International Programs

61st Meeting of Nobel Laureates

The 61st Meeting of Nobel Laureates was held in Lindau, Germany, between 26 June and 1 July 2011. The meeting focussed on Physiology and Medicine and brought together more than 550 young researchers from around the globe with 23 Nobel laureates. A delegation of six young Australian scientists, led by Professor Marilyn Renfree FAA, attended the meeting. The meeting gave the delegates the opportunity to exchange ideas, gain exposure to areas of in their chosen discipline and establish new contacts and networks. Not only did this meeting provide the participants with the opportunity to meet and hear from Nobel laureates, it also provided a fantastic opportunity for our early-career researchers to meet, discuss ideas and to potentially form beneficial relationships with peers from across the globe.

'The Nobel laureates meeting in Lindau was particularly inspirational, and I will undoubtedly savour the great memorable experience that was Lindau for a very long time'.
- Bilal Sheikh, 2011 attendee

'I came away from the meeting feeling excited, enthusiastic and inspired. I would highly recommend the Lindau Meetings to any young scientist, and particularly those interested in the wider implications of science and its role in the world'.
- Steven William, 2011 attendee

Click here for the Nobel Laureate meeting's YouTube channel.

Initiated in 1950 as a European conference of leading scientists in medicine, the guiding principle of the first Lindau Congress of Nobel Laureates was to encourage international scientific dialogue with Nobel Laureates. The first congress of medical specialists has since evolved into open-minded encounters between Laureates, young researchers and students in other fields of the natural sciences: for over half a century now, Nobel Prize winners in medicine/physiology, chemistry and physics convene, alternating, for one week at the end of June each year at Lindau, Germany.

Usually about twenty Nobel Prize winners attend, to share insights into their life’s work and to interact with 600 outstanding young researchers and graduate students from around the world (up until now mainly from Western Europe, but increasingly in recent years from the USA, Central America, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe Africa and Australia).

In line with the initiators’ concept of building bridges between nations and cultures, the Lindau forum offers the upcoming generation of scientists an opportunity to instigate and foster what can be called a 'Dialogue among Cultures', both on scientific issues and on a more peaceful future. The bridges they build have a lasting impact beyond the Meetings. In the course of their personal encounters, participants jointly develop new ideas, and create networks of cooperation and international friendship, to the benefit of scientific progress.

For more information on the Meetings of Nobel Laureates in Lindau including the 2010 Annual report, please visit the Lindau-Nobel website.