On September 22, the International Conference "Microbes and Their Viruses: Ecology, Diversity, Apply" was co-organized by Academia Europaea Tbilisi Knowledge Hub (AETH) at the Festival of Science and Innovation 2019. The conference runned till September 27, was hosted by the George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology.
Scientists from 19 countries (USA, Australia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Iran, Israel, Italy, Norway, Georgia, France, Armenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, China) 
 were participating in the conference (more than 100 participants).
The opening day featured a public lecture: "Microbial Culture as Part of Human Culture" (Harald Brusov, Belgium).
The conference organizers and sponsors were:
Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology, Georgian Association of General and Applied Microbiology, the University of Bergen, Yerevan State University.