Senior members of the ORCA team will be heading to Italy to join the European Cetacean Society Conference 2018.

Members of the ORCA team are making final preparations for their upcoming trip to one of the most important conferences in Europe for cetacean science, which will be held in Italy later this week.

The European Cetacean Society 32nd Annual Conference is a key date in the calendar for research across the world interested in whales, dolphins and porpoises, and ORCA are once again joining the world class researchers and experts to network, discuss and collaborate on ways to make the oceans safer.

The theme of this years conference, which will be held in La Spezia in Italy, is "Marine Conservation - Forging Effective Strategic Partnerships", and is apt in light of the increasingly serious threats faced by whales and dolphins on many fronts.

ORCA Director Sally Hamilton and Head of Science & Conservation Lucy Babey will be making the trip, and in previous years some of ORCA's most important research areas have been progressed significantly through discussions held at the event. This year key research in areas such as ship strike and bycatch are likely to play a large part in the programme and the team look forward to making a major contribution in 2018.

To keep up to date with all of the happenings at the event, and to find out more about our work, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.