Letter from the EFIS President

Dear friends and colleagues,

It is my great pleasure as President of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) to invite you to the European Congress of Immunology (ECI) in Vienna, September 6-9, 2015.

This will be the fourth joint meeting of European National Societies of Immunology and EFIS. The first, held in Paris in 2006, was an outstanding success. It was followed by events in Berlin in 2009 and Glasgow 2012, which confirmed the high-level scientific inter actions and proved the importance of a strong immunological network in Europe. The ECI is a lucent example of the close interrelationship of the many European immunology societies with their umbrella society EFIS.

EFIS represents 31 national societies, which together count over 12,000 individual members. The main goal of EFIS is to support immunology in the scientific arena of Europe and to bring together established scientists and young researchers from academia and industry by generously supporting meetings, conferences and workshops and funding the travel expenses of young scientists to attend scientific events or to undertake short-term research visits to top-level laboratories. Moreover, EFIS regularly acknowledges top-notch researchers with prestigious prizes, such as the Ita Askonas Award given to leading female immunlogists and its Young Researcher Award. EFIS is also proud to be able to partner with its official journals, Immunology Letters and European Journal of Immunology, in order to achieve these afore-mentioned goals.

Another very important mission of EFIS is to raise awareness among the general public, mass media and policymakers about the importance of the immune system, immunology research and the consequent options for modern immune interventions for health and well-being. Toward this end, EFIS established the Day of Immunology (DoI), which first took place on April 29, 2005, and continues to this day with great success. Moreover, several interactive tools (a web-exhibition and interactive book www.inside-immunity.org and www.interactive-immunity.org) as well as printed educational material for youngsters (Your Amazing Immune System) have been created and are freely available to every web-user. Please visit our web-site (www.efis.org) to learn more about our mission, incentives and activities ranging from supporting the education of young immunologists to increasing public awareness of immunology research.

Scientific meetings, such as ECI 2015 – which continues to take shape and promises to be a showcase event for the European immunology community – provide one of the best opportunities to create and strengthen networks among individual EFIS members. On behalf of EFIS, its Board and our affilated Societies, I cordially invite you to join us in Vienna from September 6-9, 2015!

With best wishes,

Professor Lorenzo Moretta, M.D.
President, EFIS