Awards

Congratulations to all ESB 2025 Award Winners & Nominees!

ESB Doctoral Thesis Award:
Force-Mediated Angiogenesis: Linking Mechanical mechanisms to Vascular Lesion Growth –
Apeksha Shapeti, KU Leuven, Belgium

Runner ups:
Elena Redaelli – Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Daniel Camacho – Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain

ESB Early Career Researcher Award:
YAP/TAZ as Mechanosensory Regulators of Blood Vessel Formation in Health and Disease –
Tommaso Ristori, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
Runner up:
Anna Corti – Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Huiskes Medal for Biomechanics:
Gerhard Holzapfel – TU Graz, Austria

Runner up:
Veronique Feipel – Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

ESB Student Award finalists:
A Robotic Testing Setup for Biotribiological Investigations on Complex Shaped Cartilage Surfaces – Luisa de Roy, Ulm University Medical Centre, Germany

Prediction of Hemodynamics in Healthy Mitral Valves: Validation of Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulations – Lea Christierson, Lund University, Sweden

Learning Hemodynamic Scalar Fields on Coronary Artery Meshes: a Benchmark of Geometric Deep Learning Models – Guido Nannini, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Fully Coupled Multi-Species Mechano-Transport Simulations in the Intevertebral Disc – Estefano Matias Munoz Moya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

ON Orthoregeneration Award finalists:
Advanced Hybrid Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Regeneration – Ana Catarina Sousa, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Portugal

Unveiling Mechanical and Morphological Changes in Chondrogenic Spheroids During Differentiation – Karolina Zofia Dabrowska, KU Leuven, Belgium

Biomechanical Adaptations in Sheep’s Gait Following End-to-End Neurorraphany for Nerve Regeneration – Bruna Silva, CDRSP – IPLEIRIA, Portugal

Predicting Skeletal Tissue Growth and Differentiation for Bone Tissue Engineering – Timothy O. Josephson, Boston University, United States

The following awards will be awarded at the ESB 2027 Conference:

The Huiskes Medal for Biomechanics

Named after the renowned scientist R. Huiskes, the Huiskes Medal for Biomechanics is given to recognize extraordinary contributions to the field of biomechanics. The recipients are celebrated for their lasting impact on the biomechanics community through groundbreaking studies and influential discoveries. The deadline for submission will be 31st January 2027.

ESB Early Career Research Award

The ESB Early Career Researcher Award recognizes the development of an outstanding young researcher who contributes to the advancement of the theory and/or applications of Biomechanics. Open for ESB members who are the first author of the abstract and have defended their PhD between 2 to 7 years ago at the time of ESB 2027.

The Stephan M. Perren Research Award

This award will be given to the authors of the best scientific paper (specifically submitted for the Award) based on original and previously unpublished research. The award is open to all areas of biomechanics and mechanobiology research and to both members and non-members of the ESB. The First Author of the winning paper is required to give an award lecture named in Prof. Stephan M. Perren’s honor during the ESB Congress.

Best Doctoral Thesis in Biomechanics

This award recognizes the development of an outstanding doctoral final thesis that has contributed to the advancement of theory and/or application of biomechanics. The selection will be based on the original PhD document written in English and CV.

ESB Travel Awards

The travel award is open to young members of ESB who are the first author of the submitted abstract. Please note that each ESB member is eligible to receive the travel award only once.

ESB Student Award

This award is open to any student member of ESB. Four finalists will be selected to present a 15 minute podium presentation during a special session dedicated for student awards. Applicants are requested to submit a proof of their student status.

ESB Diversity Award

This award is given at the ESB Congress with the purpose of: (1) recognizing and encouraging contributions that highlight diversity within biomechanics, including gender, ethnicity, ability, and other forms of diversity; (2) increasing awareness of the importance of diversity in research; (3) motivating researchers to incorporate diverse perspectives in their work. It is necessary to present statement indicating how the contribution addresses the scope of the award.

ESB Inclusion Fund

The ESB congress participation inclusion fund is designed to provide a flexible contribution towards some of the additional costs of congress attendance faced by members with specific needs. Funding can be sought for any legitimate purpose identified by the applicant that addresses a clearly identified barrier to attend the congress and that cannot be met by their host institution.

ESB Poster Award

The ESB poster award recognizes the best poster presented at the annual conference. The award is open to all ESB members. Applicants are requested to upload a poster pitch in MP4 format.

In case of further questions regarding the awards, please contact the ESB 2027 Secretariat by email at info@codan-consulting.com, or refer to the ESB website below: