The FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE Conference is an international, interdisciplinary 3-day event entirely organized for and by young researchers – PhD students and postdocs – from the molecular life sciences disciplines, bringing together up to 300 young participants from all over the world.

From experts in biomedical research to pub talks with local citizens, and from useful workshops to alternative career chats with scientists, this event has been fully planned and organized by young scientists thinking about the research interests, career needs, and networking preferences of other young researchers.

The 2023 conference will be held from 23–25 November at the University of Cologne, in Germany. For participants that arrive already the day before the conference, we have planned a brewery tour and a pub quiz. This year, we are implementing several measures to organize a sustainable event and together with our partner Tree-Nation, we will plant one tree for every participant.

What to expect?

Unlike most other conferences, the program is entirely devised by young researchers. The conference promotes excellence in the molecular life sciences, linking science, career, and communication with the general public. To achieve this, the conference comprises three main parts:

• a scientific symposium that explores the latest research and pioneering developments in biomedical research, as well as give young scientists an opportunity to present their work through short talks, flash talks, and posters;
• activities focused on career development, with a Career Day that includes workshops, career chats with professionals, and a job fair;
• diverse outreach activities in Cologne, to engage with the general public and give all stakeholders a voice on biomedical discoveries.

Supporting excellence

FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE are a series of International Molecular Biosciences PhD and Postdoc Conferences founded by the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) and the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB). These events are organized together with the four partner institutions of ENABLE (European Academy for Biomedical Science): IRB Barcelona (Spain), the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (The Netherlands), the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (Denmark), and the European School of Molecular Medicine (Italy), in collaboration with the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (Spain), which hosted last year’s conference, and the University of Cologne (Germany), where the 2023 event will be held.

The scientific and career development programme

The known and unknown effects of a changing environment on organismal and human health are investigated by many researchers worldwide and are one of the research focuses of the University of Cologne. This has inspired the theme 'The emerging challenge: Environmental impacts on human health' for the FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE 2023 conference. The event will bring together researchers from different fields to learn more about the interlink of the environment and biomedical sciences.

The conference will highlight the latest discoveries in fields such as computational biology and machine learning, oncology, immunology, microbiome research, be(e)havioral studies, neurobiology, epigenetics and systems genetics. It will explore a wide range of cutting-edge research techniques, as well as illustrate the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration among researchers to foster scientific discoveries. Eight renowned keynote speakers from different fields will share their expertise and experience in four sessions:

• Insights into complex diseases, with Serena Nik-Zainal (University of Cambridge, UK) and Dirk Haller (Technical University of Munich, Germany)
• Novel experimental model systems, with Solenn Patalano (BSRC Alexander Fleming, Greece) and Maria Bernabeu (EMBL Barcelona, Spain)
• Epigenetics and exposome, with Martin Howard (John Innes Centre, UK) and David Aylor (North Carolina State University, US)
• Computational modeling, with Fernanda Pinheiro (Human Technopole, Italy) and Francesco Paolo Casale (Helmholtz Institute of AI for Health, Germany)

Additionally, the third day of the conference will be entirely dedicated to professional development. We have organized a job fair and many different workshops on career development including: How to publish your work, How to deal with burnout and impostor syndrome, Entrepreneurship meets science, Scientific integrity or Sustainability in the lab. Finally, we have organized career chats with professionals with a scientific background that now work as publishers, consultants, clinical safety managers, patent lawyers, or science communication, so participants can learn about alternative careers in science.

Your host for the event

The 2nd International FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE Conference will be held by the University of Cologne in Cologne, Germany. With over 50,000 students, the University of Cologne covers a broad field of disciplines with a strong focus on Life Sciences and it promotes scientific and strategic collaborations and connects basic research to translational medicine.

Cologne is the fourth biggest city in Germany and it is one of the most vibrant cities in the heart of Europe. Cologne is renowned for its arts and cultural scene, and famous for its Cathedral, the third largest gothic cathedral in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Cologne is also well-known for being a lively and international university city, as well as for its Carnival and Christmas markets, which participants could enjoy when visiting the city at the end of November.

Registration is now open!

Early bird registration is now open and there are many travel grants available! The deadline for travel grant and short talk application is 15th September. The early bird registration fee is 150 EUR and it includes the conference dinner on 24th November.

We encourage abstract submissions from all areas of Life Sciences and Biochemistry for the 2nd FEBS-IUBMB-ENABLE International Molecular Biosciences PhD and Postdoc Conference. REGISTER now and don’t miss your place in Cologne!

First published 14 August 2023.