA22108, https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA22108/). WIMANET is a global network that focusses on studying vector-borne haemosporidian parasites in wildlife. Both initiatives aim to promote multinational and especially Africa-Africa collaborations. The sessions will be interactive with ample time for Q&A. Following on after the information sessions presentations will be given by established South African researchers that have successful Africa-Africa collaborations. The meeting will end with an informal engagement over drinks and snacks.
The objectives of the APN meeting are to provide a platform for:
- information sharing on several initiatives such as the recently established “Africa Network” launched by the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology and the Wildlife Malaria Research Network (WIMANET)
- delegates to connect with other parasitologists and highlight their skills and experience
- multi-institutional discussion on the strengths and challenges that parasitologists face at present and possibly in future and
- initiating multi-institutional collaborative research teams and projects.
The meeting will also provide an opportunity for peer-learning and information sharing on the development grant applications and aims to encourage more African based researchers to join and participate in the various WIMANET working groups and to promote new collaborations across the network It is anticipated that the newly established research teams will continue with discussions during the conference that follows.
Proposed Programme:
15h00 – Welcome
15h05 – WAAVP-AN info session and Q&A
15h30 – WIMANET info session and Q&A
16h30 – Examples of successful Africa-Africa collaborations
17h00 – Further engaging over drinks & snacks
THURSDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2025
- The following workshops are available on Thursday 18 September 2025, 08h00-12h00 (light refreshments will be served).
- This should be booked and paid separately.
- Please note, you can select more than one option, in order of your preference, but you will only be able to attend only one workshop as they run simultaneously.
- Please note that offering of workshops is dependent on the number of registrations. Should the Workshop of your choice not go ahead, we will communicate this with you and you can either attend your second option or you will be refunded.
WORKSHOP 1 – Introduction to scientific writing
(Prof. Sonja Matthee & Prof. Russell Stothard)
08h00 – Workshop starts
12h00 – Close and Departure
WORKSHOP 2 – What species do I have in my eppendorf tube? A molecular approach
(Prof. Conrad Matthee)
08h00 – Workshop starts
12h00 – Close and Departure
WORKSHOP 3 – The phenomena of radiation and co-evolution in parasites: what are we looking for?
(Prof. Maarten Vanhove)
08h00 – Workshop starts
12h00 – Close and Departure
Four webinars will be hosted in the months before the congress (May-August) and will act as lead-up to the congress. The presentations will cover topics of broader interest and will be available for all to attend. The programme, topics and presenters will be announced in the 3rd Announcement of the congress.
WEBINAR 1 – 14 MAY 2025, 12:30- 13:30
A concept of zeta diversity in studies of compositional turnover in ectoparasite communities
Prof. Boris Krasnov
Benny Slome Chair for Wildlife Management and Conservation, Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research
Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
WEBINAR 2 – 18 JUNE 2025, 12:30- 13:30
One Health (TBC)
Prof. Oriel Thekisoe
Associate Professor
North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
WEBINAR 3 – 09 JULY 2025, 12:30- 13:30
Environment/Climate change and parasites”, “Invasive species and parasites” and “Parasite Conservation
Prof. Christian Selbach
Freshwater Ecology Group
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
WEBINAR 4 – 06 AUGUST 2025, 12:30- 13:30
Environment/Climate change and parasites / Invasive species and parasites / parasite Conservation
Prof. Robert Poulin
Zoology Department, University of Otago, New Zealand
Dr Jenny Dunn
Lecturer in Parasite Ecology, Keele University, United Kingdom
Jenny obtained her PhD in avian ecology from the University of Leeds in 2010, working on anti-predator behaviours and their consequences in farmland birds. During her PhD she spent a brief time working with Prof John Quinn (now at UCC) at Oxford University working on avian personality and parasite infection. She then left academia, moving to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, where she worked as a Conservation Scientist for 6 years, focussing on developing management solutions for the conservation of European Turtle Dove. Until this point, she had been focussed on avian ecology, working on haemoparasites as side projects. In 2016 she took up a lectureship at the University of Lincoln, where her lab worked on the ecology and diversity of parasite infection in avian systems. She moved to Keele University in summer 2024, where her lab works on a range of projects involving avian parasite and pathogen ecology, and the impacts of humans on these systems. Since the end of 2023 she has been Action Chair for the Wildlife Malaria Network, an EU COST-funded global network focussed on uniting research efforts of those working on malaria parasites in wildlife.
Spatiotemporal variation in avian host-parasite communities
Avian haemosporidians are a relatively well-studied group of wildlife parasites, but systems within which we understand community-level associations across multiple host and parasite species remain rare. We generally assume that host-parasite associations remain stable across time and space, but studies that allow us to test these hypotheses can be logistically challenging to establish. Here, I will introduce you to a seven-year community-level host-parasite study, exploring temporal variation in host-parasite associations in a passerine-haemoparasite system. I will discuss generalism and specialism in different parasite lineages and how this varies between years, as well as the implications of each strategy for host immune response. Finally, I will discuss spatial variation in host-parasite interactions and the need for co-ordinated large-scale studies across space and time.
**********
Prof. Dr Maarten Vanhove
Associate professor in Biodiversity & Toxicology, Hasselt University, Belgium
Maarten P.M. Vanhove, associate professor at Hasselt University (Centre for Environmental Sciences, Research Group Zoology: Biodiversity & Toxicology) and invited lecturer at the University of Liège (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Morphology and Pathology), holds master’s degrees in biology (2006) and social-cultural anthropology (2007), and a PhD in sciences (2012) from KU Leuven (Belgium). He was a researcher at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Belgium), the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece), and Masaryk University (Czech Republic); policy scientist focusing on capacity development about African biodiversity at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences; and curator of worms at the Finnish Museum of Natural History (University of Helsinki, Finland). He studies parasite diversity and genetics in evolutionary and conservation-relevant contexts, and biodiversity policy, especially in Africa and the Mediterranean. He was involved in starting the Belgian One Health Network, is active in the boards of the Royal Belgian Zoological Society and of the Belgian Society of Parasitology and Protistology, and is Steering Committee Member for Europe of the IUCN SSC Parasite Specialist Group. He received the 2002 Jacques Kets Prize for Biology (Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp), the best young researcher presentation award (2013 International Symposium on Monogenea), and the 2013 Henri Schouteden Prize (Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts). In 2024, a proposal he co-created in response to the Young Academy of Belgium’s call for inspiration “The aftermath of an educide: how to rebuild knowledge?” was awarded a prize.
Old hosts as treasure troves of worms, worms as tags for new hosts: the overlooked potential of helminthology in invasion biology
Introduced alien species are major threats to biodiversity worldwide. Potential reasons include parasite co-introduction and transmission, aspects that are often understudied. Origins and identity of introduced species or strains are often unknown, let alone of their parasite fauna. Monitoring only provides partial answers for lack of baseline data. Especially in the Global South, native parasite biodiversity is often scarcely studied. We studied introduced fishes and amphibians in Central and Southern African inland waters, and the monogenean parasites infecting them. Given their direct lifecycle, these flatworms are hypothesized to be easily co-introduced with their hosts, and to be useful “tags” for host populations. Monogeneans were collected from hosts retrieved from biodiversity collections and through recent fieldwork. Parasites were morphologically identified to species level, and characterised genetically using nuclear and mitochondrial markers, including some mitochondrial genomes. We demonstrate the potential of historical host collections to establish pre-translocation baselines for parasite communities, enabling distinguishing between native and co-introduced parasite species. Monogeneans can help trace origins and pathways of aquatic invasions. For Nile tilapia and African clawed frog, two notorious invaders, parasite mitochondrial markers provide higher resolution than host genetics. We offer proof-of-concept of biodiversity infrastructure and helminths as sources of information in a One Health context. However, closer scrutiny of the parasitology of Nile tilapia, a fish of global economic and ecological importance, indicated that a One Health approach is mostly lacking. We recommend more scientific consideration to the parasites of invasive species, using a more integrative approach than currently often taken.
**********
Prof. Luis Neves
Professor in Veterinary Parasitology, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Professor Luis Neves is a leading expert in Veterinary Parasitology, specializing in vector-borne diseases, with a career spanning over three decades. Born in Beira, Mozambique, he completed his veterinary degree at Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo. He advanced his academic pursuits at the University of Liverpool, earning an MVSc in Applied Parasitology (1991) and a PhD focusing on Babesia culture and immunodiagnostics (1999).
For 25 years, Prof. Neves contributed extensively to veterinary education and research at Eduardo Mondlane University, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science (1999–2005). He was instrumental in establishing the university’s Biotechnology Center, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in molecular biology and cell biology and applied immunochemistry, integrating the Faculties of Agriculture and Forestry, Natural Sciences, Veterinary Science, and the Medical School. Prof. Neves was the Director of the Biotechnology Center from its inception in 2005 until 2013. Moreover, Prof. Neves was the recipient of the National Prize of Research and Innovation in Veterinary Science, awarded in November 2023, by the Mozambican Veterinary Council.
Since joining the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2013, Prof. Neves has focused on understanding the intricate interactions between parasites, hosts, and vectors. His research includes ticks and tick-borne diseases, such as babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis, as well as the epidemiology and control of tsetse flies and trypanosomoses. He is also deeply involved in zoonotic disease studies, such as toxoplasmosis and rickettsial infections. A recent focus has been unravelling the genetic and phenotypic distinctions within Amblyomma populations across southern Africa, addressing taxonomic controversies, tick species diversity, distribution and their ecology.
Prof. Neves has been a coordinator for high-impact initiatives, such as the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) and regional projects for tsetse fly and trypanosomiasis control. As part of the Enhancing Research for Africa Network (ERFAN), he played a pivotal role in regional and international capacity-building programmes.
With over 80 publications and numerous presentations at national and international conferences, Prof. Neves’s scientific contributions have shaped and continue to shape veterinary parasitology and vector-borne diseases research. In the course of his academic career he established an extensive international collaboration network, which includes scientists and institutions from Africa, America and Europe. Furthermore, his mentorship of postgraduate students and younger academics reflects his dedication to developing the next generation of scientists and scholars to this amazing but important field, of veterinary parasitology.
On the trail of parasites: a journey through veterinary parasitology in southern African landscapes
Parasites are mesmerizing for their ecological plasticity, their complex adaptive biochemistry and especially for their diversity and beauty. I would like to tell you a story “of parasites and men”, which unfolds in the southern African landscapes, bridging generations of parasitologists, their dreams, questions and memories. In my pursuit of insights into the complex lives of these fascinating organisms, parasitology has become an incredibly important part of my life. As a result, I have been exposed to a vast diversity of experiences and adventures, making it extremely difficult to decide on the stories that best represent my trajectory as a veterinary parasitologist. Based on the main areas covered throughout my research path, I opted to highlight three key topics in the context of African parasitology; tsetse flies, trypanosomes and ticks. The southernmost distribution of trypanosomes and tsetse flies on planet Earth spreads across a belt, which includes parts of Mozambique, South Africa and Eswatini. Studies in these areas have made major contributions to trypanosome and tsetse fly research. Over 25 years, I have used a combination of parasitological and molecular techniques in this area to thoroughly evaluate the diversity, distribution and prevalence of trypanosomes. Furthermore, I contributed to developing and applying genetic markers to elucidate the genetic structure and gene flow between tsetse fly populations. Our research group conducted similar studies in other locations of southern Africa, some of which, led to the development of molecular diagnostic assays for African trypanosomes. Moreover, in studies involving mainly wildlife trypanosome isolates, we evaluated genetic markers for their suitability for diagnosis, genotyping and phylogenetic inferences in Trypanosoma vivax and Trypanosoma congolense populations. Additionally, studies focusing on diversity and evolutionary links between African and South American trypanosome populations were conducted in these isolates. Another key component of our research has been trypanocidal drug resistance and its possible association to mechanical transmission of trypanosomes in southern Africa. After many years of apprenticeship with the renowned African tick taxonomist, Prof. Ivan Horak, I have embarked on a journey across southern Africa to find answers to a major taxonomic controversy on the validity of the species status of Amblyomma pomposum (Dönitz 1909). For this, thousands of Amblyomma ticks were collected, several molecular markers were analysed and hundreds of DNA sequences were generated. We do not have the answer yet, but we are excited to follow on these promising new trails, “giving science a chance”.
Dr Mamohale Chaisi
Principal Scientist in Veterinary Parasitology, South African National Biodiversity Institute, South Africa
Dr Mamohale Chaisi completed her PhD in Veterinary Parasitology at the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria and MSc in Parasitology at the University of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She is currently a Principal Scientist in Zoological Research at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, an Extraordinary Lecturer at the University of Pretoria and a former Lecturer at the National University of Lesotho. She further leads the South African Living Collections Cluster and is a member of the Wildlife Malaria Network (WIMANET). Her current research focuses on molecular diagnostics, ecology, epidemiology and systematics of vectors and vector-borne pathogens in wild and domestic animals in South Africa. She has published many articles in accredited and peer-reviewed journals and has acted as a reviewer for various international journals including Parasitology International, PLoS One, Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, Parasitology Research, Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, International Journal of Acarology, Pathogens, Infectious Disease Reports and Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine.
Wildlife as carriers and transmitters of vectors, pathogens and diseases
South Africa is a megadiverse country, with an exceptional variety of wild animals, some of which are endemic to the region. Some of these animals are endangered and threatened with extinction due to various anthropological factors, thus necessitating their placement in different facilities for conservation purposes. However, the vast diversity of vectors and parasites poses significant challenges to conservation efforts through disease transmission. Furthermore, there is limited information on the role of wild animals in the transmission of vectors and pathogens of economic and zoonotic importance as well as on the distribution trends of hosts, vectors and pathogens. This presentation highlights our studies on the surveillance of vectors and vector-borne pathogens and neglected zoonoses in threatened and endangered wildlife using an integrated taxonomy approach. The findings reveal a high diversity of vectors and pathogens across various animal taxa and new host-vector-pathogen relationships, highlighting their potential threat to biodiversity conservation, food security and public health.
**********
Prof. Conrad Matthee
Professor in Evolutionary Ecology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Conrad Matthee is a Professor in Evolutionary Genetics in the Department of Botany and Zoology at Stellenbosch University. He performs multidisciplinary research in Ecology, Systematics and Evolution with a focus on African fauna. In the field of parasitology, he is best known for his contributions towards parasite host co-evolution and phylogenetics of ticks. More recent research also includes microbiome diversity of fleas and ticks in particular.
What can genetics teach us about the current taxonomic scheme for lice genera?
Sucking lice represent a species rich parasite group that shares an intimate evolutionary relationship with their mammalian hosts. Two genera, Polyplax and Hoplopleura, primarily parasitize rodents and their taxonomy is mainly based on morphological characters. To determine the systematics and the evolutionary mechanisms that gave rise to Polyplax and Hoplopleura species diversity, four genes were used to generate a phylogeny for 105 individuals representing ~56 identified species. The monophyly of neither Polyplax nor Hoplopleura was supported and topological conflict among individual gene trees resulted in a non-tested hypothesis that ancestral hybridization may have shaped the evolution of some Polyplax species. Several species complexes or cryptic divergences were detected within the hoplopleurid species H. acanthopus, H. arizonensis, H. hesperomydis, H. oryzomydis, H. pacifica, and H. sciuricola, and the polyplacid species P. arvicanthis P. auricularis, P. biseriata, P. myotomydis, P. otomydis, P. reclinata, and P. spinulosa. Four morphological and genetically distinct taxa were sampled from Gerbillinae or Deomyinae and these probably represent new species. The taxonomy of Polyplax and Hoplopleura needs a thorough revision, and the species diversity of these lice can be attributed to an interplay between host associations, host switching and geographic locations of host species.
**********
Prof. Nico Smit
Professor in Aquatic Parasitology, North-West University, South Africa
Prof. Nico Smit is a Professor of Ecology in the School of Biological Sciences at North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa. Nico’s research focuses on the biodiversity, taxonomy and ecology of marine and freshwater parasites and he has authored and co-authored more than 250 scientific papers and three edited books on these and other related topics. To date 23 PhD and 39 MSc students have graduated under his supervision. His research and teaching excellence has internationally been recognised through visiting Professor appointments at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, University of Queensland, Australia and Masaryk University, Czech Republic, and through his current appointment as Adjunct Professor of Marine Biology and Ecology at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, University of Miami, USA. National recognition for his research excellence includes a Honorary Medal from the South African Academy for Science and Arts’ Faculty of Natural Science and Technology for a significant contribution towards the advancement and development of Science in South Africa and the Elsdon-Dew Medal from the Parasitological Society of southern Africa (PARSA) in recognition of a significant contributions to the advancement of Parasitology in Africa. Nico has also contributed to the management of national and international academic societies as president of the Parasitological Society of Southern Africa (PARSA), president of the South African Society of Aquatic Scientists (SASAqS) and committee member of the International Symposium on Fish Parasites (ISFP). He currently serve as a Steering Committee Member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) Parasite Specialist Group. During the past 8 years he has refereed papers for 17 international journals, served as associate editor of three international journals and was guest editor for two special issues of the International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife. He is currently rated by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) as an internationally acclaimed scientist (B1) in the field of aquatic parasitology.
Parasite conservation: a new frontier for the research on parasites of wildlife
Global biodiversity has been in decline for several decades, marked by species extinctions and population losses that have cascading negative impacts on ecosystems. Despite the growing list of described species, much of the actual threatened biodiversity remains unknown, particularly among invertebrates, including the ones with a parasitic mode of life. Parasites, which may outnumber free-living species and constitute a significant proportion of ecosystem biomass, remain largely neglected in conservation efforts. The extinction of free-living host species often leads to co-extinction events, where parasite species may face extinction even prior to their host species. This presentation highlights the need to incorporate parasites into broader conservation agendas and management plans and practices. It provides an overview of the evolution of species conservation from a focus solely on free-living species to one that includes symbiont assemblages. However, several obstacles continue to hinder the inclusion of any parasitic species in conservation and these will be discussed in detail. Furthermore, two case studies from our recent work on aquatic parasite conservations will be presented. The first focus on the parasites of threatened freshwater fish species of the south African cape fold freshwater ecoregion and the second look at the role of marine protected areas in the conservation of fish parasite diversity. In conclusion the presentation outlines future research directions to better understand and conserve parasites of wildlife, advocating for their inclusion in biodiversity monitoring programs and conservation agendas. Addressing these gaps is essential for maintaining the integrity of natural systems and the biodiversity they support.