European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology

The European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ESMTB) is a non-profit academic society designed to bring together mathematicians and biologists interested in the use of mathematical and theoretical techniques for the solution of biological and medical problems. It was founded in 1991 during the holding of its first conference in Alpe d'Huez, France. It is a member society of the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM). The society's official journal is the Journal of Mathematical Biology.

History Origins The European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology was founded in 1991 at its first conference, entitled European Conference on Mathematics Applied to Biology and Medicine, held in Alpe d'Huez. The mention of medicine in the title of this conference was relevant because much of the applied mathematics researched by members has related to medical topics. The founding President, James Murray developed models of wound healing as well as applying mathematics to many other areas of medicine and biology. Andrea De Gaetano is a qualified physician and has published many papers on applied mathematics in medicine. Ellen Baake has worked on mathematical immunobiology.

Past presidents Presidents of the Society have reflected important developments in mathematical and theoretical biology. +Past presidents of ESMTBNameDurationAffiliation James D. Murray 1991-1993 University of Washington 1994-1996 University of Tübingen Jacques Demongeot 1997-1999 Grenoble Alpes University Vincenzo Capasso 2000-2002 University of Milan Mats Gyllenberg 2003-2005 University of Helsinki 2006-2008 University of Bonn 2009-2011 University of Évora Andrea Pugliese 2012-2014 University of Trento Roeland Merks 2015-2017 University of Leiden Andrea De Gaetano 2018-2020 Óbuda University Ellen Baake 2021-2023 Bielefeld University

Activities

Aims The aims of the Society are to promote the application of mathematical and theoretical solutions to biological problems through organisation of meetings, support of publications, and benefits to members. The aims of the Society also involve collaborations with other organisations in the same and related fields.

Management The activities of the ESMTB are managed by a Board elected by its members. The full board is given in the table below.

+ESMTB BoardPositionNameAffiliation President Benoît Perthame Sorbonne University Vice-President Victor Pérez Treasurer Angélique Stéphanou Grenoble Alpes University Secretary Zuzanna Szymańska University of Warsaw Other board members Tom Britton Stockholm University José A. Carrillo University of Oxford Marie Doumic-Jauffret Ecole Polytechnique Elisenda Feliu University of Copenhagen Tommaso Lorenzi Polytechnic University of Turin Nikolaos Sfakianakis University of St Andrews

Affiliations and Partnerships The academic credibility of the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology has been established through its affiliations and partnerships. The ESMTB is an Associate Member of the European Mathematical Society. It is an affiliated Member of the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The ESMTB has partnerships with the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Japanese Society for Mathematical Biology, the NVTB (Dutch Society for Theoretical Biology) and the SFTB (Société Francophone de Biologie Théorique). Existing members of these organisations get discounts when applying for membership. The partnership with the Society for Mathematical Biology is particularly relevant, as the Society for Mathematical Biology states on its website: "The Society has agreed to hold a joint annual meeting with the European Society for Mathematical & Theoretical Biology every four years". The 2026 European Conference on Mathematical & Theoretical Biology was a joint event of ESMTB and the Society for Mathematical Biology.

Publications The peer reviewed Journal of Mathematical Biology is the official journal of the Society. The ESMTB also publishes the European Communications in Mathematical and Theoretical Biology annually to its members. Members of the Society also receive the monthly ESMTB Newsletter. Under the title Perspectives in Mathematical Biology the ESMTB also invited short contributions on mathematical and theoretical biology that were published in the Journal of Mathematical Biology between 2006 and 2020. Since 2020 these contributions have been discontinued.

Meetings The ESMTB holds biennial conferences. It also supports online colloqia, and summer schools (in conjunction with the European Mathematical Society).

Prizes

Reinardt Heinrich Award The Society awards an annual Reinhardt Heinrich Doctoral Thesis Award in memory of Reinhardt Heinrich, to recognise outstanding doctoral thesis research, and to commemorate the role of Heinrich in mentoring young scientists. Recent recipients of the award are shown in the table below.

+ Reinhardt Heinrich Doctoral Thesis Award winners Year Name Affiliation Thesis title 2025 Carles Falcó University of Oxford Interactions and dynamics in collective cell behaviour 2024 Simon Syga TU Dresden Impacts of Genetic and Phenotypic Heterogeneity on Tumor Evolution 2023 Kishore Hari Indian Institute of Science Design Principles of Phenotypic Robustness and Plasticity in Gene Regulatory Networks Underlying Cancer Metastasis

Karl-Peter Hadeler Prize The Society's official journal, the Journal of Mathematical Biology, awards the Karl-Peter Hadeler Prize to recognise outstanding publications in that journal. Karl-Peter Hadeler was both a founder of the Journal of Mathematical Biology and of the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology.

Ovide Arino Award In collaboration with the Société Francophone de Biologie Théorique (SFBT) the ESMTB awards a prize to a researcher from a "Southern country" where "Southern" may be read as equivalent to developing country although in fact there is a specific list of eligible countries. The successful candidate must have been carrying out research in an eligible country at the time of application, in collaboration with a European or other French-speaking country. The award commemorates the French mathematician Ovide Arino.

European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology

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