Inaugural General Assembly 2025

GloBIAS Holds Inaugural General Assembly

Klosterneuburg, Austria – June 26, 2025

 GloBIAS, the Global BioImage Analysts’ Society, officially established and registered in October 2024 in Klosterneuburg, Austria, held its first General Assembly online on June 26, 2025. The meeting addressed key strategic decisions, included the election of the inaugural executive board, and outlined ongoing efforts to strengthen the global bioimage analysis community. 

Key Outcomes and Decisions:

• Statutes amended for charitable status: Members voted to accept a full set of changes to the GloBIAS statutes.  These amendments are crucial for GloBIAS to be recognized as a charitable organization by Austrian tax authorities, enabling it to receive tax-deductible donations. The changes clarify GloBIAS's aims, include teaching and education as charitable purposes, and adjust activities and financial resources to meet formal requirements under Austrian tax law. These changes have now been accepted by the registration authorities.

• Scientific Advisory Committee established: The assembly approved the establishment of a Scientific Advisory Committee. The Society Foundation and Implementation Work Group has been tasked with drafting the rules and bylaws for this new committee.

• Inaugural board members elected: The General Assembly successfully elected the first executive board members and financial auditors. All positions were filled, and the entry in the ZVR registry has been updated accordingly.

The newly elected board includes:

• President: Kota Miura

• Deputy President: Rocco D’Antuono 

• Treasurer: Edwin Hernandez Garzon 

• Deputy Treasurer: Paula Sampaio 

• Coordinator: Elnaz Fazeli 

• Deputy Coordinator: Robert Haase 

• Financial Auditors: Peter Zentis and Ana Stojiljkovic 

Financial Overview and Future Outlook

A short overview about the current financial situation was given, including fixed costs covered by the CZI grant for the time being. A financial outlook for 2026 was given, projected on the existing membership and showcasing different scenarios depending on available funding.

After the end of the general assembly, different workgroups presented on their current status:

• Communications Work Group: Led by Paula Sampaio and responsible for GloBIAS's identity, website (www.globias.org), bi-monthly newsletter, and content dissemination across platforms like LinkedIn, Blue Sky, and YouTube.

• Survey Working Group: Concluded its activities after a comprehensive survey in early 2023 gauging community interest and needs. A paper summarizing the findings, titled "GloBIAS, strengthening the foundations of biomage analysis," is being finalized.

•  HPC (High-Performance Computing) Work Group: Led by Nicholas Condon and Tatiana Woller this group focuses on comparing infrastructure, creating training materials for visualization, and sharing best practices.

• Training and Education Working Group: Co-led by Christian Tischer and Beth Cimini, this group has several sub-groups, including a trainer database, development of Carpentries lesson modules, the GloBIAS seminar series (monthly webinars), and a "call for help" initiative.

• Publication Work Group: This group, led by Kota Miura and Rocco D'Antuono, is currently working on a special issue for the Journal of Microscopy focused on reproducibility in bioimage analysis. 

• Society Foundation and Implementation Work Group: Achieved key milestones including developing bylaws for the executive board and reworking the statutes with a tax advisor. This group is now focused on writing grant applications to secure additional funding and contacting potential extraordinary supporting members.

The successful conclusion of the first General Assembly marks a significant step forward for GloBIAS, laying a strong foundation for its future growth and its mission to advance the field of bioimage analysis globally.