Dear friends of FENS,
thank you for supporting the FENS conference in Berlin 2015. Now we would like to introduce to you FENS itself, which is a permanent organization and is the Federation of the European Nutrition Societies (registered society). FENS has outlined 4 major points of its mission: 1. To coordinate individual countries Nutrition societies at a European level; 2. To promote and disseminate research and knowledge on Nutrition sciences; 3. To organize a European Nutrition Conference every 4 years, together with other scientific meetings; and 4. To facilitate Nutrition learning and training as well as scientific exchanges across Europe.
This mission is challenging, particularly when considering that the FENS board members are contributing on an honorary, voluntary basis. One of the first measures of the new FENS board was the establishment of a new FENS website (https://fensnutrition.eu/) which is now underpinned by a powerful content management system. This website could become an information center for nutrition since it could summarize the activities of the FENS member societies and other institutions and stakeholders working in the Nutrition area.
FENS is convinced that its future activities could have a widespread impact on the position of nutrition research and the translation into guidelines and knowledge in Europe. Thus, each investment into the overall structure of FENS and its specific projects could pay off in terms of an excellent cost-benefit ratio. One of our next steps will be a South-Eastern (Balkan) workshop on dietary/nutritional recommendations and guidelines in October this year, which could trigger the formation of additional National Nutrition Societies in this region. Further, FENS will establish a working group with experts from the member societies that will update the scientific basis for food based dietary guidelines allowing a common basis for future national guides in Europe.
This newsletter will be the first that we send out to our potential sponsors. Please, have in mind that FENS could be the forum in which the forms how science and industry collaborate such as in advisory boards, conferences and scientific workshops without compromising any site could be discussed.
In this spirit we hope to get fruitful contributions to the mission of FENS from our friends. Please contact us if you have any question or Suggestion.
With best regards,
Heiner Boeing, President Stefaan de Henauw, Secretary Ian MacDonald, Treasurer