The spatial boundaries of populations are dynamic, particularly so in the current era of global change. Invasive organisms are spreading across novel landscapes; native species are shifting their ranges in responses to climate change; and restoration efforts are promoting the spread of recovering species into former habitat. At the heart of these ecological phenomena are demography and dispersal, the individual-level processes that unite all spreading populations. Long-standing ecological theory provides a framework for understanding and predicting how the interplay of demography and dispersal governs the dynamics of spatial spread. The broad relevance of spread dynamics in response to global change drivers has led to a surge of recent advances in theory, in cross-talk between theory and data, and in connections between ecological and evolutionary processes in expanding populations. This organized oral session will feature early- and mid-career scientists at the "leading edge" of this field that showcase these advances. The invited speakers bring together ecologists studying spread dynamics across taxa from contrasting vantage points: climate change-driven migration by native species or the invasive spread of introduced exotic species; studies in laboratory model systems, field systems or employing computational and mathematical modeling; and studies focused on the rapid evolution of demography and dispersal traits, and their influence on the ecological dynamics of spread. By casting a broad conceptual net, our intent is facilitate conversation between different corners of the discipline that will promote unified understanding and predictive capacity for population spread in the era of anthropogenic global change.