Lab members Deepthi Chimalakonda, Catharina Gallacher, Felix Lim, Nega Tassie Abate and Tak Fung attended the The 3rd Asia Regional Conference of the Society for Conservation Biology, held from 19–22 August in Melaka, Malaysia. Catharina presented her work on statistical power in animal conservation studies; Felix presented his work on species–area relationships in fragmented forest tree communities; Nega presented his work on species-distribution modelling of endemic bird species in Ethiopia under current and future climate scenarios; and Tak presented his work on quantifying trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and maintenance of productivity in forest tree communities. In addition, all lab members took the opportunity to engage with people at the forefront of conservation and their work.