One small step for mycorrhiza, one giant leap for ericoid mycorrhizal research.

The recently concluded 13th International Conference on Mycorrhiza (ICOM 2026; 12-17 July 2026, Cairns, Australia) was the first conference in the series to include a symposium dedicated exclusively to ericoid mycorrhiza (ErM; see Supplementary Material for the symposium programme), arguably the least understood of the four principal types of mycorrhizal symbiosis. The symposium, entitled "Ericoid mycorrhizal fungi worldwide: Linking diversity, biogeography, ecology, and biochemistry to build a global research network", was organized by the authors and brought together speakers from six countries. Related ErM research was also presented in the separate ICOM 2026 symposium "Mycorrhiza and fire: Interactions, recovery, and resilience". The ErM symposium followed the workshop "The 'other' endomycorrhizas: ecology, diversity, molecular biology, and methods of study", organized by Camille Delavaux and Alan Wanke at 12th ICOM (2024, Manchester, UK), which highlighted the need for greater attention to less-studied mycorrhizal systems. The 2026 symposium represented a timely milestone for ErM research by providing a dedicated international platform for discussing methodological challenges, recent advances, and future directions.