History
The first Day of Immunology (DoI) was held on April 29th, 2005. It was brought to life by the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) in order to strengthen the public awareness of immunology as a basis for individual health and well-being.
We noticed that although public interest in health issues is high, people without a scientific background often miss the relevance of immunological research and findings. Moreover, scientists are rarely encouraged to explore in the art of public relations, and consequently face difficulties conveying their knowledge to an audience outside the scientific community. Our aim was to create a bridge between our growing understanding of the immune system and informing the public and individual patients, in order to improve health and well-being in general.
For five years, the Day of Immunology has been the occasion to gather European scientists to bring immunology to the public. Due to its great success, it has been celebrated worldwide since 2007.
Japanese immunologists for example focused on activities for public and high school students in 2008: The Japanese Society for Immunology published an entertaining and educational book on immunology suitable for children as their DoI 2008 outreach. EFIS published the English translation of the book for the DoI 2009, to make it available on a non-profit basis to a greater readership in Europe.
We hoped that making the book available in English will enable and also motivate further immunologists to continue and expand this PR project. Indeed, many immunologists have so far voiced their interest to publish further translations! We have also received several requests from educational facilities and laypeople worldwide, asking for the book in their own language. The EFIS board decided to support future translations (further informations: The Book) as one of our DoI 2010 outreach activities.
Check out the following publications on previous DoI:
Kaufmann, S.H.E., Hahner, A., The Day of Immunology 2009. European Journal of Immunology 2009. 39(3):630-1
News and EFIS. Global Day of Immunology 2008. European Journal of Immunology 2008. 38: 2056-2059
Kaufmann, S.H.E., Grossman M.L., Englich S., The Day of Immunology 2007 goes global. European Journal of Immunology 2007. 37(5):1158-1160
Kaufmann,S.H.E., Englich,S., and Grossman,M.L., Bringing immunology to the classroom. Immunity 2006. 24: 349.
Kaufmann,S.H.E., Englich,S., and Grossman,M.L., European Day of Immunology 2006. Japanese Society of Immunology (JSI) Newsletter 2006. 14: 11.
EFIS, Partnerships in immunology and education: Day of Immunology 2006. Immunol Lett 2006. 105: 100.
Kaufmann,S.H.E., Day of immunology: a far reaching success. Immunol Lett. 2005. 100: 2-4.
Kaufmann,S.H.E., Bade,K., and Englich,S., European day of immunology. Nat Immunol. 2005. 6: 741.