The Red Cell Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting, hosted by the British Blood Transfusion Society, provides an annual forum for the presentation of UK- and European-based red cell research. The 2015 meeting was held on Friday 30 October at the National Health Service Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) facility in Filton, Bristol and provided an exciting and varied programme on the themes of erythropoiesis, malaria biology and pathophysiology and red cells properties in stress and disease. Ten speakers presented on these topics over the course of one day. The meeting was well attended by over 90 delegates. Posters were presented during the lunch break, and abstracts from the posters are published at the end of this issue.