The European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) was founded on 28 August 1987 in Basel (Switzerland), with ~ 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 around 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.[1]
ESEB supports young researchers through sponsoring the annual EMPSEB (European Meeting of PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology).[2]