Dear Subscriber, We are pleased to present the Summer 2020 news updates from the European Society of Biomechanics. In this newsletter, we summarized the main activities of the ESB in the last six months although, like many things, heavily influenced by Covid-19. As usual, all members are welcome to actively contribute information to this newsletter and to the ESB website in general. Let me know of anything of general interest, scientific articles, advertisements, upcoming meetings or particular items of discussion.
Michele Conti, Chair of the Publication Committee
From the President
It is my privilege to start this Newsletter, and I feel honored for two reasons. First, it allows me to announce this new and extra Newsletter. Even though autumn started today, we have named the newsletter “Summer Newsletter”, because it complements the traditional Spring and Autumn Newsletters. With this Summer Newsletter the Council will report information that in normal times would have been presented at the General Assembly. But these are not normal times. The corona/covid-19 pandemic has been affecting our lives for nearly this entire year now; you know all about that. Hence, time for the Summer Newsletter!
The second reason is that I can address you as the president of the ESB. During the first meeting of the council I got appointed, and I am very thankful for the trust that I have received from the other council members. As primus inter pares I am excited to lead a wonderful team and I am convinced that we can continue working in the open, constructive and respectful atmosphere that I have experienced during the past six years.
Click read more for news about council members, ESB committees, conference, and awards.
Harry van Lenthe, ESB President
Meeting News
Next ESB conferences, save the dates!
Due to the Covid19 crisis this year we did not have any ESB congress and the planned ESBiomech2020 in Milan has been postponed to 2021.
Awards for 2020 have been presented in the successful ESB Online Sessions that were held on 13-14th July 2020! Thanks to all who joined and you can find the links to the presentations in our ESB YouTube Channel.
This year there will be no call for bids for the organisation of the next ESB congresses as annual congresses have been already planned until 2024.
The next ESB congresses will be as following:
26th Congress of the ESB (ESBiomech2021) in Milan
check out the already accepted Perspective talks!
Given the serious nature of the growing COVID pandemic, the ESBiomech2020 Organizing Committee and the ESB Council have made the decision to postpone ESBiomech2020 to July 2021. We have secured the same venue (Politecnico di Milano) for the ESBiomech2021 congress that will occur from July 11-14, 2021. Please save the date for next year and see below more details about the congress).
After the enthusiastic response from ESB members and the scientific community, with more than 1,000 submissions, the COVID-19 emergency forced us to postpone the annual Congress.
The abstract submission will open again in October and the contributions will need to be submitted de novo and will go through a new revision process. Be prepared to submit your latest results.
Submissions of Perspective Talks are not planned as we decided to keep those accepted for the 2020 Congress.
The list of the accepted Perspective Talks can be seen at:
https://esbiomech.org/conference/esb2021/perspective-talks/
All the information for ESB2021 can be found at http://www.esbiomech2021.org/
ESBiomech2021 Organisers
27th Congress of the ESB (ESBiomech2022) in Porto
In 2022 the 27th Congress of ESB will be held in Porto, Portugal. The congress will take place at the Alfandega Porto Congress Center, situated in the heart of Porto’s historic city centre, from 26-29 June 2022.
The city of Porto is the perfect symbiosis of tradition and modern, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996.
The congress chairs are Joăo Manuel R.S. Tavares (University of Porto), Paulo R. Fernandes (University of Lisbon) and Renato Natal Jorge (University of Porto). The ESBiomech2022 will present an exciting scientific programme incorporating all the traditional ESB sessions but also bringing new activities.
The main theme of the ESBiomech2022 will be Biomechanics: Innovation, technology and societal impact. There will be many networking activities planned for students and delegates.
We are looking forward to welcome you to ESBiomech2022 in Porto!
ESBbiomech2022 Organisers
28th Congress of the ESB (ESBiomech2023) in Maastricht
In 2023 the 28th Congress of ESB will be held in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The congress will take place at the MECC Convention Center, situated just outside the city center, from 9-12 July 2023. ESBiomech2023 will be jointly organized by three renowned universities in close proximity to each other: Eindhoven University of Technology, KU Leuven, and the University of Liege.
Congratulations to the Edinburgh team for ESBiomech2024!
We would like to congratulate to the local organizing committee in Edinburgh who won the bid for organizing ESBiomech2024! The council was impressed by the proposal and we are looking forward to bring ESB back to Scotland! More details will be provided in future communications.
Endorsed meetings by the ESB
icSPORTS
5-6 November 2020
Budapest, Hungary
ESB members will receive a 20% reduction on registration fees.
13th International Conference BIOMDLORE 2020
post-poned to 2021
Trakai, Lithuania
ESB members will receive a 20% reduction on registration fees.
Biomechanics 2020
post-poned to 8-10 September 2021
Warsaw, Poland
https://biomechanics2020.wum.edu.pl/en
ESB members will receive a 20% reduction on registration fees.
5th Virtual Physiological Human Summer School
post-poned to 7-11 June 2021
Barcelona, Spain
This new edition focuses on Tackling Complexity in Health & Medicine.
ESB members will pay the same reduced registration fees as VPH members (150 euros instead of 250 euros for the whole week).
Other meetings
TERMIS21
31 May- 4 June 2021
Maastricht, The Netherlands
https://www.termis.org/wc2021/
2021 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference (SB3C 2021)
13-16 June 2021
Vail, Colorado, USA
www.sb3c.org
BioMedEng21
6-7 September 2021
Sheffield, UK
Enrico Dall’Ara, Chair of the Meetings and External Affairs Committee
Dieter Pahr, Chair of the Meetings WebPortal Committee
ESB Awards
The society recognises the outstanding work performed by our members through multiple awards. We are proud to announce the winners of the following 2020 awards:
Winner of the Best Doctoral Thesis in Biomechanics: Alberto Sensini (University of Bologna, Italy)
Winner of the ESB Student Award: Jorge Barrasa-Fano (KU Leuven, Belgium)
Winner of the Clinical Biomechanics Award: Hans Kainz (University of Vienna, Austria & KU Leuven, Belgium)
Congratulations to all!
Call for nominations: The Huiskes Medal for Biomechanics 2021
We call for nominations for the most prestigious award of the ESB, given to senior researchers who have contributed significantly to biomechanics throughout their careers, nominated by at least two ESB members. Deadline for receipt of nominations is the 1st of December, 2020.
Markus Heller, Vice President of the ESB and Chair of the Awards Committee
ESB Education and Student Committee
ESB Webinar series
The next webinar on ITK-SNAP ( http://www.itksnap.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php) is coming up this fall! We’ll keep you posted on the exact timing and topic.
Recordings of all webinars can be seen by subscribing to the ESB You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ESBiomech
Extraordinary additional call for one ESB Mobility Award for early career researchers!
The ESB Mobility Grant aims to provide ESB members with financial assistance to carry out collaborative research in a foreign country as part of their PhD or postdoctoral research.
The application deadline is 30th November 2020. The winner will be announced by the 30th January 2021. The exchange period should take place within 18 months of receiving the award (from 1st February 2021 until 31h July 2022).
More information on the eligibility requirements, application, review and selection process can be found at: https://esbiomech.org/student-section/esb-mobility-award/
Winners Mobility Award 2020
Congratulations to the winners of the Mobility Award 2020!!!!
Míriam Febrer Nafrá from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain to ETH Zürich, Switzerland. Joeri Kok from Lund University, Sweden to Tel-Aviv University, Israël. Maria Pastrama from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands to EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland.
More information can be found here: https://esbiomech.org/esb-mobility-award-winners-2020/
This year we will have an extraordinary call for one additional Mobility Award, see here for more information: https://esbiomech.org/student-section/esb-mobility-award/.
Aurélie Carlier, Vice President of the ESB and Chair of the Awards Committee
Treasurer’s Report
The financial status of our society is typically being discussed during the General Assembly. Given that no General Assembly was held this year, we have not been able to share the financial situation of the ESB with you. It is our pleasure to do so in this Newsletter.
Jérôme Noailly and Harry van Lenthe
Diversity-Inclusion and Membership News
Membership news for 2021 as a response to COVID-19 pandemic
Given the perturbations of the ESB services to the community caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Council has decided that all paying members (Active, Students and Corporate), in good standing in 2020, will have their 2021 membership automatically renewed at no cost.
New committee new name
With a name change of the former Membership Committee the ESB is launching a renewed emphasis on diversity in our society. As engineers and scientists addressing the challenges society faces, we know that diverse teams are the most effective and the most creative in providing solutions. As humans we know that it is right that talent is recognised and promoted wherever it is to be found, and as humans we acknowledge that certain backgrounds do have more privileges than others.
Mark Thompson, Chair of the Diversity-Inclusion and Membership Committee
ESB National Chapters & External Affairs News
ESB National Chapters
Italian ESB Chapter
The Italian Chapter has postponed the Thematic Symposium “Biomechanics for Clinics” to next year (September 2021). The symposium, which will be held in Massa, will explore past experiences, current realities and future possibilities for biomechanical studies in hospitals and medical environments. The meeting will also host the General Assembly of ESB-ITA. A mixed mode of participation (online and in presence) is currently being explored. Moreover, the Italian Chapter is actively participating to the organisation of the 26th ESB Congress in Milan.
Michele Marino, on behalf of the Italian Chapter of the ESB.
Spanish ESB Chapter
no news from the ESB Spanish Chapter.
Austrian ESB Chapter
An ESB-Austria conference event foreseen for the spring 2020 had to be postponed, and plans are being made to convert into a virtual meeting to take place in the coming months.
Christian Hellmich, on behalf of the Austrian Chapter of the ESB.
Affiliated Societies
Swedish Society of Biomechanics
The International Society of Biomechanics congress 2021 in Stockholm will be taking place. Hopefully as a complete, physical meeting at which the whole international biomechanics community can finally meet, socialise, share science and create networks again. However, due to the present situation and uncertainty over its development the organising committee is planning on different scenarios. Perhaps most likely is a physical conference but with a lower attendance than would otherwise be expected. In the worst case the conference may need to be completely digital. We have plans for all scenarios and intend to have various levels of streaming regardless of which scenario eventuates. ISB2021 in Stockholm will in any case be an international meeting with high scientific quality. We are not cancelling or postponing the congress
Toni Ardt and Hanna Isaksson, on behalf of the Swedish Society of Biomechanics
Virtual Physiological Human Institute (VPHi)
Due to the difficulties connected to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the VPH2020 conference took place from the 24th to the 28th of August completely on-line. Despite the new digital format, the conference proved to be extremely successful, not only by attracting a very large number of participants, but also by presenting an innovative program with a special COVID-19 day, very interesting sessions and great science! The organisation of the VPH2020 conference was in the hands of Inria and partners, co-chaired by Dominque Chapelle, and Irène Vignon-Clémentel.The registration figures – more than 600 participants! – have shown a very large support from the community for the digital format. A total of 330 abstracts were presented – with 28 countries represented – among which about 58 hours of oral sessions. You can find more information here: https://www.vph-institute.org/news/vph2020-hits-a-new-record-with-over-600-participants.html
VPHi Institute
International Society for Biofabrication (ISBF)
The ISBF and ESB are happy to remind you that there will be an exciting ESB-ISBF session at the forthcoming TERMIS 2021 that will be held in Maastricht on 31stMay-4thJune 2021.
Our past president María Angeles Pérez Anson will give a keynote at the symposium on Biomechanics of 3D(Bio)printed materials.
Mark Thompson, Chair of the Membership Committee
Enrico Dall’Ara, Chair of the Meetings and External Affairs Committee
