The European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) is an academic society that brings together more than 1500 evolutionary biologists from Europe and the rest of the world – researchers, lecturer, students, as well as journalists and other persons interested in evolution. By joining you become part of this academic community.

The European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) was founded on 28 August 1987 in Basel (Switzerland), with about 450 evolutionary biologists attending the inaugural congress of the Society; Arthur Cain became the Society’s first president. The founding of the ESEB was closely linked to the launching of the Society’s journal, the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, with Stephen C. Stearns as the first Editor in Chief, and the first issue appearing in January 1988. See the editorial opening of the journal; see also Steve Stearns’ account of the early days of the ESEB.

ESEB aims at supporting the study of organic evolution. Beside publishing the Journal of Evolutionary Biology and co-publishing Evolution Letters, the society organizes a biannual congress and supports other events to promote advances in evolutionary biology. ESEB also supports activities to promote a scientific view of organic evolution in research and education.

Since its foundation, the ESEB has grown and matured, with currently more than 1500 members, while the Journal of Evolutionary Biology became a major journal in the field. This reflects the growth of the evolutionary biology community in Europe and beyond, which the Society helped to foster.

The success of the ESEB would not be possible without many members who devoted their time and effort to the Society and the journal: elected officers, congress organizers, members of the council, committees, and the editorial boards of the Journal of Evolutionary Biology and Evolution Letters.

ESEB is committed to providing a safe, inclusive and respectful environment. Our Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct outline our values and the standards that we expect all our members, officers, board and committee members and congress participants to adhere to. If you experience, or are aware of, any form of inappropriate behavior within the context of ESEB activities, and if you want to report this, or speak to us about it, you can contact our confidentiality advisor Ms. Joanne Harding (Workforce Window Ltd, joanne@workforcewindow.co.uk).

In contacting our confidentiality advisor in this way, your name would not be communicated further and no actions would be taken without your consent. However, the confidentiality advisor may report the case in anonymized form to the ESEB Steering Committee. You can also report or speak about a case of (potential) inappropriate behavior directly with the ESEB Steering Committee (ellen.decaestecker@kuleuven.be) or with the ESEB Office Manager Dr. Ute Friedrich (office@eseb.org); your case will then be brought to the attention of the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is responsible for handling complaints, which may include involving an external party or our confidentiality advisor to investigate the case, and for deciding on appropriate actions.