Darwin Festival

Salem State's annual Darwin Festival is a weeklong event that celebrates the work of Charles Darwin, with sessions from leading researchers celebrating the field of biology and its impact on today's world.

2025 Darwin Festival 

The 2025 Darwin Festival will take place Monday, February 10 through Friday, February 14.

All in-person talks will be held in Vets Hall, Ellison Campus Center, North Campus. A number of the talks are webinar only. Events are free and open to the public.

Students and guests who anticipate needing accommodations due to a disability or who have questions about access may contact disability services at access@salemstate.edu or Ryan Fisher for more information.

The 46th Darwin Festival Speaker Schedule will be up in early January. Here is a peek of some past speakers:

Recent Darwin Festival Speakers
  • Professor Nina Jablonski

    Nina G. Jablonski

    Pennsylvania State University Department of Anthropology

    The Evolution of Human Skin Color Gets More Interesting by the Day

  • Dr. Maydianne C. B. Andrade

    Maydianne C. B. Andrade

    University of Toronto Department of Biological Sciences

    Through a Web, Darkly: Sex, Death and Adaptation in Widow Spiders

  • Dr. Bonnie Bassler

    Bonnie Bassler

    Chair, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University

    Tiny Conspiracies: Cell-to-Cell Communication in Bacteria

  • Webb Camille

    Webb Camille

    MD/PhD Third Year Candidate, UMass Medical Center, Alumnus

    What is the Role of Citrullination in ALS?

  • Martha Munoz

    Martha Muñoz

    Asst. Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Yale University

    Behavior is a Motor and Brake for Evolution

More Information

Founded in 1980 by Philip A. DePalma and Virginia F. Keville.

Questions?

Students and guests who anticipate needing accommodations due to a disability or who have questions about access may contact disability services at access@salemstate.edu.

Interested in the 2024 Darwin Festival? Contact Ryan Fisher for more information.

Past Darwin Festival Recordings

Video recordings of Darwin Festival presentations are available in the Salem State Digital Repository.

Thank You to Our Supporters

Major support for the Darwin Festival comes from the Charles Albert Read Trust and ThermoFisher Scientific.

A black and white portrait of Charles Albert Read
Logo: "Thermo Fischer Scientific: The world leaders in serving science"
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