General Information
The European Biophysical Societies' Association (EBSA) was formed in 1984 as a non-profit making organisation, with the objectives "to advance and disseminate knowledge of the principles, recent developments and applications of biophysics, and to foster the exchange of scientific information among European biophysicists and biophysicists in general".
It is composed of the Biophysical Societies in the European area, and is managed by an Executive Committee. Click here for a full list of member Societies and their presidents/chairs and secretaries.
EBSA is associated with the international organizations International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) and Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE). EBSA maintains close links with Springer Verlag, the publishers of the European Biophysics Journal. The European Biophysics Journal, owned by EBSA, is free of charge for EBSA members.
The purpose of EBSA is to promote Biophysics in Europe. Every two years EBSA organizes the European Biophysics Congress. The next Congress will be held in Stockholm, Sweden. In addition, EBSA offers sponsorships to organisers of meetings and schools that promote biophysics in Europe. Support can come in the form of grants to the organisers or bursaries to participants. EBSA also offers bursaries to individual young scientists to participate in the Biophysics Congress. Furthermore, new initiatives have been generated, such as support for working visits or bursaries to attend scientific meetings.
Featured
On behalf of the biophysics community in Sweden, we would like to invite you to participate in the 14th EBSA Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, July 31 - August 4, 2023. The EBSA-2023 registration is now live.
Dear Colleagues,
The European Biophysical Society's Association (EBSA) expresses its deep concern about the unexpected large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Already the local military conflict in the Donbas region claimed more than fourteen thousand lives in the last eight years. Every possible measure should be taken to avoid a corresponding upscaling of the war, with its disastrous effects.
EBSA has members in all countries who are actively or passively involved in this conflict and is concerned about the severe consequences it will have on many people's personal lives and the scientific community across Europe.
We are convinced that all problems between countries can be solved peacefully. As scientists, we have a long tradition of working together without borders for the sake of joint success and progress. Like junior and senior scientists of all nationalities, identities, and backgrounds, who work together efficiently in research institutes and universities worldwide, EBSA biophysicists promote collaborative efforts across their European home. Backed up by a strong community, the voice of anti-war activists will be heard, be it in Ukraine, Russia, or elsewhere.
We extend our deepest sympathy to scientists from the Ukraine whose lives and research have been suddenly endangered. EBSA plans to introduce a fund that could help support them in research stays in one of the EBSA member countries (
http://ebsa.org/portal/bursaries).
EBSA supports all scientists in Russia and elsewhere who are working together peacefully across national borders. We especially support all our colleagues and friends in Russia who have raised their voices against the war (https://trv-science.ru/2022/02/we-are-against-war/). However, we cannot work with an organization that is linked to the state that is funding the current aggression. EBSA will therefore temporarily suspend EBSA's membership in the National Scientific Council of Biophysics of the Russian Federation. This move, directed against a Russian organization rather than individuals, is consistent with international efforts to protect scientific cooperation as an integral and critical component of a peaceful international society and a prosperous future.
The Biophysicist Webinar Series
This series, initiated and sponsored by the Editors of The Biophysicist and the Biophysical Society’s Education Committee, seeks to help attendees to become more effective in their teaching of biophysics, while valuing diversity and equity among students with different backgrounds. The later Webinars will also discuss research-based approaches to teaching biophysics and introduce the participants to the field of educational research, with particular application to biophysics. Each event will last 90 minutes, featuring a 30-minute talk by a guest speaker followed by breakout groups and discussion involving the participants and the speaker.
There is no fee to attend; however, you must register separately for each webinar. A Zoom link to the webinar will be sent to all registrants in advance.
Biophysics Week is an annual event started in 2016 to celebrate and raise awareness of the field. Be a Biophysics Ambassador. Plan an event for Biophysics Week. Save the date: March 20-24, 2023
Brexit Interview
Tony Watts, President of EBSA, has recently been interviewed at the Biophysical Society Annual Conference about the implications of Brexit for UK and European science.
The link to the interview is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq_qiH8Iu3I&index=5&t=0s&list=PLGVe6BxyFHNXoiGQFYGIruAuV0s8if5Rh
Anthony Watts, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, received the Anatrace Membrane Protein Award for his innovative development of spectroscopic methodologies, which has provided novel insights into membrane protein structure and function.
The award was presented at the Society’s 59th Annual Meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, February 7 - 11, 2015.
Past awardees of the Biophysical Society »
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 was awarded jointly to Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy".
The official press release is available here.
We are proud that Stefan W. Hell gave the opening lecture of the 7th European Biophysics Congress held in Genoa, Italy in 2009 and that he was the chairman of the Scientific Committee of the 8th European Biophysics Congress held in Budapest, Hungary in 2011.

Stefan W. Hell and Alberto Diaspro
Corrections and updates of Society Officers, information on Society meetings for inclusion in the EBSA Calendar of Events, and material for a special EBSA news item, should be sent to the
EBSA Secretary.