FEMS Regional COLLAB (14.-15.9.)

About

About

FEMS Regional COLLAB

Expand your network. Shape new collaborations

Scientists often need partners with complementary expertise to solve complex problems. At this meeting, you will meet exactly those people – and many of them are closer than you think.

FEMS Regional COLLAB is a new type of FEMS meeting in Vienna, 14-15 September 2026, designed to help microbiologists build meaningful, long-lasting collaborations across Central Europe. Coming directly before the ÖGMBT Annual Meeting (a FEBS3+ meeting), it creates the perfect moment to connect with regional peers. FEMS Regional COLLAB focuses on Central Europe and is co-shaped by three FEMS member societies from Austria, Croatia and Slovenia.

Why a regional meeting?

The goal is to connect researchers who live and work near each other, making it easier to start and sustain collaborations, project consortia, and joint funding applications. International guests are very welcome and bring valuable complementary perspectives to the regional network!

Bridging academia, industry, and funders

We see a strong need to connect academic research with application and impact at an early project stage.

This meeting creates structured opportunities for:

• Academic scientists to explore exploitation potential and application routes for microbial solutions with industry partners.
• Industry researchers to meet academic groups, outline real-world challenges, and co-develop research ideas.
• Funding agencies to present schemes and, importantly, listen to academia and industry about emerging needs and future topic calls.

Main objectives

During FEMS Regional COLLAB, we aim to:

• Get to know each other and learn from each other’s expertise.
• Identify opportunities for future joint and cross-border research projects.
• Explore what makes collaborations with industry successful in practice.

What you can expect

This is a regional matchmaking event, designed for scientists from academia, industry and funding stakeholders.

We keep plenary content short and interaction time long.

Participants will:

• Meet peers and like-minded colleagues from neighbouring countries, facing similar scientific and practical challenges, and leave with a concrete list of people you can contact directly.
• Learn from scientists working on the same themes and methodologies you are dealing with in your own projects.
• Experience how dedicated time for networking and discussion helps you grow as a professional and sparks new ideas.

Who should attend?

FEMS Regional COLLAB is ideal for:

• Scientists at all career stages who are curious, collaborative, and eager to build new networks.
• Late-stage PhD students, early postdocs, tenure-track researchers and early PIs who want to:
  • form new project consortia
  • prepare European or bilateral funding applications
  • find complementary expertise in the region
• Company and industry partners who want to engage with academia, present challenges, and co-design solutions and consortia.
• Funding agencies interested in presenting programmes and learning directly from researchers and industry where support is most needed.

Meeting format

We use an engaging, highly interactive format that maximizes participation:

Plenary kick-off – Short scene-setting talks and a panel outlining scientific themes and collaboration opportunities.

Scientific introduction talks – Brief presentations from research groups highlighting groups expertise diversity in key microbiology areas:

• Biotechnology: synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, microbial bioprocesses, enzyme engineering – solving applied problems.
• Eco innovations: circular bioeconomy, waste valorization, sustainable biorefineries, microbiome engineering – addressing environmental challenges.
• Health horizons: antimicrobial resistance, microbiome therapeutics, viral diagnostics, vaccine platforms – exploring medical frontiers.

Table discussion rounds – Moderated small-group discussions where everyone can contribute, designed to connect people with shared interests.

Poster session & reception – Intensively networked poster session followed by an informal reception to continue conversations.

Dedicated stakeholder rooms – Separate spaces for industry, funding bodies, and publishing to enable focused dialogue, open new perspectives, and broaden horizons.

Open Space Technology – Participant-driven sessions where attendees propose and lead breakout topics, consolidating discussions into concrete action plans with clear next steps.