80th anniversary

The Society at 80

 

In 1945, the Microbiology Society was founded by its first members including Ralph St John Brookes, Muriel Roberts, Marjory Stephenson, Alexander Fleming and many other visionary microbiologists.

Their purpose in forming the Society holds true to this day. Our ability to bring groups of microbiologists together for knowledge exchange and to forge new collaborations remains essential to the Society’s role – to help unlock and harness the unique breadth and depth of our members' knowledge about the discipline of microbiology.

In our 80th year, we recognise the importance of community, of legacy and look forward to our future – to continue to grasp opportunities to amplify our members’ voices and advance the understanding of microbiology in resolving global challenges.

Our founding member Alexander Fleming knew bacteria would eventually overcome antibiotics and in 2025, as the Society turns 80, our Knocking Out AMR project recognises the real threat AMR poses as a leading cause of death worldwide.

At the Microbiology Society, we have both the heritage and the ambition to bring together our networks and drive forward solutions to global challenges like AMR. We need to support more microbiologists to focus on the research that will help solve these grand challenges to the benefit of everyone – donations to our fundraising activity will allow our members to do this.

Throughout our history, we have shaped a vibrant microbiology community. We are more ambitious than ever in our drive to unlock the potential of microbiologists everywhere for their research to provide maximum benefit to society.