The 20th International Bat Research Conference was held in August 2025 in Cairns, Queensland, at the edge of Australia’s Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. Hosted by the Australasian Bat Society and the Pacific Bat Conservation Network, the conference brought together a global community of researchers, managers and conservation practitioners to share advances in bat biology and conservation. The conference attracted 507 delegates from 58 countries in person, with a further 70 delegates online, reinforcing its role as a major international forum for chiropteran science. Four plenaries framed the program: long-term monitoring and conservation outcomes, challenges of research in resource-limited regions, the role of public engagement in shifting perceptions, and a vision for global collaboration through integrated networks. Across 16 formal symposiums, 16 themed sessions and 7 workshops, Australian research featured strongly, including advances in fruit bat ecology and management, disease ecology within a One Health framework, wind-energy interactions, and emerging tools in bioacoustics and genomics. A symposium on bat conservation research in Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA), supported by a workshop on that topic, advanced methods to identify bats as KBA trigger species and align monitoring with global standards, linking Australian and regional priorities to site-based conservation worldwide. By integrating the 10th National Flying-fox Forum, the conference created a platform for dialogue between science, policy and on-ground management concerning Australian flying-foxes. This facilitated pivotal collaborations for the conservation of federally and state-listed threatened species, while supporting the National Flying-fox Monitoring Program. Field trips across northern Queensland and overseas expeditions to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) and Nguna Island (Vanuatu), showcased regional bat diversity and underscored Australia’s role as a hub for Asia-Pacific capacity building. The 20th International Bat Research Conference was more than a scientific meeting: it consolidated partnerships, sharpened tools for evidence-based management, highlighted the need for long-term population monitoring, and helped advance an ambitious agenda for transboundary bat conservation in a rapidly changing world.
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