The following are the Biology in the Real World talks that have taken place at the Association for Science Education's Annual Conference:

2018

In 2018, the talks for Biology in the Real World theme was Separating fact from fiction:

Is it true an elephant never forgets? (Dr Graeme Shannon, Bangor University)
Photosynthesis for a changing world (Dr James Hartwell, University of Liverpool)
Obesity: is it all in your head? (Dr Simon Cork, Imperial College London)
CRISPR: separating fact from fiction (Professor Malcolm White, University of St Andrews)
Creating great fieldwork (Sara Lanyon, Field Studies Council)

2017

In 2017, the talks focused on Biology around the world:

Fertility and the future of IVF (Dr Sophie Clarke, Imperial College London)
Food security (Professor Peter Gregory, University of Reading)
Influenza: discoveries and controversies (Professor Wendy Barclay, Imperial College London)
Games of thrones: conflict and cooperation from fish to finance (Dr Rupert Marshall, Aberystwyth University)
Making sense of stress in the wild (Dr Kimberley Bennett, Abertay University)
New horizons in stem cell research (Dr Julie Holder, Roslin Cell Sciences)
Plant disease: the human story (Professor Gary Foster, University of Bristol)
Biodiversity and tropical agriculture (Dr Ed Turner, University of Cambridge)

In 2016, the talks focused on Biology from the inside:

10% human: the impact of microbial partners on animal life (Professor Greg Hurst, University of Liverpool)
Biofilms: greater than the sum of their parts (Professor Jo Verran, Manchester Metropolitan University)
Britain's plant health scientists (Dr Charles Lane, Fera Science)
Hormones, homeostasis and health (Professor Saffron Whitehead, Society for Endocrinology)
Personalised medicines (Dr Virginia Acha, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry & British Pharmacological Society)
The physiological responses to physical activity (Dr Gladys Onambele-Pearson, Manchester Metropolitan University)

In 2015, the talks focused on A voyage of discovery:

Osteoporosis: rhe final frontier (Dr Adrian Moore, University College Birmingham)
Growing cells in a new dimension (Professor Stefan Przyborski, Durham University)
Space flight: a model of human ageing (Professor Stephen Harridge, King’s College London)
Life on Mars: the past and the possibilities (Dr Louisa Preston, University of Cambridge)
Beloved barnacles: learning from Darwin’s collections (Miranda Lowe, Natural History Museum)
Life in town: adapting to city life (Linda Birkin, University of Sussex)
Wandering seabirds (Professor Tim Guilford, Oxford University)

In 2014, the talks focused on Powering life:

Mighty mitochondria (Dr Daniel Tennant, University of Birmingham)
Waste into energy (Dr Angela Murray, University of Birmingham)
Metabolism and energy balance (Professor Julian Hamilton, University of Bristol)
Natural selection as the power house of diversity: adaptation of form and behaviour to the environment (Dr Susannah KS Thorpe, University of Birmingham)
Life without light (Dr Rich Boden, Plymouth University)
Drug development: the unexpected role of plants (Dr Alison Foster, University of Oxford)
Plants and pressure (Dr Jeremy Prichard, University of Birmingham)

In 2013, the talks focused on Brilliant breakthroughs:

Brewing-up the technologies of tomorrow with synthetic biology (Tom Ellis, Imperial College, London)
Eye research (Russell Foster, University of Oxford)
Tuberculosis (Helen McShane, University of Oxford)
Cannabis and epilepsy (Ben Whalley, University of Reading)
Transforming photosynthesis: frontier biology for a changing world (Colin Osbourne, University of Sheffield)
Paris japonica and the discovery of the largest genome (Mike Fay, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew)
Astrobiology: the hunt for alien life (Lewis Dartnell, UCL)
Super stable isotopes (Andrew Robertson, University of Exeter)

In 2012, in recognition of the Olympics taking place in the UK, the series of talks focused on A sporting chance:

Drugs in sport (Professor David Mottram, Liverpool John Moores University)
The systems physiology of exercise (Professor Graham Kemp, University of Liverpool)
Fighting fit: how exercise affects your immunity and susceptibility to infection (Professor Michael Gleeson, Loughborough University)
The five rings to success (Dr Valerie Gladwell, University of Essex)
The race to reproduce (Dr Rob Thomas, Cardiff University)
The original Olympic pool: succeeding in extreme conditions (Professor Geoff Boxshall, Natural History Museum)
Pressure in the organism Olympics (Dr Jeremy Pritchard, University of Birmingham)