The FAOBMB began sponsoring its own scientific meetings in 1977. FAOBMB Congresses, organized triennially, and FAOBMB Symposia, held in intervening years, are major scientific activities, which are co-hosted by a local society or group and sponsored by the IUBMB. A Congress, 1,000 – 2,000 participants in size, is a gathering for discussing and presenting major topics in biochemistry and molecular biology and has become a main event in the biochemical calendar of the region. A Symposium, now called a Conference, usually with 100 – 500 attendees, is used to focus on local scientific matters or specific topics in the region, depending on the host organization.
The FAOBMB has several Endowment Funds, interest from which is used to sponsor Plenary Lectureships at every FAOBMB Congress: These are the Osamu Hayaishi Lecture, the Takashi Murachi Memorial Lecture, the Jisnuson Svasti Lecture and the Kunio Yagi Lecture. An FAOBMB lecture has been added to this list of Plenary Lectures.
In 2003, the Federation accepted a new Endowment Fund from Yasuhiro Anraku and decided to found a FAOBMB Young Scientist Award (at each Congress there being two awards, one each to highly accomplished male and female scientists).
It was agreed that whenever an IUBMB International Congress is held in the Asian-Pacific region, it will be held jointly with the FAOBMB Congress. To this end, the triennial Congress schedules of both organizations are now synchronized.
A list of previous FAOBMB Congresses and Conferences back to 1977 can be found here.
A detailed list of recent and future Congresses and Conferences, both for FAOBMB and IUBMB can be found here.
Guidelines to assist the Organising Committees of FAOBMB Congresses and Conferences can be accessed here. These Guidelines can also be used by Constituent Members of FAOBMB when preparing a bid for a future FAOBMB Congress or Conference.