The conference: “Microbes and their Viruses: Ecology, Diversity, Applications” was held in Tbilisi on September 22-27, 2019. The conference presented one of the key events of the Science Festival taking place during September 16-30, 2019. The conference was organized jointly by the Georgian Association for General and Applied Microbiology, the George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology, Georgian branch of Academia Europea, University of Bergen and Yerevan State University. Altogether over 100 participants from 19 countries attended the conference, including young scientists and students. The welcoming speeches were made by Prof. Eliora Ron – the President of IUMS, Prof. David Prangishvili – the President of GAGAM, Dr. Zviad Gabisonia – the Director of the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation (SRNSF). Two opening lectures were delivered by the prominent scientists Harald Brussow (Switzerland) and Jeremy Barr (Australia). The students as gifts received the copies of the book written by Jeremy Barr “The Invisible War”. An Art-Science exhibition: “Our invisible companions” was organized by the GEIBMV in collaboration with the Untitled Gallery in the garden of the conference venue. The aim of the exhibition was to demonstrate the beauty of the peculiarities of the microbial world. The musical arrangement of the opening ceremony was provided by the K.Vardeli String Quartet.