Activities

FEMS advances the microbiology community through Magnifying Microbial Impact. Our activities are championing and driving science, uplifting the next generation, fostering scientific communities, and creating space for microbiologists to convene, both in-person and online, to drive impact. 

• 

  We publish seven highly regarded journals – Articles from our journals are read over 5.7 million times annually (2024). Together, they provide the revenues that support our charitable activities, enabling us to continue Investing in Science. All our journals, except FEMS Microbiology Letters, are fully Open Access. We thank and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of every contributor to this process: the Authors, the Editorial boards, Editors, Reviewers and our not-for-profit publisher, Oxford University Press (OUP) who together make this possible. Our Journals also award prizes to the best research they encounter at scientific meetings and in their publications each year.

• We hold a biennial scientific congress and other events – Our FEMS MICRO: Congress & Exhibition is hosted in different European locations and hosts some of the biggest names in microbiology, attracting around 2,000 participants; we run the FEMS Summer School for Postdocs, and the FEMS Webinar series

• We provide research, travel, industry placement, and meeting organizer grants – In 2019, we gave out more than 300 grants worth nearly EUR 500,000 to members of our Member Societies and Congress attendees.

• We recognize excellence by giving out awards – Our first awards program was set up in 1999, we now give several types of award to recognize excellence in microbiology. These awards include our most prestigious award FEMS-Lwoff Award, the Måkåla-Cassell Award with the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), and FEMS Journal Article Awards. Among other awards, we also award excellence in Science Communication and Early Career Research.

• We promote education, and continuing professional development – our Education Network runs sessions at our Congress and inspired the Professional Development section in FEMS Microbiology Letters. Our well renowned FEMS Webinar series brings regular top-quality scientific lectures to a global audience for free, and our Resource Hub contains a curated selection of education initatives.

• We lead outreach initiatives and science communication through our projects such as International Microorganism Day, the #FEMSmicroBlog, and our Microbes and Us podcast. We also train and manage volunteers from the microbiology community for our #OnThisDay, and Journal Social Media Editor (JSME), volunteer teams. The FEMS Opportunities Board provides a one-stop-shop for finding all the latest jobs, events, resources, and initiatives from the microbiology community.

• We initiated and fund the European Academy of Microbiology (EAM) – A leadership group of eminent microbiology experts, with their own high impact Open Access journal microLife (Twitter: @microLifeJrnl)

• Our international ambassadors in China, Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, Canada and Australia help us promote our mission, vision, and activities of spreading microbiology knowledge, and connecting microbiologists and microbiological societies for benefit of humankind.

To stay up to date with all our latest activities make sure to sign up to our newsletters or follow us on Bluesky, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or YouTube.