Report on the ESB2016 in Lyon
The 22nd Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics took place from 10th to 13th July 2016 at the Cité des Congrès in Lyon, France. The meeting was organized by the European Society of Biomechanics, the Société de Biomécanique, (an international society which organizes a congress every year gathering delegates mostly from French speaking countries including Belgium, Canada, France and Switzerland), and by the Université de Lyon, IFSTTAR, Mines Saint-Etienne and the Université Grenoble Alpes. This year the congress was an opportunity to celebrate the 40th Anniversaries of both the European Society of Biomechanics and of the Société de Biomécanique.
Opening ceremony – 40th anniversaries of ESB and SB (courtesy of the ESB organizers)
The Congress was attended by a total of 780 registered delegates. Participation of students was exceptionally high (301 registered students, i.e. 39% of the delegates). This is also due to the effort made by the Society to contribute towards the attendance of young delegates with 16 travel awards.
Welcome reception (courtesy of the ESB organizers)
Four international societies were involved in the scientific organization: the International Society of Biomechanics, the European Society of Biomaterials, the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports and the International Research Council on Biomechanics in Injury for specific tracks respectively in Human movement, Biomaterials, Sport Biomechanics, and Injury biomechanics. Four pre-courses were organized on the first congress day: “3D kinematics and inverse dynamics: practical issues with a custom Matlab toolbox”, “Full-field measurements and mechanical identification of biological tissues”, “Patient-specific finite element modeling”, and “Injury biomechanics”. The welcome reception on the first day was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends, meet colleagues, and get a first assay of the great Lyonnaise food tradition.
Lively discussions around the posters (courtesy of the ESB organizers)
The Congress had a total of 403 oral talks, organized in 81 oral sessions. During the coffee and lunch breaks, the delegates had an opportunity to view the 210 posters, and discuss them with the authors (this year poster presenters had the chance to give a preview of their poster with a 2-minute flash presentation). A total of 18 perspective talks were given by prominent researchers in different fields of biomechanics, providing a comprehensive introduction to many of the session topics and a broader view of biomechanics research, and highlighting the results of many long-running international research programmes. The 2016 Congress included, for the first time, a Corporate Session entitled “Technology for Research” where corporate members had an opportunity to present their new products and applications for biomechanics research.
Exhibitor area during coffee breaks (courtesy of the ESB organizers)
Each day of the congress, a keynote lecture was delivered to a full auditorium on “Locomotor Prosthetics” (Grégoire Courtine), “Technological Innovations and Precision Medicine” (Roderic I. Pettigrew), “Integrative Cellular Mechanobiology and Biomechanics at the Primary Cilium” (Chris Jacobs), and “Quantitative ultrasound developed in bone biomechanics: from science to clinical applications” (Pascal Laugier). The program included the Clinical Biomechanics Award, the S.M. Perren Research Award, the ESB Award for the Best Doctoral thesis in Biomechanics, and the ESB Student Award.
Founding members at the gala dinner (courtesy of the ESB organizers)
The high scientific profile of the congress was complemented by a nice social program, which took participants to experience a variety of Lyonnaise food and drinks. Around 150 students enjoyed an informal night in town at the student event in the roof-top bar “Le Sucre”. The gala diner saw over 420 attendees enjoying great French cuisine and wines at the “Château de Saint Trys”, in the heart of the Beaujolais. Here we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the ESB with a great number of founding members. Even if many of them have retired, they did not miss this exciting celebration. During the dinner, the Society’s annual awards were presented (see here for details).
Gala dinner at the “Château de Saint Trys” (courtesy of the ESB organizers)
All ESB members heartily thank the organizers for the excellent scientific, practical and social organization of the meeting.
Luca Cristofolini
