We’re excited to welcome you to the University of Birmingham, UK for the XVth International Symposium on Spermatology, 2026.

The International Symposium on Spermatology (ISS, founded in 1969) brings together scientists from across research fields including human, mammal, agricultural, plant and sea life with a common interest in sperm function, to share their latest research which is shaping the field of reproduction. 

The ISS XV programme features renowned speakers from all over the world, short verbal presentations and poster presentations. 

The conference topics for each day are:

• Thursday, 30th July - Spermatogenesis and Genetics
  
• Friday, 31st July - Ejaculation, Delivery and the Fertilisation Environment
  
• Saturday, 1st August - Sperm Function: To the oocyte and beyond
  
• Sunday, 2nd August - Sperm: Tiny Cell - Big Picture

We look forward to welcoming you to Birmingham in July!

Sincerely, the ISS XV Committee

Prof. Jackson Kirkman-Brown MBE, Chair

Dr. Meurig Gallagher, Co-Chair

Dr. Aileen Delaney

Jim was born in Abbottabad in the Hazara District of India (now Pakistan) during the Second World War in 1943. In 1947, at the partition of India and Pakistan, the family moved to Ireland where his father Patrick (a medical graduate of University College, Dublin) hoped to take up medical practice. Sadly, post-war Ireland was badly depressed and that was not to be. In 1953 his father moved back to India to work in Assam on tea plantations and then took up a job as a ship’s surgeon with the Shaw Saville line on the Australia/New Zealand/UK run. The family (mother Christian, sister Eileen) and Jim moved to Dorset, where he completed his high school education in Wimborne. Jim received a BSc in Zoology (external) from the University of London in 1966, then an MSc in Reproduction and Embryology from the University of North Wales in 1967. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Liverpool under Professor Tim Glover in 1970. He had post-doctoral positions in Vanderbilt University (1970–71) with Professor Marie-Claire Orgebin-Crist and the University of Hawaii (1971–72) with Professor Ryuzu Yanagimachi (where he met his wife-to-be, Erlene Chun). In 1972– 1977 he was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, with Professor Bob Averill. From 1977–1988 he was a Senior Lecturer/Reader in the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Queensland, Australia, with Professor Tim Glover. From 1989–1991 he was Scientific Director of PIVET Medical Centre in Perth, Western Australia. From 1991–2013 he taught Veterinary Anatomy, Human Biology and Reproductive Biotechnology at Murdoch University in Western Australia, where he currently has an Adjunct position and contributes to lecturing and laboratory demonstrating. He has been a member of SRB since 1975; served on the Committee from 1982–1984 and 1991–1995 and was Honorary Secretary from 1984–1986.

Jim Cummins was a profound figure in the field of reproduction and Spermatology, having a long lasting impact as a scientist and teacher. 

"Jim experienced firsthand the benefits of participating conferences and recognised the importance for scientists in the start of their intellectual and professional journeys, to have such experiences. He really enjoyed nurturing and encouraging younger scientists and students. He loved teaching! He wanted to extend that opportunity to someone early in their own career journey. Jim had himself been encouraged by his own professor to attend conferences, to meet with many other scholars at conferences." - Erlene Chen, widow of Jim Cummins.