The EMBO-funded workshop 'Host–Parasite Relationship: from mechanism to control strategies' took place in Les Embiez, France, on 5–8 October 2025. It was supported by the LabEx ParaFrap community and organized by Lucy Glover and Benoit Gamain. After a hiatus of 3 years, this biannual conference series is consolidating its role as the flagship parasitology meeting within Europe, where scientists meet to share their breakthroughs and to discuss new ideas in the beautiful shores of Les Embiez Island. The workshop had an outstanding line-up of invited speakers, exciting reports from selected speakers, flash talk presenters, a panel discussion for Young Investigators in Parasitology (YIP), and two vibrant poster sessions. In this TrendsTalk, we invited early career researchers to summarize the highlights of the meeting.