ESB Newsletter – September 2025

Dear ESB Member, 

Summer has come to an end, but the memories of our successful ESB 2025 meeting in Zurich are still vivid.

In this September 2025 edition of the European Society of Biomechanics newsletter, you will find updates on:

• Presidential Message

• Follow-Up on ESB 2025

• Working Groups

• Awards

• WCB 2026

• Deadlines for ESB Diversity Applications

• Call for Bids Opening & Timeline

Stay connected by visiting our website for more details and the latest news.

Enjoy the read!

 

 

Bernardo Innocenti,

Chair of the Publication Committee

 

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From the President!

Dear ESB Members,

I hope you all had a wonderful summer break and are feeling recharged for the start of an exciting new academic year!

This summer marked a major milestone for our community with the 30th Congress of the ESB—an achievement we can all be proud of. A heartfelt thank you to Bill Taylor and the entire organising committee at ETH Zurich for delivering such a vibrant and engaging event. The congress was filled with excellent science and stimulating social activities (more details below). We enjoyed outstanding invited speakers and insightful perspective talks—overall, the scientific quality was truly exceptional.  Personally, some of the highlights were the sessions dedicated to early career researchers. From the student awards, to the best PhD thesis in biomechanics and the ECR award, it was inspiring to see such high-calibre work from the next generation of researchers in biomechanics. These sessions are a cornerstone of our congresses and a clear sign that the future of biomechanics is in very capable hands.

Another exciting development from this year’s congress was the launch of the ESB Working Groups (WGs)—a first for our Society! The ESB Council had a difficult task selecting the first two WGs to receive financial support, as each one addresses pressing challenges in biomechanics. We hope many of you will get involved. These groups are intended to foster networking, build consensus across our community, and strengthen old and spark new collaborations. You’ll find more information below on how to participate.

Looking ahead, 2026 will mark the 50th anniversary of the ESB! While we won’t organise a congress in Europe next year, we will join the 10th World Congress of Biomechanics (WCB)in Vancouver—an event that promises to be a great success. We are organising dedicated ESB sessions and will also take the opportunity to celebrate this important anniversary. Please note: Abstract submissions are now open and the deadline is 5th December (earlier than our usual ESB deadline of 31st January). You still have a few months to prepare and submit your best work. ESB awards will also be presented at WCB26, and we’ll share more details soon. When registering, please make sure to indicate ESB as your primary society—see below for further instructions.

Lastly, a reminder that the call for bids to host ESB2029 is now open and will close on 1st December. We look forward to receiving many strong proposals and selecting another fantastic venue for our flagship annual event. Full details and bid guidelines are provided below.

With warm regards,

 

Enrico Dall’Ara,

ESB President

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Working Groups

In early April, we launched a call for ESB Working Groups to enhance the involvement of ESB members in the activities of the society, give visibility to the society on specific challenges in biomechanics, and enable unique collaborations across different countries.

After carefully reviewing all the submitted proposals within the Council, we announced during the General Assembly of ESB25 that we will launch two Working Groups.

One Working Group will work on ‘Virtual Twins of Human Organ Systems’ and is coordinated by Johannes Weickenmeier (University of Oxford, UK; lead), Mathias Peirlinck (TU Delft, The Netherlands), Martin Genet (École Polytechnique, France), Aisling Ní Annaidh (University College Dublin, Ireland), and Silvia Budday (FAU Erlangen, Germany).

The other Working Group will work on ‘Musculoskeletal Spine Modeling’ and is coordinated by Luigi La Barbera (Politecnico di Milano, Italy; lead), Dominika Ignasiak (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Marwan El Rich (Khalifa University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), and Tito Bassani (IRCCS Galeazzi-Sant’Ambrogio Hospital, Italy).

If you are interested in joining one of these Working Groups: feel free to contact Johannes Weickenmeier (johannes.weickenmeier@eng.ox.ac.uk) or Luigi La Barbera (luigi.labarbera@polimi.it).

Given the large interest in setting up ESB Working Groups, we are planning to set up another call for Working Groups next year.

 

Sandra Loerakker,

Chair of the Webportal and Working Groups Committee

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Awards 2026

Details about the ESB Awards in 2026 will be announced shortly. For organizational reasons, there will be a separate submission system. A special announcement with all relevant information will be sent out in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

 

Dieter Pahr,

Chair of the Award Committee

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WCB 2026

Following a highly successful ESB 2025 in Zurich, we look forward to the 10th World Congress of Biomechanics   (WCB 2026) that will be held between 11th–15th July 2026 in Vancouver. We hope to see many ESB Members at this event co-organized by the Canadian Society of Biomechanics/Société Canadienne de Biomécanique (CSB/SCB), American Society of Biomechanics (ASB), and ESB. Importantly, this Congress will mark the 50^th Anniversary of ESB. The program overview includes ESB-specific events, including a Plenary and Award session, General Assembly and Anniversary Celebrations. ESB is well represented among the Plenary Speakers and engaged through the Local Organizing Committee, the panel of Track Chairs, and the Student Committee.

Abstract submission is already open on the congress website until 5^th December 2025.

The organizers welcome proposals for sessions, to be submitted by 30^th September.

Please don’t forget to indicate that you are affiliated with ESB when registering, since this is very important for our Society. This will allow us to renew your ESB membership for free for the next year. Moreover, the system will allow a non-member to affiliate themselves to the ESB. This is equally important, so in case you know of people in your group who are not ESB Members yet (and therefore not reached by this newsletter), are not CSB or ASB Members, and will register to the WCB 2026, please encourage them to choose the ESB as primary society of affiliation.

NOTE: only the ESB Student and Regular Members who are in good standing at the time of registration AND who will choose the ESB as primary society of affiliation will get their ESB membership renewed for free until the end of 2027.

Next to the regular ESB awards, ESB Student Members will be able to apply for special awards provided by WCB to receive complimentary registration.

WCB 2026 will offer ESB Corporate Members in good standing a 20% discount for an exhibition space at WCB, up to a maximum of 7 Corporate Members. At this stage there are 7 ESB Corporate Members so all have the chance of getting a discount, if in good standing. However, in case more Corporate Members will be added by the end of the year, the WCB 2026 organisers will use a first come first serve rule and the selection will be finalized by the end of 2025. Corporate Members who have not received information about the WCB sponsorship packages can contact Marlène Mengoni, ESB’s sponsorship chair: sponsorship@esbiomech.org.