SIG37 Conference

50ème Congrès de la Société de Biomécanique

27th - 29th October 2025

Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France

The program is available on the congress website: sb2025-marseille.sciencesconf.org

Introduction:

The Société de Biomécanique (SB) is an international French-speaking learned society founded in 1976. Today, the SB has over 350 members, 2/3 of whom are senior researchers and 1/3 juniors from academic laboratories. Its mission is to disseminate, share and communicate up-to-date knowledge on the mechanics of living organisms. Its annual congress is a key part of this mission, and a flagship event for the entire biomechanics community.

The Société de Biomécanique has chosen Marseille to host the SB 2025 congress. This will also be the 50th SB congress. It is organized by a committee bringing together 6 laboratories in Marseille.

Objectives:

The Société de Biomécanique congress is an annual event bringing together the whole French-speaking biomechanics community (not only France). The congress enables the latest advances in scientific research in biomechanics to be disseminated. Organized over 3 days, the congress encourages exchanges, whether through oral communications or posters, or through discussion forums during the intersessions.

Emphasis is placed on the participation of young researchers and students, particularly PhD students, for whom the SB congress is generally the first opportunity to present their work to the biomechanics community and to feed their scientific project through exchanges.

Expected results:

For the SB 2025 conference, 250 to 300 participants are expected over the 3 days, including around 100 students and a dozen industrial partners (long-standing SB partners or special sponsors of the event) presenting their products. Industry stands will be set up throughout the 3-day event, providing an opportunity for exchanges between researchers and industry. Workshops specially organized by SB's long-standing industrial partners will showcase the latest products at the cutting edge of technology.

The congress will promote the latest advances in biomechanics and mechanobiology, with ever-increasing healthcare applications: tissue engineering, mechanical diagnostics, prediction of surgical outcomes, adjuvant therapies, sport and disability... In particular, it will promote interdisciplinary and translational research. Exchanges will be encouraged to foster national and international collaborations. Biomechanics is an interdisciplinary discipline, at the interface between mechanics, physics, biology and clinical science. The SB congress is aimed at a broad audience from these four communities, and aims to bring these different audiences together for rich and stimulating discussions. To this end, a session dedicated to translational research will be specifically organized for this congress in Marseille, with presentations made jointly by clinicians and experts in biomechanics.

Detailed program:

The main theme of the congress is: 50 years of Biomechanics - from Inspiration to Treatment.

Around this theme, there will be 3 plenary lectures (1 per day) lasting 45 min:

• "Using robots as scientific tools to decipher animal locomotion"by Prof. Auke Ijspeert (EPFL, Switzerland), preceding a special Bio-Locomotion session;
• "Biomechanics by the clinician and the biomechanician" by a clinician-researcher pairing by Pr. Celi Simona - Dr. Dorela Haxhiademi from the University of Pisa, prior to the translational research session;
• "Global and Local Narratives on How Sports Biomechanics Develop: Trends in the Past and Future" by Pr. Hiro Numone, member of the Japanese Biomechanics Society and invited by the SB.

120 to 140 speakers are expected to give oral and poster presentations. Oral presentations will last 10 to 12 minutes and will be grouped into themed sessions. Over the entire duration of the congress, 6 to 7 1h15 slots are planned, enabling 3 thematic sessions to be held in parallel. Poster presentations will take place during the intersessions. A special “poster pitch” session will be organized in the plenary room, giving poster speakers 2 minutes each to present their work and poster in a few sentences to all participants.

30-minute plenary presentations will be organized to hear the winners of the various SB awards present their work. These awards recognize the work of a senior researcher (Christian Oddou Award), a junior researcher (Young Researcher Award), a young doctor (Thesis Award) and a young researcher in sports biomechanics (Jean Vivès Award). An honorary member will also be invited to present his or her work.

Finally, workshops will be organized to enable SB's industrial partners to propose and discuss specific equipment and/or techniques with the researchers. During the inter-session coffee breaks (1 morning, 1 afternoon), delegates will be able to visit the industry stands.

Scientific impact:

The SB congress is an annual event with a strong national reputation. It brings together France's broad biomechanics community. In particular, it enables young researchers to build up their network. The scientific committee is organized into 12 themes. Abstracts are reviewed by two researchers. The results of these assessments are presented in the form of an oral communication, a poster or a refusal. The work is disseminated through publication of the abstracts of the oral communications or posters presented, in the Multidisciplinary Biomechanics Journal (https://mbj-preprod.episciences.org/). This journal was created by the SB and is open access to enable the widest possible dissemination of Biomechanics Research.

Affiliations with international learned societies exist and are honored at SB congresses (https://www.biomecanique.org/fr/la-societe-de-biomecanique/rayonnement-et-affiliation). The Japanese Society of Biomechanics will be a guest at SB 2025, with a plenary lecture by one of its representatives scheduled during the congress. International researchers will also be present at the other two conferences, with equal numbers of men and women.

Congress website: sb2025-marseille.sciencesconf.org