EMBO’s women in science program began in the early 2000s, with a special meeting called “The Glass Ceiling for Women in the Life Sciences being held in June 2001, and Gerlind Wallon producing a position paper highlighting the issues facing women in the life sciences in December of the same year.
In 2002, EMBO established Re-Start Fellowships, the purpose of which was to support women scientists who wanted to return to the bench after having taken a break (eg. Maternity leave), with 2 year fellowships.
In 2006, the Set-Routes initiative was established. For a period of 3 years, The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the European Organization for Particle Physics (CERN) managed an initiative to increase the visibility of women in science in education by mobilising “successful women in science, engineering and technology (SET) to go into schools and universities throughout Europe and beyond.” This project was funded by the European Commission.
In October 2008, EMBO council stated that all EMBO programmes were to keep statistics and have established rules and guidelines that highlight and address the under-representation of women in science, and in that same year the first EMBO/FEBS Women in Science awardee was chosen.
The Women in Science programme has engaged in other activities, including holding meetings, publishing reports on the issues facing women in science in scientific journals, and funding lectures by prominent women scientists.
The Young Investigator Program scheme was designed from the outset to offer financial support and training opportunities to group leaders with less than four years’ experience leading a laboratory. The intention was to support both excellence and maintain a healthy geographic distribution. The scheme was first proposed to the EMBO Council in 1998, who, receiving it favorably, officially accepted it a year later and established a working group with the support of all participating countries. Council subsequently established a selection committee and carried out its first round of selections in 2001, accepting 23 candidates.
The primary allure of the program to applicants seemed from the beginning to be the Networking opportunities. The YIP program offered participants the opportunity to present their work and meet their peers at yearly meetings, access to EMBL core facilities, mentoring opportunities, and even courses for PHD students at participants’ laboratories.
In 2005 these networking opportunities expanded to include Laboratory Management Courses (now [Lab Leadership Courses]), designed to empower YIPs with skills in everything from project management to managing laboratory groups.
In 2008 the program created the Special Development Installation Grant. These were established as a Special Project of the EMBC for the purpose of supporting scientists in peripheral nations: The Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Estonia, and were based on and replaced the EMBO/HHMI Startup Grants. Eligibility has since grown to include Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, and Türkiye.
By 2011, Council noted the strength of the project, highlighting the promotion of scientists engaging in novel research topics. Through the years the prestige of the award as well as the networking opportunities has provided the greatest motivation to applicants.. YIPs currently receive a financial award of 15,000 euros in their second year, and can also apply for additional small grants of up to 10,000 euros per year. There is currently a network of over 700 YIP alumni.