DELIVERING STRATEGY
2015 HIGHLIGHTS
BUILDING ON OUR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
RESEARCH
EDUCATION
• FEMS2015 – our Biennial Congress, FEMS2015,
attracted some 2,000 participants from 79 countries
• FEMS Microbiology Letters new section, Professional
Development, published its first thematic issue on
Education receiving 1,921 downloads in its first month
of publication
• We funded 423 early career researchers, 9 Member
Society events, 23 meeting organisers and 282 invited
speakers to carry out research, organise, attend and
present at meetings, to a total value of €478,321 – plus
€55,334 in discounts to Member Society’s members
who attended FEMS2015.
• FEMS Microbiology Reviews retained its position as
the fourth-ranking journal1 in microbiology with an
Impact Factor of 13.687
Our six strategic pillars are currently at different stages in their development. Our greatest strength is in research,
with education and training – thanks to the dedication of Joanne Verran and her very active Education network –
now very much our second. We currently deliver both research and education through our journal publications,
biennial congress and FEMS-sponsored meetings, the latter supported by our popular grants programme. We
also support a series of research awards, and are actively working to connect Europe’s microbiologists to form a
collaborative and influential network that can support both scientific excellence and its effective translation into
impact on the ground.
To help us achieve our aims, 2015 saw us open up two new p ositions in business development and
communications in the second half of the year. This investment has allowed us to start actively exploring
both new ways of supporting our charitable activities and more effective means to communicate across the
microbiology community as well as to wider audiences in business, policy and society as a whole.
INTEGRATING OUR ACTIVITIES
Research
Education
Policy
Business
Publication
Grants
Meeting
Awards
EAM
Congress
Training
Recognition
Comms
Congress
Materials
Recognition
Capacity
Effiacy
EAM
Authority
Initiatives
Awareness
Innovation
EMF
Public
engagement
Reliability
Efficacy
Capacity
Recognition
Global
Community
Partnerships
Affiliates
• FEMS think tank, the European Academy of
Microbiologists, held a session at FEMS2015 and
welcomed 36 newly elected members across broad
disciplinary and regional distribution
• FEMS Microbiology Letters extended its
scope with new sections in Virology and
Professional Development
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
In a first step towards developing a broad
public engagement network we joined the One
Health Initiative whose goal is to forge inclusive
collaborations between physicians, veterinarians,
dentists, nurses and others working in related
health and environmental disciplines. In doing so
we are joining leading academic and professional
associations, the Centers for Disease Control,
the United States Department of Agriculture and
more than 850 prominent scientists, all committed
to better understanding and tracking disease
transmission and control, improving diagnosis and
treatment, and enhancing education, training and
public awareness.
BUSINESS
The FEMS2015 Special Session on start-ups was also well
attended with 260 participants
• The full-day Education Special Session at FEMS2015
featured 20 presentations and was filled to capacity
with more wanting to join; many attendees were early
career researchers who were able to present their
work in this field through offered papers
• The Education Group comprises members from 9
countries, its members leading round table discussions
at the FEMS2015 Education event on topics that will
contribute to the development of our Education
strategy and activities
POLICY
Our initial steps towards our future policy programme are
being informed by input from Member consultations.
INTERNATIONALISATION
FEMS2015 saw us formally renew our Memorandum of
Understanding with the American Society for Microbiology
(ASM). This includes our collaboration on the FEMS-ASM
Mäkelä-Cassell Award that supports outstanding early career
researchers from both organisations to attend each other’s
congress, and organises a joint session at each congress.
•
FEMS JOURNALS recruited 16 new international editors
from Europe, Brazil, Canada, China and Japan
•
We welcomed 12 grantees from Latin America to our
FEMS2015 Congress thanks to a special grant to our
Latin American counterpart, ALAM
Our ability to further our strategic goals comes from the
effective delivery of our publications, events, grants and
awards. This in turn involves collaborating with our Members
to better connect the microbiology network, expand
our resources and improve communications between all
stakeholders – from research scientists and teachers to
policy makers and the public at large.
ENSURING FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
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