International Society of Biometeorology and EMS sign MoU

The International Society of Biometeorology and the EMS have recently signed an agreement that specifies the arrangements for the cooperation between the two organisations; this is based on our shared vision of advancing meteorology and in particular biometeorology for the benefit of societies within Europe and elsewhere.

The Memorandum of Understanding was approved by the EMS Council at its recent Session C47 in August 2021.

The ISB provides an international forum for the promotion of interdisciplinary collaboration between meteorologists, health professionals, biologists, climatologists, ecologists and other scientists. The Society, as a community of scientists with similar interests, fulfils an important role in providing information, expertise and advice to international organizations requesting this assistance.

The society organises the triennial “International Congress of Biometeorology”,  a report of the most recent one is provided here:

From 20-22 September the International Society of Biometeorology hosted its first ever Virtual International Congress of Biometeorology, “Connecting our World: Biometeorology 2021”.  Organized by the Executive Board, led by Scott Sheridan, Michael Allen, Jennifer Fitchett, and Adam Kalkstein, a total of 255 delegates, representing 44 countries, participated in the meeting.  The most represented countries were the USA with 57, Brazil with 26, Poland and Australia with 16 each, and India with 14.  University professors, government researchers, weather forecasters, local health officials, private industry representatives, and at least 22 graduate students were all part of the 3-day event.

The first day of the event featured several guest roundtable events that were open to all, even those not registered for the congress, and covered themes such as Climate Change and Production Animals, the UTCI, and Cool Cities.  Several commission meetings and the Students and New Professionals Group also met that day.  Tuesday and Wednesday featured a mixture of live presentations and poster discussions, organized thematically on Tuesday, and regionally on Wednesday.

Feedback on the conference was overall very supportive, with many positive comments about the ability for the event to bring together biometeorologists from across the world, without travel and registration costs as a limiting factor. While the many time zones were an inevitable barrier, the conference was staggered to last up to 14 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday to allow for ample participation in parts of the event regardless of time zone.  The Executive Board of ISB will consider potentially offering hybrid conferences in the future, as a way of taking advantage of the changes in how people meet over the past year and a half.

Participants can still access all material on the site https://www.eventscribe.net/2021/ICB2021/ through December.

Scott Sheridan, Congress Chair

Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Biometeorology
Associate Editor, Science of the Total Environment
President-Elect, International Society of Biometeorology
Professor and Departmental Chair
Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242 USA