ICF-BSE Fellows Debate Session
Wednsday, September 10th, 2025
15:00-16:30, Auditorium

The Fellows Debate hosted this year at ESB2025 was a remarkable success! More than 200 attendees enjoyed listening to and engaging the speakers who debated on the motion “This house believes that the widely accepted definition of biomaterial needs to evolve to better encompass the increasing development and application of biologically responsive systems”.

Thank you to the speakers and attendees for making this such an engaging event! The winners of the debate were the opposition team Iulian Antoniac and Marc Bohner, who were against the motion, causing a 26% change in votes between the initial and final vote.

The “Special Fellows Session” is organized by the International College of Fellows of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (ICF-BSE). Fellows of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE) are elected in a worldwide competition every four years and are among the most accomplished in the field of biomaterials. Special Fellows Sessions explore important and sometimes controversial topics and are designed to be interactive: the audience will have an opportunity to participate in the debate and will vote on the issues.

Moderator and Chair:

• Rui L. Reis, 3B´s Research Group, University of Minho, Portugal, Chair of the Steering Committee of the Fellows in Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE)

Debaters:

• For the proposition team
  • Luigi Ambrosio, CNR, Naples, Italy
  • Joaquim M. Oliveira, 3B´s Research Group, University of Minho, Portugal

• For the opposition team
  • Iulian Antoniac,  Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania
  • Marc Bohner, RMS Foundation Switzerland