More than 2,200 leading life scientists in Europe and beyond
New sponsorship collection process
From September 2026, sponsors will confirm their support via the online nomination form. The proposer is responsible for ensuring that all sponsors confirm their support online, using the form. The Membership office will only accept sponsorship confirmations sent via the online system. Sponsor support sent by email will NOT be considered.
Deadline for receipt of complete nomination forms and sponsorship: 1 December, 14:00 CET.
The EMBO Membership consists of EMBO Members, who reside or were elected while residing in an EMBC Member State, and EMBO Associate Members, who reside and were elected while residing outside of the EMBC Member States.
Candidates for EMBO Membership are exclusively nominated and elected by the existing EMBO Members. The initiative to nominate a candidate must come from one of the current EMBO Members; it is not possible to apply to become a member of EMBO.
A call for nominations for the election of new EMBO Members and EMBO Associate Members goes out be early October each year. Starting with the 2027 election, sponsor support will be collected via the online nomination form. Sponsor support sent by email will not be considered.
Deadline for receipt of complete nomination forms and sponsorship: 1 December, 14:00 CET.
The online voting system is open from 15 December until 1 February. The new EMBO Members are announced after the EMBO Council meeting in spring.
Nominations must be written and submitted by the proposer using the online nomination form. A nomination is valid for one election round.
The nomination form consists of the following sections:
*The Additional considerations field is mandatory for associate membership nominations and should be used to indicate, with examples, how the candidate has contributed (and will continue to contribute) to connecting their country and its scientific culture to EMBO and Europe.
Each EMBO Member or EMBO Associate Member may:
Four (4) additional EMBO Members or EMBO Associate Members are required to sponsor the nomination.
Nominations carried over from previous election rounds do not affect the number of new nominations or sponsorships.
Residence rules
Of the total of five (5) members supporting the candidate (the proposer plus 4 sponsors), at least 3 must reside in a different country to the country of residence of the candidate.
EMBO Council determines annually the number of EMBO Members to be elected. This is normally one-third of the number of nominations received, but not more than 50. The top 50% are elected directly by the EMBO Membership. The remaining 50% are selected by EMBO Council following a thorough review by the Membership Committee.
Candidates who were not elected directly are evaluated by the Membership Committee. The primary criterion for consideration by the committee is scientific excellence. The committee also considers geographic factors, small or emerging research fields, gender and noteworthy contributions to the scientific community. The Membership Committee presents EMBO Council with a list of candidates recommended for election.
When selecting new EMBO Members who were not directly elected, EMBO Council is guided by membership votes and the recommendations of the Membership Committee.
Non-elected candidates who received more than 90% of the votes of the last directly elected candidate will be carried over to next year’s election. Their proposers will be informed accordingly. Candidates who were carried over do not count towards the maximum number of candidates to be nominated/sponsored by the proposer/sponsors in the next election.
Candidates may also be re-nominated, in which case the proposer will write a new nomination form.
EMBO Associate Members are eminent scientists who reside in countries other than the EMBC Member States, and who have made outstanding contributions to the life sciences. Special consideration is given to scientists who are in a strategic position to help promote the goals of EMBO outside the EMBC Member States.
EMBO Council determines annually the number of associate members to be elected in a given year. This is typically between 10% and 15% of the number of nominations for associate membership.
After the membership election, the Membership Committee reviews the list of candidates for associate membership and presents EMBO Council with a shortlist of candidates recommended for election.
EMBO Council selects candidates as associate members guided by membership votes and the recommendations of the Membership Committee.
Candidates for associate membership can be carried over for election in the following year upon recommendation by EMBO Council.