This year’s annual CABA-ACAB conference will be held in charming and historic Montreal on October 28 – 31, 2026. We look forward to welcoming you to the Omni Mont Royal in Montreal’s historic downtown. Stay tuned for more information and updates over the summer. In the meantime, feel free to contact us with any questions or comments via email at caba2026mtl@gmail.com.
Your CABA-ACAB 2025 Conference Organizing Committee from the University of Montreal: Iulia Bădescu, Michelle Drapeau, Isabelle Ribot, Joseph Orkin
Thank you to our 2026 sponsors
Registration fees for CABA-ACAB Regular Members, Student Members, Special Members, and Non-Members are listed below. Please note that Early Bird rates are available only until October 1, 2026, inclusive.
DAY PASSES* | fee until Oct. 1 | fee after Oct. 1 |
Student/Special member | $75 | $75 |
Regular/Non-member | $225 | $225 |
FULL CONFERENCE IN PERSON | fee until Oct. 1 | fee after Oct. 1 |
Student member | $110 | $140 |
Special member | $110 | $140 |
Regular member | $340 | $410 |
Non-member | $455 | $535 |
FULL CONFERENCE VIRTUAL | fee until Oct. 1 | fee after Oct. 1 |
Student member (virtual) | $110 | $110 |
Special member | $110 | $110 |
Regular member (virtual) | $275 | $275 |
Non-member (virtual) | $375 | $375 |
*All first-author podium and poster presenters are expected to register for the full conference even if they cannot attend every day. Only students registered for the full conference are eligible for the presentation awards.
The 53rd CABA-ACAB annual meeting will be held in Montreal, Quebec, at the Omni Mont Royal, a beautiful hotel on Sherbrooke Street West in the downtown near McGill University. The address is 1050 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Canada, Quebec, Canada, H3A 2R6. The hotel website is https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/montreal-mont-royal
Special group rates for rooms are available until Friday September 26th, and may be booked by following this link (https://bookings.omnihotels.com/event/montreal-mont-royal/caba-annual-conference-2026) or by calling 514-284-1110. The special conference rate is from $269 + tax/night. Please remember to quote the Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology to receive the group rate.
The Scientific Program Committee is requesting proposals for symposia. To submit a proposal, please provide the following in a Word (or equivalent) or PDF document by email to caba2026mtl@gmail.com by Friday July 31st:
All symposium proposals will be evaluated by the CABA-ACAB 2026 Scientific Program Committee. Given the limited time slots available, it may not be possible to accept all proposals. Symposia will be judged on merits including the proposed length; the potential to bring together participants from multiple institutions, research groups, regions of Canada; the scholarly interest of the theme tying the presentations together; and how interesting and useful they are likely to be to the attending CABA-ACAB membership at large. The Scientific Program Committee reserves the right to discuss format/length, etc. with those submitting proposals.
Symposia proposals are welcome in both official languages. Presenters in symposia are encouraged to consider delivering presentations in one language while having slides in the other or both languages.
If you have any questions, please email the committee at caba2026mtl@gmail.com.
The deadline for submission of a podium and poster presentation abstract is Sunday, September 6th, 2026.
You must be a current CABA-ACAB member to present a paper or poster at the annual meeting. Please see the CABA-ACAB website for instructions on how to become or renew your membership.
To submit an abstract, please use the Online Registration and Submission System to register and complete abstract submission at the same time. If you plan to present but do not yet have your abstract ready, select “Yes” for “Are you presenting?” in the online registration form and leave the abstract details blank for now. You may return later to complete or update your abstract using the Post-Registration Abstract Submission page (You must be logged in as member to submit or update an abstract after registration.). For non-member presenters, after registration, you can complete your abstract submission directly with the committee at caba2026mtl@gmail.com.
Please note that there is a limit of one sole- or first-authored presentation (both podium and poster) per person.
Abstracts are required for in-person and virtual podium presentations, and posters. Each abstract should explain the significance of the question investigated in the study, outline the materials and methods, and give details of the results of the analysis. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words in length. Please do not include tables, figures, graphs, or references in your abstract.
You may choose a podium or poster presentation and we will do our best to accommodate your preference. For a podium presentation, please indicate: (1) in-person OR (2) virtual (both 15 minutes). Online podium presentations will be possible via Zoom or a similar alternative platform, however, all poster presentations will be on site only. Submissions intended for inclusion in an approved symposium should select the symposium title on the form at the time of submission.
The Scientific Program Committee will review the abstracts. Every effort will be made to assign presentations to oral or poster sessions as requested, but we cannot guarantee this will always be possible. You will receive notification by email confirming acceptance of your abstract.
Students wishing to have their submissions considered for an award must submit their presentation to the organizing committee by Wednesday, October 21st, 2026. This requires submitting a PDF file of the PowerPoint slides for a podium presentation or PDF file of the poster to caba2026mtl@gmail.com.
Questions regarding the submission of your abstract or the scientific program should be directed to the Scientific Program Committee at caba2026mtl@gmail.com.
Presentations are welcome in both official languages. Presenters are encouraged to consider delivering presentations in one language while having slides in the other or both languages
Oral presentations are allotted 15 minutes each, including time for questions and discussion. As such, presentations should be approximately 10 to 12 minutes long, leaving roughly 3 to 5 minutes for questions and discussion. The session chairperson is responsible for ensuring that all podium presentations are within the predefined time limit.
Bring your presentation file on a USB device in the morning before presentations or during a break so that we can upload all presentations so to proceed in a timely manner when the session starts. This is also the time to check that your presentation formatting has not been altered as a result of compatibility issues. In advance, please scan your USB device for viruses. Do not bring your laptop to the podium.
All the audiovisual equipment required for your talk will be in the room, including a PC computer. If your presentation is prepared on a Mac, please test it on a PC to ensure compatibility. If you are embedding videos in your presentation, please contact the organizers in advance to ensure that they will play properly. If you have any special AV requirements, please contact the organizers in advance. Presenters who are online via Zoom will be integrated into the schedule and invited to present and share their screen at their scheduled times.
Posters may not exceed these maximum dimensions:
Height/Length: maximum of 122cm (~48 inches)
Width: maximum of 100cm (~39 inches)
Posters exceeding either of these dimensions will not fit properly on the poster boards used for their display.
The most commonly used poster size in our discipline is 122cm (height/length) by 91.5cm (width) (48″x36″). You are welcome to make your poster smaller than the maximum dimensions or most commonly used size but we recommend it be no smaller than 107cm (height/length) by 76cm (width) (42″x30″) in size.
Poster material should be presented in a clear and logical format. Keep text to a minimum and use graphs or tables to illustrate your message. Titles should be legible 2.5 metres away and viewers should be able to read the text from 1.5 metres distance. Subheading text should be at least 30 point font and regular text should be at least 24 point font, but larger sizes are encouraged.
Students are encouraged to enter their podium or poster presentation in the award competition.
Single- or multi-authored podium presentations and posters will be considered in the competition, granted the student’s contribution to the project was substantive and they are the first author. The award will go only to the student, not the faculty, and if multiple students were involved, the award will be split among multiple student authors. You must submit a PDF file of the PowerPoint slides for a paper or PDF file of the poster to caba2026mtl@gmail.com by Wednesday, October 21, to be considered for either award.
Follow this link for information about eligibility and the history of the student awards.
The 2026 meeting will include a free professional development luncheon for in-person student and special member attendees on Thursday, October 29th, 2026. You must be a student or special member in good standing, and you must pre-register to attend. Spots are available on a first-come first-serve basis.
Register for the luncheon when you complete your meeting registration. You will be asked to indicate your dietary preferences and restrictions.
Please do not sign up for the luncheon of you are unsure if you can attend.
More details about the luncheon speaker will be announced soon.
A banquet dinner will be held the evening of Friday October 30th. There will be a door prize raffle with many lucky winners.
Tickets Prices
Student/Special Member: $80
Regular Member/Non-member/Guest: $120
To register for the 2026 CABA-ACAB Annual Meeting and purchase a banquet ticket, please do so via the online registration form. You may also purchase tickets for guest (individuals not attending the annual meeting) at the regular member price of $120. You will be asked to indicate your dietary preferences and restrictions. If you purchased a ticket for a guest indicate their dietary information too.
PLEASE NOTE: Excursions run concurrently, so please only select / register for one. You can register for the excursion through our Online Registration and Submission System.
Excursion 1 – Maude Abbott Medical Museum Tour
Join us for a private guided tour of the Maude Abbott Medical Museum. In addition to exploring the renowned Oslerian Pathological Collection and the Abbott Congenital Heart Disease Collection, the museum curators have generously assembled a special selection of pathological specimens and skeletal remains for CABA-ACAB members to view and discuss.
Regular members are asked to make a voluntary $40 donation to participate in the excursion. As the museum operates entirely through donations, these contributions help support the museum’s continued work and subsidize attendance costs for CABA-ACAB student members. Student and special members are not required to contribute, though donations of any amount are greatly appreciated.
Attendance is limited to 30 participants, and registration will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Excursion 2 – REST[ES] Tour
On Wednesday October 28th, members are invited to join us for a private tour of the Research in Experimental and Social Thanatology (REST[ES]) facility, Canada’s first human taphonomy facility operated by the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. Upon arrival, participants will be briefed on the biosafety procedures to follow inside the facility before the start of the visit. A tour of the ongoing research projects and training scenarios will then be provided inside the gated area. The visit will allow time for questions, so please make sure to bring lots of them!
The cost of this excursion is for bus transportation to and from the facility, which is in Bécancour, Québec, about 150 km from downtown Montreal. Bus transportation costs $_65_ per person. Departure time is 8:30 am. Participants should meet in the conference hotel lobby. After the facility visit, the group will head to lunch at Ô Quai Des Brasseurs, a local microbrewery, around noon. The group will leave the restaurant at 2:00 pm, so it should expect to be back to the conference hotel no later than 4:00 pm.
Warning: Please note that proximity with decomposing bodies may cause psychological and emotional distress. While not a requirement, it is recommended that individuals interested in this visit should have previous exposure to human remains. Out of respect for the facility’s donors, this visit is meant to be purely educational, with the ultimate intent to initiate new research collaborations and training partnerships with Canadian colleagues. Photos of the facility are not permitted and inappropriate behaviour towards the donors will not be tolerated.
Attendance is limited to 25 participants, and registration will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
If you have any questions about the tour, please contact Dr. Elisabeth Cuerrier-Richer, coordinator of the REST[ES] facility, at Elisabeth.Cuerrier-Richer@uqtr.ca.
CABA-ACAB 2026 Program – COMING SOON
