EMBO Council is the governing body of EMBO, responsible for ensuring the development of the organization. It consists of 15 members who serve for a period of three years and who may be reelected for one additional term of office.
EMBO Council Members 2019
| Elected terms of office | Name | Country |
| 2016-2018, 2019-2021 | Karen B. Avraham | IL-Tel Aviv |
| 2021-2023 | David Baulcombe | UK-Cambridge |
| 2017-2019, 2020-2022 | Adrian Bird | UK-Edinburgh |
| 2021-2023 | Deborah Bourc’his | FR-Paris |
| 2018-2020, 2021-2023 | Matthew Freeman | UK-Oxford |
| 2019-2021 | Eileen Furlong | DE-Heidelberg |
| 2017-2019, 2020-2022 | Michael N. Hall (Chair) | CH-Basel |
| 2020-2022 | Crisanto Gutierrez | ES-Madrid |
| 2018-2020, 2021-2023 | Michel Labouesse | FR-Paris |
| 2019-2021 | Jiri Lukas | DK-Copenhagen |
| 2021-2023 | Marta Miaczynska | PL-Warsaw |
| 2016-2018, 2019-2021 | László Nagy | HU-Debrecen |
| 2020-2022 | Maria Rescigno | IT-Milan |
| 2016-2018, 2019-2021 | Titia Sixma | NL-Amsterdam |
| 2017-2019, 2020-2022 | Claudio E. Sunkel | PT-Porto |
Ex officio Council Member
| Maria Leptin | Director, EMBO |
Observers
| Paul Nurse | Secretary General, EMBO |
| Leszek Kaczmarek | President, EMBC |
| Anne Paoletti | Secretary General, EMBC |
| Edith Heard | Director General, EMBL |
| Peter Scheiffele | Chair, EMBO Membership Committee |
| Christoph Dehio | Chair, EMBO Young Investigator Committee |
| Zoi Lygerou | Chair, EMBO Course Committee |
| Luca Scorrano | Chair, EMBO Fellowship Committee |
