SEA-SIG: Le guide pour une réunion OHBM éco-responsable à Bordeaux!
Authors: OHBM Sustainability & Environmental Action SIG
Editor: Ashley Tyrer
Bonjour from the OHBM Sustainability & Environmental Action Special Interest Group (SEA-SIG)! June is shaping up to be a beautiful month with bountiful opportunities to explore the latest and greatest neuroimaging research at the 2026 OHBM Annual Meeting à Bordeaux, France! If you’re like us, you always have environmental sustainability on your mind when you’re planning your conference travel. Thankfully, due to our wonderful European location, there are a lot of opportunities to incorporate more environmentally friendly practices and strategies into your OHBM Annual Meeting this year. Let’s go through some of the SEA-SIG’s top tips for green conferencing!
Get involved in the SEA-SIG activities!
This year, the SEA-SIG has gone above and beyond to plan a number of great opportunities to connect with us and join the sustainability movement within OHBM! We are happy to offer a roundtable, social eventwith Climate Fresk workshop, and a jointly-run educational course with the OHBM Open Science SIG!
Quick Reference of SEA-SIG Activities at OHBM 2026:
SEA-SIG Roundtable: (Neuro)Science in Resistance
Join us at our roundtable discussion on Tuesday, June 16, at 17:00-18:00 in Room E, envisioned as a space to support sustainable initiatives within our meetings, promote sustainable practices in future research, and inspire sustainable actions in participants’ personal lives. More information here!
SEA-SIG Social: Climate Fresk Workshop
Directly after the SEA-SIG Roundtable, we will be hosting our social event on Tuesday, June 16, 19:30-22:30 at a wonderful location in Bordeaux, Les vivres de l’art! And for the first time, the SEA-SIG will be hosting a Climate Fresk Workshop, along with connecting with fellow OHBMers over food and drink!
During the Climate Fresk, you will work with your fellow scientists to brainstorm about the different environmental impacts of our research, along with potential solutions. This will most definitely prove to be a unique night!
Additionally, we have partnered with the Brain Art SIG, who will be displaying some of their exhibition art at the venue!
If you are interested in attending, please RSVP here!
SEA-SIG/OSSIG Educational Course: The Research Lifestyle: A Primer on Open and Sustainable Science Practices
Join us on this half-day educational course on Sunday, June 14, 13:30-17:30 in Room H, co-organized by the SEA-SIG and OS-SIG to learn about open and sustainable research practices from data management and sharing, to preprocessing and analysis, and beyond! More information here.
Transit & transport
Bordeaux is a wonderful city for getting around sustainably! There are multiple options that allow you to get to and from the conference venue, as well as explore the sights to see, in a way that minimizes your carbon impact!
Transit: Trams & Buses
Bordeaux has a well-connected transit network (Transports Bordeaux Métropole; TBM) made up of both buses and trams. The venue for OHBM is conveniently located on Tramline C, so if you are staying anywhere near a stop on this line, getting to and from the Palais 2 l’Atlantique will be easy! Further, the tramlines begin service at 5 AM, and run until 12 AM Sunday-Wednesday, and until 1 AM Thursday-Saturday.
There are lots of ticket options for the TBM, but one that may be useful is the 7 day unlimited pass which allows you to take both trams and buses (as well as the BAT3 River Shuttle!), which costs €17.50. You can get one of these tickets in a physical format, or on the TBM app on your phone!
City Bike
Excitingly, the TBM has integrated self-service bicycle sharing as an alternative form of transportation! These bikes are FREE for the first 30 minutes of use (costing €2 / hour after that). It’s also very easy to access the bikes – you can unlock them using the TBM app! This is a great option for getting around the city centre quickly.
Walking
Finally, Bordeaux is known to be a very walkable city. If you’re exploring the town outside of the conference hours, we highly recommend travelling by foot as much as possible to optimize your enjoyment of the sights and atmosphere!
Dining
The SEA-SIG always encourages OHBMers to eat plant-based when possible, as it has been shown that plant-based diets are an important piece of minimizing your environmental impact. Here are some of our recommendations:
Monkey Mood: a restaurant that self-describes as “Indonesian-inspired plant-based [vegan] cuisine”, Monkey Mood is located near the Saint-Michel station of Tramline C, and a 33 minute tram ride from the Palais 2 l’Atlantique!
Souquo: a vegetarian restaurant serving meals made from local and organic ingredients, with gluten-free and vegan options, who are committed to reducing their waste! Souquo is located in between the Saint-Michel and Sainte-Croix stations on Tramline C, and is similarly about half an hour away from the conference centre.
Poster printing
When it comes to your poster, remember: paper is usually better, unless you are planning to re-use the poster many times. The type of fabric that is used for fabric poster printing is often polyester and made from plastic, whereas the paper posters (while sometimes more unwieldy to carry around), can be recycled.
Another poster tip: try to avoid large blocks of colour, i.e., keep the background white, which will significantly reduce your usage of printer ink!
Connect with the SEA-SIG!
See you in Bordeaux! If you’re interested in connecting virtually, send us an email at ohbm.sea.sig@gmail.com, follow us on Bluesky @ohbmenvironment.bsky.social, or take a look at the SEA-SIG website for info on how you can get involved with our activities.
If you are unable to travel to this year’s annual meeting, or are opting to minimize your air travel, recorded sessions will join past years’ content on the OHBM YouTube channel in the following months!