“Foraging with a Friend” will return for a third year in Hawaii! Taking inspiration from other conferences like the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, we are offering a fun and informal way to connect established sea turtle professionals with students and researchers from around the world through a shared meal.

We hope that this initiative will help offset the cost of food a little for low income students and researchers, as well as offer an opportunity for folks to connect over a shared meal, and to encourage collaboration and idea exchange.

How it works: We will set up a google document where established sea turtle professionals can sign up to host a meal (on their own time) with students or early career researchers. This document will be available online a few weeks before the 2026 meeting.

Professionals: On this form, you will indicate how many people you would like to host, and provide your contact information and a few key words on your area(s) of expertise. You will pay for the meal, so the students/early career researchers can enjoy a free meal while connecting with someone in the sea turtle field.

Students/Early Career Researchers: You can sign up to have a meal with your professional of choice; however, the signup is on a first-come-first-served basis. When you sign up, you will also need to provide your contact information. Please sign up for only ONE meal.

Arranging the meal: Once all the slots are filled for a particular professional, the students/early career researchers must then reach out to the all in the meal group using the provided contact information (WhatsApp, email, etc.) and coordinate a day, time, and place of your choosing. This is 100% up to you and the ISTS is not involved in any of the meal organization, etc.

The online spreadsheet/google document will not be monitored or actively managed. It is solely a resource to facilitate connecting people with each other.