Every year, the recently elected EMBO Members and Associate Members come to Heidelberg, Germany, and celebrate their recognition. The new members receive their membership certificates, meet each other, learn more about EMBO, and discuss science, policy and related topics.
This year’s EMBO Members’ Meeting was attended by 57 EMBO Members and Associate Members, and 17 of their proposers. The new members got to know each other and their research through their presentations, which covered a broad range of the life sciences including developmental biology, neuroscience, immunology, plant science and RNA biology. The scientific presentations and a talk on the importance of creativity in the scientific process by Itai Yanai, Co-founder and Director of Night Science and former EMBO Young Investigator, sparked many interdisciplinary discussions.
“The EMBO Members’ Meeting was a true celebration of science and community. It was wonderful to see the new members engaging with the talks, building connections and sharing ideas. We hope that they were inspired to think of how they might contribute to the EMBO Programmes in the future, and we are excited to explore those opportunities together,” says Maria Polychronidou, Head of EMBO Membership.
Two sessions provided an opportunity to find out more about EMBO: Bernd Pulverer, Head of EMBO Press, presented the EMBO Press policies and platforms, and Bettina Trueb, Head of the EMBO Director’s Office, chaired the EMBO Members’ Forum. The forum started with an overview presentation about the EMBO activities and opportunities for members to contribute, which was followed by a lively Q&A with representatives from all EMBO Programmes. The discussions on topics such as the funding mechanism behind EMBO, global partnerships, science advocacy, communication and outreach continued during a lunch with EMBO staff members.
A panel discussion on global scientific exchange, chaired jointly by Maria Polychronidou and Gerlind Wallon, Head of EMBO Global Activities, further developed these topics. It also expanded into the necessity of international mobility, technology exchange, data sharing and collaboration after the COVID pandemic, and the role of EMBO in global exchange. The panelists, EMBO Associate Members Peter Currie (Australia), Bon-Kyoung Koo (Republic of Korea), Rong Li (Singapore), David Pellman (USA), Uma Ramakrishnan (India), and EMBO Member Abdou Rachid Thiam (France), shared their unique perspectives and engaged in a multifaceted debate with the audience.
The EMBO Members’ Meeting left the participants energized by new collaborations, the spirit of one global scientific community and inspiring ideas that they took back to the many countries they had travelled from.
