With the exception of the Terra Nova strategic consultation in 2001 , FEMS ’ consultations with its Membership has largely been limited to formal discussions with official Delegates at and around the Council meetings and AGM . Keen to better understand our Members ’ needs we launched a number consultation activities in 2014 that continued in 2015 as follows :
• FEMS Grants Review Feb 2015
• FEMS Members website review March 2015
• FEMS Membership Review March 2015
• One-to-ones with Delegates and Presidents at our Maastricht Congress June 2015
• Pre-Council consultation Sept 2015
• FEMS Member Society CEO consultation Oct 2015
• FEMS Member Survey 2015 ( Communications ) Nov 2015
The wide-ranging discussions triggered by these processes , reveal a highly diverse membership – ranging from our smallest society with around 50 members to our largest with closer to 4,000 – that is located across 36 countries in and around Europe . Inevitably such a diverse and complex group exhibits similarly diverse and complex needs , but there are areas of overlap too , particularly on the issues of capacity , resources , influence and professional development .
Meet one of our members : The Swedish Society for Microbiology
The Swedish Society for Microbiology ( Svenska föreningen för mikrobiologi , SFM ) is a life science membership organisation for researchers and students interested in microbiological sciences . The mission of SFM is to support the progress and growth of microbiology in Sweden .
SFM has currently around 150 active members located at universities , university colleges , research institutes and industry . The members of SFM represent a broad spectrum of subdisciplines ( including general microbiology , molecular biology , microbial genetics , microbial ecology , microbial engineering , medical and veterinary microbiology , virology and immunology ) and makes an effort to reflect this diversity through representation on its Board . The present Board consists of Åsa Sjöling ( Karolinska Institutet ), Ulrika Lustig ( Uppsala University ), Magnus Evander ( Umeå University ), Anders Bergqvist ( Uppsala University ), Claes von Wachenfeldt ( Lund University ), Staffan Svärd , ( Uppsala University ), Öjar Melefors ( Public Health Agency of Sweden , Stockholm ) and interim members Sanna Koskiniemi ( Uppsala University ), Jonas Warringer ( University of Gothenburg ), and Per-Eric Lindgren ( Linköping University ).
SFM recently launched a series of annual one-day meetings for SFM members to be held every autumn in Stockholm . It also actively supports other research conferences and workshops , and provides travel stipends to national and international meetings for graduate students . On the international stage , SFM represents Sweden in International Union of Microbiological Societies (
IUMS ), Federation of European Microbiological Societies (
FEMS ) and European Federation of Biotechnology (
EFB ).
SFM was founded in the early 1960s and joined FEMS in November 1974 at the founding meeting of the FEMS Council . The second FEMS President was the Swedish professor , Örjan Ouchterlony ( 1914-2004 ). Between 1952 and 1980 , Dr Ouchterlony was professor at University of Gothenburg , where he founded the department of Microbiology and Immunology . Since then many famous Swedish microbiologists have been , or are , members of SFM , and the Society continues to provide an attractive vehicle for promoting high quality fundamental and applied research across Sweden .
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FEMS-Sponsored Meetings
GRANTS
Throughout 2015 we also supported a total of 32 conferences, national and regional congresses and workshops,
on topics ranging from hot topics for young scientists and antimicrobial resistance to microbial ecology and stress.
Together these events allowed almost 8,000 international scientists – and our many of our Member Societies – to
meet, discuss and develop their work at 32 locations across 14 countries.
Our grants programme forms the cornerstone of many of our charitable activities. It provides research funding
for small research visits that underpin longer-term projects, and allows our Member Societies and their members
to organise many key scientific events. While contributing directly to both research and education, an additional
consequence is their role in building our growing network of experts, early career researchers, business partners
and science communicators. In 2015 we provided a total of €375,835 in grants to 241 early career researchers,
meeting organisers and Member Societies.
MONTH
FEMS-SPONSORED MEETINGS
COUNTRY ATTENDING
March
Meeting on Bacterial Respiratory Chains
Portugal
120
March
Microbiology 2015 - Health and Environment
Israel
120
March/ April
EMBO workshop: Modern DNA concepts and tools for safe gene transfer and
modification
France
196
April
4th Workshop on Microbial Sulfur Metabolism
Denmark
120
April
8th Conference on Recombinant Protein Production - A comparative view on
host physiology
Spain
220
April
Hot Topics in Microbiology - International Conference for Young Scientists
Slovakia
65
May
Molecular Mechanisms of Host-Pathogen Internations and Virulence in Human
Fungal Pathogens - HFP2015
France
203
May
International Meeting on Antibiotic resistance - the environmental dimension
Germany
155
May
12th Yeast Lipid Conference
Belgium
88
June
10th International Symposium on the Biology of Acinetobacter
Greece
172
June
BAGECO-13 - 13th Symposium on Bacterial Genetics and Ecology The Microbial Continuity Across Evolving Ecosystems
Italy
314
June
17th European Workshop on Bacterial Protein Toxins
Portugal
139
July
6th International Conference on Analysis of Microbial Cells at the Single Cell Level
Austria
65
August
6th European Phycological Congress
UK
400
September
27th International Conference on Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology
Italy
609
September
32nd International Specialised Symposium on Yeasts (ISSY2015):
Yeast Biodiversity and Biotechnology in the Twenty-First Century
Italy
264
September
Power of Fungi and Mycotoxins in Health and Disease
Croatie
54
September
5th International Symposium on Soil O [XX] \
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