There will be no compulsion for any member to attend if they feel uncomfortable. We will aim to decide on the type of event by May. In the meantime, we would like to invite you to submit any topic/question/item you would like to discuss.

While the pandemic has delayed many things, we have been working hard behind the scenes to develop our new CRM system to be able to handle many of FEMS activities. We are now turning to doing a complete re-design of our website, expanding the things users can do online and creating a new online collaboration portal.

Management of Societies membership – ability for Delegates to record, update and manage membership details online in the one place.

New look website offering better promotion of Member Societies and their activities – Member areas of website expanded to promote opportunities, news and can be managed by Member Societies.

Opportunity to interact/connect/collaborate within groups – collaboration portals which can create spaces where Member Societies can communicate with each other, discuss areas of collaboration/post opportunities in an online community.

Interested in finding out more?
These features are being design just now, and we will keep you informed as we begin to develop these further, including diving into practical examples of new features which we can offer for use by Member Societies. We would also be keen if individuals would like to act as testers for new systems as they are built – would you be interested in being a tester?

FEMS will promote the awarded communication activity to its community in an appropriate way, and contributes € 1,000 prize money towards campaigning.

You can nominate someone or a group active in any field of microbiology and science communication related to microbiology, promoting public understanding of microbiology topics by Europe-based microbiologists at any stage of their career. Membership of a FEMS Member Society is required.

Nomination deadline: 1 May 2021 

FEMS Research and Training Grantee Johanna Burtscher, BOKU, Austria, host laboratory Dr. Sophia Johler, University of Zurich, Switzerland: "When the borders were closed during the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, I worried that my research stay at the University of Zurich would be cancelled. However, the great support provided by my supervisors at my home and my host university and by the contact persons of FEMS allowed me to carry out my research project as planned."