News

Howard Eggins Early Career Mycologist Awards

Congratulations to our Early Career Mycologist Award winners for the best talks and best posters at our Annual Scientific Meeting 2025!

Best Talks: Ellen Wikeley, University of Nottingham; Stephen McPherson, University of Aberdeen; Jacob Hudson, University of Kent.

Best Posters: Alice Day, Imperial College London; Oly Grey Ascione, Bath University; Catrin Cerian Williams, University of Exeter

Strengthening our society to maximise impact

BMS president, Prof Elaine Bignell, outlines the aims of the BMS's refreshed strategy for 2025 to 2028. 

English names for UK fungi

An updated list of the accepted English names for UK fungi is now available, along with a new list of proposed names based on current taxonomic thinking. 

DNA, and the future of fungal taxonomy

In the latest issue of Fungal Biology Reviews, Senior Editors Irina Druzhinina and Jan Dijksterhuis reflect on the challenges to taxonomy presented by the use of molecular tools for identifying fungi: if discovered from environmental DNA, with no accessible morphology, culture, or ecophysiological data, how should fungal taxa be recorded, if at all, and what rules should govern their naming?

Massee Arts Grants awarded to two projects to help spread the word about fungi

'Following Threads' (Fat Fox Mushrooms, Poppy Flint and Benji Bailes) is an immersive, participatory art installation that combines visuals, sounds and creative activities. 'Honey Fungus' (Jack Parris and Bunkum Ensemble) is a piece of non-verbal physical theatre that tells a story from the fungal perspective.

Announcing the winners of the 2025 MiSAC competition for schools, sponsored by the BMS.

This years competition — focused on human fungal disease and the problem of antifungal drug resistance — attracted 454 separate entries from 30 schools.

What are Aspergillus fungi, where are they found and what diseases do they cause?

Find out more about the 'killer fungi' in the news — May 2025

Dr Harry Chown announced as the 2025 winner of the Tony Trinci Award

The Microbiology Society and British Mycological Society have selected Dr Harry Chown (Imperial College London) as the winner of the 2025 Tony Trinci Award. Harry will give his award presentation, ‘The pangenome of Aspergillus fumigatus highlights the dynamics of gene gain-loss over evolutionary time-scales in a human fungal pathogen’ at the BMS Annual Scientific Meeting, July 2025.

Field Mycology launched as an open access publication 

The first 2025 issue of the British Mycological Society's long-running and popular journal, Field Mycology, has been published in a new, open access format, making it freely available to all.

Dr Micaela Álvarez announced as winner of the 2025 BMS-ISM Naresh Magan Lecture Award

Dr María Micaela Álvarez Rubio from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, will give her award presentation “Proteomic analysis as a tool to unveil effects of control agents on toxigenic Gnomoniosis smithogilvyi, the major chestnut pathogen” at the 15th Conference of the World Mycotoxin Forum.

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Professor Richard Fortey OBE, former Vice President of the British Mycological Society and President of the Fungus Survey of Oxfordshire.

Linda Seward, member of BMS Council and of the FSO, shares highlights of Prof Fortey's immense contributions to mycology.

Fungal Biology Reviews: opening a new year with updated guidelines, a new cover, and thought-provoking insights in fungal biology

In the March 2025 issue, Senior Editors of Fungal Biology Reviews, Jan Dijksterhuis and Irina Druzhinina, share the updated guide for authors and unveil a new journal cover, featuring a coloured image of Aspergillus spinosus ascospores.

New Co-Editor-in-Chief for Fungal Ecology

Dr Allison Walker has joined Dr Ben Wolfe as Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Society's Fungal Ecology journal. Allison is an Associate Professor at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is also Vice-President of the Nova Scotia Mycological Society. Allison’s research focuses on the biodiversity and systematics of fungi in marine and coastal ecosystems.