From the 19-25 May Dr Gudrun Dittrich-Schröder attended the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) entitled ‘Genetic biocontrol: Enhancing public health, food security and biodiversity’ at the Rey Don Jaime Grand Hotel in Castelldefels, Spain. This conference was held in a remote location allowing many opportunities and time for engagements, discussion, and networking. The conference is intentionally small with approximately 130 participants from more than 10 countries, but predominantly from the global north. The conference commenced with a keynote session and subsequent talks and posters ranging in topic from Gene drives, Genetics and genetic engineering, Engineered technologies, Social and regulatory science, Mathematical modeling to predict outcomes, Population genetics, Ecology, Field work and Monitoring to manipulating sex determination. While most talks, papers and posters focused on insect-related research and applications, a few also focused on the potential use of gene drives for the control of invasive mammals such as rodents and rabbits. Conference participants included scientists from all career stages, from leaders in the field to students, as well as social scientists, advisors to governments and industry personnel. Dr Gudrun Dittrich-Schröder presented a poster entitled “Development of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tools to control major insect pests of agriculture and forestry” highlighting the work being conducted at FABI to develop gene editing technology for insect pest control. Poster sessions were well supported by participants and allowed for substantial engagement.  The University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP) and FABI are thanked for making attendance possible.