December 2020

What has this year meant for you? Have you been able to continue your life, your dreams, your daily activities and your biomechanics research and teaching more or less as usual? If so, I am so, so happy. I am so happy because that is what I, and most of us, wish for most of all – a return to normality. We wish to be able to go to work, we wish for our children to be able to go to school, we wish to meet friends and loved ones as we always have and those of us who celebrate Christmas wish to be able to celebrate and be together with them.

But, for most of us, that’s not 2020. Much of what we are used to has been disheveled. Most of us know of people who have been sick from Covid-19, maybe you have had it yourself, in the worst case someone you know and love may even have left this world due to the pandemic. I feel so sad about this and send my condolences to any of you whom this may concern.

The year has of course been a challenge for ISB too and I have discovered what an important role ISB has, especially in 2020, the year which makes all previously challenging years look like positive little stimulating reminders to keep everyone on their toes. Conferences and symposia, both national and international have been postponed, cancelled or held completely digitally. Just think of that: we have become so used to digitally that we hardly react anymore. But let us also reflect upon aspects within which we have also progressed due to the pandemic: an ambitious drive for more knowledge has seldom been more necessary than now, we are finding new paths for ensuring quality in teaching and research – we are doing the normal in non-normal ways and finally we have become acutely aware that alone is not strong. When this is over let us reflect over what we have learnt and implement it by becoming better scientists and teachers but most importantly better people within a better society in future.

In September 2019 I was in China to give a keynote lecture. As is often the case, the congress had an evening program and I was sitting at a table with a glass of beer, a bit uncomfortable because I didn’t know any of the others sitting there. I started talking with the guy across the table from me and we found that we had many common interests and talked for a long time about sports, sports equipment, biomechanics, doping, competition rules, science, Olympic Games and much more. It was great fun and stimulating. A few weeks later, once home again, he called me and said that the international federation he works for acutely needed an independent biomechanics expert to help them with their sport rules. This has since turned into an exciting, important and quickly growing collaboration and research project for which external funding has been achieved quickly and we are aiming to engage many young researchers. All because of that first glass of beer (or two) in China.

The potential of digital meetings has not been missed. Many of us even meet socially on digital platforms and I am convinced we will continue to use these platforms in future to an extent we would not have imagined prior to 2020. But they can not replace the unplanned, chance meetings at international conferences or on international research visits which we are all forced to abstain from at present. Chance meetings and a social glass of beer.

Who would have thought that even ISB 2021 in Stockholm, the major event on the ISB calender, will be held digitally? We still all optimistically hope that as many of us as possible can actually travel to Stockholm. We need to meet, we need to laugh together, we need to exchange our science together, we need to make new exciting acquaintances in science and life. Let us all hope, that if everybody takes their responsibilities we will be able to do this again soon.

I am looking optimistically ahead. We are all putting in amazing efforts together to keep a strong society with a strong feeling of belonging. As soon as the situation permits, we will be ready to take off from the starting blocks again and get back into a normal life with the excitement and stimulation that we are all yearning for.

Let us reflect upon what 2020 has taught us. Each and every one of us, but also ISB, will come out of this stronger.

Finally, please remember that registration for ISB2021 is open and the deadline for abstract submission is the 31^st January 2021: https://isb2021.com/

Best Seasonal Wishes!

Take care,

Toni Arndt (ISB President)

Stockholm 10^th December 2020

To all ISB members,

We sincerely hope you, your families and friends are all healthy and well in these strange Covid-19 times.

This message is to inform you that registration for the XVIII ISB Congress in Stockholm, 2021 is now open on the congress website: https://isb2021.com/ Due to the special circumstances the congress organisers are offering a complete refund of the registration fees (minus a small administration charge) up until the 10^th March 2021 to remove any risk for you to register for an IRL meeting in Stockholm. If you register for the full congress, but when the time comes are prevented from travelling and would like to change to a purely digital registration the difference in costs will of course also be reimbursed. More information on digital registration will be published soon.

We are well aware that an ISB Congress as we know it is most unlikely next year. At present, the organisers are however, still keeping all paths to either a full meeting, a hybrid version or a fully digital meeting open. One thing is for certain and that is that the congress will be digital, regardless of which of the paths will happen. We are making a final decision on the congress format around the 15^th February 2021.

This is also a reminder that abstract submission on the same homepage is open. We are looking forward to receiving all your and your colleagues’ excellent scientific work! As mentioned above there is no risk accompanying an abstract submission as we are well aware that some of you may be prevented from being able to attend physically. We will attempt to provide the best possible platform for all to present their exciting results regardless of which format the congress will have. When submitting your abstracts don’t forget to check which of the attractive ISB Awards you are eligible for! Abstract deadline is the 31^st January 2021.

Top priority for ISB Stockholm 2021 is the health and protection of our members and guests. We are closely monitoring the situation and will rigidly follow all official precautions and guidelines for preventing Covid-19 infection and minimising the risk of virus transmission. The pandemic is taking new forms all the time, national situations are changing and there may be successful vaccines around the corner. We are closely monitoring all these developments and ensure you that your safety is our primary goal.

Take care,


Toni Arndt	Lanie Gutierrez-Farewik	Li Felländer-Tsai
ISB 2021 Stockholm Congress Organising Committee

Overview

I hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy with the current worldwide pandemic. I wanted to share a few things with you for this student corner. With the uncertainty of the pandemic, I am planning for both an in-person and virtual student event as well as a mentor event for ISB 2021. That way, if you are not allowed to travel because of safety concerns or travel bans, we will have an event for you!

ISB is looking to provide some stories from students about how COVID-19 has impacted your research and what you have done to carry-on, as well as any positives that have come from this experience. We would like to have students be reflected from all parts of the world. If you would like to share, please research out!

The call for abstracts for ISB 2021 has opened!! I hope you all are as excited as I am for this upcoming conference! The abstract submission will be open until January 31, 2021, so let’s all get working on new, fun, interesting research ideas! J If you would like to discuss some potential ideas or have any further questions regarding the abstract submission process, please send me an email, message me on Facebook or Twitter, and I will help you out!

We have some great ideas for both the student event at ISB 2021 and the mentoring event! Be on the lookout for more information as the date gets closer! I cannot wait to see all of you in Stockholm!

Get ready for ISB 2021 in Stockholm!

Upcoming Events

April 11th – 14th, 2021: iFAB 2021 - International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics Meeting

July 11th-14th, 2021: ESB: European Society of Biomechanics Annual Conference

July 15th-16th, 2021: Asia-Singapore Conference on Sport Science

August 9th-13th, 2021: Canadian Society of Biomechanics Conference

December 2021: Australasian Biomechanics Conference (ABC12)

Information / Jobs

For any and all graduate positions and employment, remember to stay up to date with Biomch-L.

Here is the link: https://biomch-l.isbweb.org/forums/5-Jobs-and-Positions

Biomechanics on our Minds (BOOM) Podcast

Student Voices 13: International Womxn in Biomechanics
Student Voices 12: Biomechanics in Major League Baseball
Episode 35: Enhancing Athletic Performance and Injury Prevention
Episode 34: Run Signature and Research in Industry

Social Media

Be sure to keep up to date with ISB by liking our ISB Facebook Page, joining the Student Members Facebook Page, and following ISB on Twitter. Please reach out to me with any comments, questions, suggestions, or just to talk. You can contact me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Best Wishes,

Megan Stewart (ISB Student Representative)

I am very excited to announce two new awards associated with the International Society of Biomechanics Congress. Application of all of the awards takes place in conjunction with abstract submittal for the congress (January 31^st, 2021) and requires you to download, fill out and email a tick-box questionnaire to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Detailed information about each award should be reviewed during submittal.

New Awards

The ISB World Athletics Award for Biomechanics is an annual award sponsored by World Athletics for the amount of USD $5000. This award will recognize excellence in an area of biomechanics determined by World Athletics. This year’s theme is running. In non-ISB Congress years, the ISBS Congress will present the award. Authors of five selected abstracts will be asked to submit a full-length paper. The winner will submit their paper to the Journal of Applied Biomechanics and will be invited to give an oral presentation at the Congress.

The Jaqueline Perry Emerging Female Scientist Award is a biennial award sponsored by the International Society of Biomechanics for the amount of USD $5000. Dr. Perry’s groundbreaking research in gait came at a time in which gender inequities established barriers for female researchers (for a brief bio visit http://www.polioplace.org/people/jacquelin-perry-md-dsc-hon). Candidates must be female and have been awarded a PhD by the time of the Congress but they should not be more than 5 years post-PhD. The award winner will be invited to give a plenary presentation at the ISB Congress and be granted a waiver of the registration fee for the Congress.

Continuing Awards

David Winter Young Investigator Award (Podium and Poster). Candidates must be first author and should not have been awarded a PHD prior to abstract submission and must be younger than 30 years of age. Winners receive a certificate, USD $750 and free ISB membership for 2 years.
Clinical Biomechanics Award. Application is open to anyone and the winner receives USD $1250 and the opportunity to publish in Clinical Biomechanics.
Promising Scientist Award. Candidates must be first author and have been awarded a PhD by the time of the Congress but not be more than 5 years post-PhD at the time of the Congress. The winner will be invited to give a plenary presentation at the Congress, will receive a certificate, USD $5000 and a waiver of the registration fee.
Carlo de Luca Emerging Scientist Award. Candidates must not have received their PhD before the previous ISB Congress. The award recognizes excellence in graduate research in the area of motor control and The winner will be invited to give a plenary presentation at the Congress, will receive a certificate, USD $2500 and a waiver of the registration fee.

Tim Derreck (ISB Awards Officer)

The deadline for the ISB student grant program has been extended.

The Matching Dissertation Grant, International Affiliate Development Grant and International Travel Grant deadlines are now January 3rd, 2021. Despite the many travel restrictions in place around the world, we are still accepting International Affiliate Development Grants and International Travel Grants. Applicants should consider the feasibility of their travel given these restrictions (e.g. a trip from Europe to Australia may not be possible in the next year). Awardees will be asked to provide confirmation of their travel (and quarantine if necessary) plans prior to the dispersal of funds.

The Congress travel grant deadline has also been extended to January 3rd, 2021. While we do not know if the Congress will be held in person or virtually, we will continue to accept and evaluate submissions for travel to Sweden. As the grant deadline occurs before the Congress Abstract submission deadline, applicants may submit a draft of their congress abstract with their application. The introduction and methods will be weighted most heavily in the review process but applicants should refrain from simply stating “results will be discussed” and at a minimum provide preliminary data and a discussion of that data.

All student grant information can be found here - https://isbweb.org/students/student-grants

ISB Now recently put out the call for biomechanics students and early career researchers to share their stories of how they have coped during COVID-19, and particularly some of the positives that have emerged. We realise this has been a tough year for everyone, and wanted to celebrate how we have come through this as a biomechanics community. Thank you to all of the contributors - we hope you enjoy reading their stories and reflections. We hope that we can bring more in the new year - Glen Lichtwark (ISB Publications officer).

Reflections on the moment that everything changed

Priscila Montemor, Master Student, University of Campinas, SP, Brazil

I would like to thank the ISB for the opportunity to write this brief report about the activities developed in 2020. Due to the pandemic, social isolation and quarantine arrived without warning and suddenly changed everyone's life, in Brazil and worldwide. A virus, something so small and seemingly harmless, put the world in check. For us Brazilians, the news came like a summer storm, which arrives without warning catching everyone off guard.

I remember exactly when the news came. We received a message from a colleague in the Whatsapp group from our laboratory, on a Wednesday. It was a statement that on Thursday (the following day), our university (University of Campinas) would be temporarily closed for face-to-face activities. With a lot of luck, my lab colleagues and I managed to get into our lab and take out our hard drives (which contain our work life), important notes, printed papers, and books. We still managed to organize the electronic instruments ensuring that nothing would be damaged in the theoretically temporary closure of the university. We had no idea about for how long the university would be close. For all of us graduate students and professors in the biomechanics of the movement here in Brazil, the closure of universities has drastically affected our work routine, our projects, and the development of our activities the laboratories.

Everything we had programmed to execute and deliver on time, no longer made sense. How can we readjust our projects and schedule without knowing when we will return to normal activities? How to conduct a pilot data collection to test protocols if we are not having access to the laboratories? How can we learn to analyze data if we do not have access to specific software in our area while working from home using our personal computers? In addition to all this chaotic situation, online classes have emerged. How to teach biomechanics through online classes, without any type of equipment or laboratory, and often without access to any type of software? How do I assess whether my students are understanding the content? How to ensure proper access to online classes by all students. Almost impossible in Brazil, especially considering that most of students in public universities are able to graduate because publish universities are free of fees and taxes for students.

But for a researcher, as people say, every result is a result, despite if expected or not. All these changes in teaching and in our lives, had some positive impacts. The working from home condition gave more flexible to our schedules and more access to other universities and virtual libraries. Journal websites have opened access providing us with free books and articles. Meetings connecting laboratories around the world are taking place and are very frequent these days. We are learning the real meaning of the word resilience, and we are trying, together with teachers, supervisors, administrative staffs, and other researchers around the world, to adapt to a new routine of work, studies and life. We are learning to value time, friends, and family. The world is changing its view of science and researchers. I believe that what we are living today is not by chance, in an immediate and selfish world, we are being forced to question ourselves about our goals, our lifestyle, our health, our concerns and love towards people, and especially how we face and adapt to the challenges that life puts in our way.

I see that today we live a time of many uncertainties. But I also see that we live in a moment of many certainties too. And it is in these certainties that we hold ourselves on and, with a big smile on our faces, we face and seek the solutions. We will overcome! Because this is LIVING!

Biomechanical innovation during a time of need.

Laura Pausoni, Universidade Anhanguera, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São José dos Campos, SP, Brasil

I graduated in 2018 as a mechatronics technician and currently study Biomedicine in Brazil. In the mechatronic course I was able to work in the maintenance of 3D printers and also in the modeling of some prostheses for infant upper limbs. During that time I learned a lot about additive manufacturing technology and its applications.

At the beginning of 2020 we were not yet used to the world situation. We found it hard to believe that the crossing between oceans would allow the virus to arrive in Brazil. As nobody knew exactly the severity, what should be done to individual protection became the main target of people. In a few days, all episodes were already scarce, and companies were unable to supply the need for pharmacies and especially those who were in the front line for care for the infected people. The maker community mobilized quickly.

Together with some health professionals, we from the Universidade Federal de São Paulo prosthetic and prosthetic laboratory team decided to provide help with knowledge about 3D printing and modeling in an attempt to protect the our population. As a mechatronics technician I helped in the development of facial protectors, connectors for respirators and other needs in devices that could save lives and the greatest possible number of lives. I am immensely proud to have helped in this march against something so small with enormous and little-known capacity. Many hours awake with colleagues discussing solutions resulted in thousands of personal protective equipment that reached almost the entire country.

Threats and Opportunities for a Research Student during COVID-19 Restrictions

Suzanne Martin, PhD student in Biomechanics (Human Movement), the Institute for Health and Sport (IHES), Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

In March, COVID-19 cases in Australia were increasing rapidly. At Victoria University (VU), Melbourne, I shared an office with other research students to complete data processing and analysis of my PhD thesis entitled Gait Adaptability in Older Adults with Diabetes. Every day we were being bombarded with information on how to prepare for the pandemic. I tried to avoid any surface and used a tissue whenever I had to touch doorknobs. One day, one of my colleagues who had coughed a few times said: ‘’Excuse me, guys. Just letting you know that I do not have COVID; it is just a seasonal allergy.’’ Feeling sorry that she felt the need to explain the reason for her cough and thinking it better to work from home, I collected my things, backed up my files and left my office. Only a few days later VU issued a directive that research students were no longer permitted to work from their offices.

Time was running out to submit my thesis by September. I had to keep working, but how? Changing my bedroom into an office, I gained permission to take my office computer home and connect it to the Biomechanics Laboratory via VPN to use special software.

Every morning I made sure my daughter was connected to her classroom virtually. Then, attempting to concentrate on my own work I could hear her calling: ‘’Mum,…, mum, can you come?’’ The internet was disconnected, or whatever other reasons. Then it was recess, lunchtime, or needing assistance with her school work. The only time I could concentrate on my work was between 4 and 6 pm and after 9.30 pm when she was in bed. I worked until after midnight, wearing myself out.

Once in bed, my mind was racing and I couldn’t sleep. ‘’What would be in store for us? What would I do if one of my family overseas caught COVID? When would the lockdown finish? What would I need to buy tomorrow?” Although my alarm was set for 7 am, most mornings I was awake by 6 am. I stayed in bed, feeling blue, until I heard my daughter rising at about 7.10 am. ‘’Come on Sue, it is time to get her breakfast; otherwise, she’ll be late,’’ I said to myself.

After surveying all research students about how the pandemic was affecting their research and professional development, the university organised support through an online program called Elevens, the COVID-19 Student Hardship Fund, Doctoral Industrial Placement (DIP), and Small Research Grant. With dwindling savings and realising I couldn’t meet the deadline for submitting my thesis, I applied for a DIP scholarship and one-semester extension with my supervisor’s support. I worked remotely for a physiotherapy centre as a data scientist. At the end of my first meeting in the centre with a face mask and sanitised hands, my project manager stepped well back, removed his mask, and said: “I look like this.” Soon after this I was informed that my application for a small grant was successful. This enabled me to strengthen my PhD project and submit an abstract for the Research Student Virtual Conference at Victoria University.

Looking back, I appreciate that students’ health, safety, wellbeing and quality of study had remained the priority of Victoria University. With the support of the university, I changed threats into opportunities and maintain quality research while remaining resilient and keeping myself, family and peers safe.

sue martin im1 sue martin im2

A new way to research and learn

Milena Aguiar dos Santos, Physical Therapy Student, Brazil

I am an undergraduate student of Physical Therapy at the Federal University of Pampa in Brazil, and part of the Applied Neuromechanics Research Group. The year 2020 would be my graduation year. It may sound cliché, but 2020 showed up differently from our expectative. I would complete my physiotherapy professional internship, would finish the research of my senior project, and then graduate. When the news about the COVID-19 started, I have to be honest: at first, I thought it would not be this chaotic. Just stay home for fifteen days and everything would be normal again. The days gradually passed, and I realized that it would be more complicated than expected.

After one month of struggling to develop my activities alone at home, I started to deal better with the social distancing and organize my routine. My involvement with undergraduate research helped me to advance on my senior project, and as I had collected my data in 2019, there was a lot of work to do regarding data processing and writing. I use this time at home to learn basic fundaments of programming because I needed it to help my data processing, read articles and books to help in discussing my results, and in August I had all done: I am finishing 2020 with my first scientific article submitted (currently it is under review). I consider it was a great achievement for a hectic year, and I learned a lot in the course of analyzing data and writing.

Another positive aspect of 2020 was the chance to join many online courses related to physical therapy and related topics. I did not complete all courses I have signed for, but all courses I completed were great experiences. Additionally, I am glad to be active as part of a research group that maintained weekly online meetings to discuss science and it helped me to stay connected with my lab fellows. Something that I would not expect for the year was my participation in Youtube lives, including a webinar about biomechanics teaching promoted by the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics, where I had the chance to talk about online classes. It resulted in an invitation to participate in a podcast episode to talk about undergraduate research. Late in 2020, I started to learn a new language. We all know English is the “language of science”, but I took the time to learn some French.

2020 was and continues to be different, and often terrifying, but I did a lot of good things for my professional and personal growth. I have learned how to deal with myself and better understand that sometimes it is ok not to be ok. I am also grateful I could stay at home and keep doing my activities because I know most of people can’t. I hope soon this condition ends and we can continue to do what we like to do.


Laboratory meeting.	Brazilian Society of Biomechanics webinar about remote teaching.

Sports Biomechanics research in China - a new normal

Ms. Xini Zhang, Biomechanics Team, Sports Performance Research Center, Shanghai University of Sport

xini zhang im1 I am a doctoral student from Shanghai University of Sports, China. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically hindered our research teams' experimental progress, and I am no exception. My colleagues and I are working on our dissertation/thesis projects. We had to postpone the experiment due to the epidemic. There was no guarantee of the completion of the experimental projects. One of the biggest problems for me was that some members of our research group living in high-risk areas could not return to school, which caused a significant obstacle to our data collection processes. To overcome this difficulty, we actively sought solutions through remote connections and video conferencing. We exchanged views through virtual sessions weekly and discussed the best practice under the influence of the epidemic. Fortunately, due to the government's active and effective control measures, the domestic COVID-19 pandemic has been well controlled since the fall. Everyone is required to carry their QR code for health all of the time, which serves as an electronic passport to indicate personal health status in real-time.

When the epidemic was under control in Shanghai, we immediately returned to the campus for data collection. My experiment protocol has been carried out in an orderly manner, thanks to my team members in the lab. Currently, every participant who enters the lab would go through a strict inspection, carry out health status registration and temperature check. Each experimenter must wash hands & disinfect upon entering the lab and wear a mask during the testing. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic interruption, as researchers in Chinese universities, we do our best to contribute to biomechanical scientific inquiries.

The coronavirus pandemic still is around, and strong. In countries like Brazil, it seems far from an end. Brazil is now facing the start of the second wave, which happens near the summer vacations. In the city where I live, for example, we are about to have a complete lockdown. Please, stay home if you can. Please use a mask. These are the more important and efficient action we can have against the pandemic.

In Brazil, different strategies have been proposed to keep students engaged with science and biomechanics. Several research groups as promoting regular online activities and there is a great interaction between different groups. As in many other places around the world, online activities are full gas regarding classes, but scientific research is suffering the limitations of not being able to use the research laboratory and run experiments. Some universities are now better prepared to permit some data collections following strict rules for staff and participant safety, but most people still are not secure to reopen the laboratories for testing. On the hand, there is much exclusion, and the economical and scientific asymmetries will just rise more and more during the after the pandemic.

Brazilian Society of Biomechanics

The Brazilian Society of Biomechanics assumed a leadership role and promoted some activities. The first was a webinar to discuss biomechanics research in Brazil. The event included professors and students (undergraduate and graduate) from different institutions that participated in discussions streamed live on the YouTube channel of the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics. The people attending the webinar were not only from Brazil but also from the different countries in South America. These discussions remain available in the channel.

(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeH_icm_GGqRtkY-OvAV0YdalsngHcFOI).

The challenges for biomechanics during the pandemic are present not only in South America. From informal conversations with colleagues from South Africa, a proposal for another webinar emerged. In partnership with the South African Society of Biomechanics, the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics promoted the webinar “Biomechanics Without Borders”, in which the challenges for the establishment of remote classes of biomechanics in Brazil and South Africa were discussed. The event was streamed live using the Zoom platform and made available on the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics YouTube channel. As observed for the previous webinar, several participants attend the webinar coming from different places not only from South America and Africa but also from other continents. This webinar included different lectures and discussions and the videos remain available in the channel.

(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeH_icm_GGqTo0oxeek2mrzypVzFBiv66).

sbb In a partnership of the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics with The Biomechanics Initiative (http://thebiomechanicsinitiative.org) a pilot program was established in Brazil. The “Brazilian Biomechanics Experience” wants to encourage the long-term engagement of young students with biomechanics. The Brazilian Society of Biomechanics will sponsor an online symposium dedicated to promoting biomechanics popularization among high school students enrolled in the “Junior Scientific Initiation Programs” from Brazilian Universities. The students will be invited to share their experiences while participating in biomechanics research. The students sharing their experiences will receive a Biomechanics textbook. When the event is finished, a committee of professors and graduate students invited by the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics will award up to five students with a USD 250 travel award to attend the 2021 Brazil Congress of Biomechanics.

cbb And by mentioning the XIX Brazilian Congress of Biomechanics, we invite you all to join the XIX Brazilian Congress of Biomechanics next September 13-17, 2021. The Brazilian Society of Biomechanics is about to launch the official website of the event, but we are already know that during the congress there will happen the III Latin American Meeting of Biomechanics and the XI Symposium on Applied Neuromechanics. It was a hard decision for the organizers and directive board of the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics to move the congress fully to an online environment, but it was a common understanding that this was the best decision to make at this point of the pandemic and the lack of certainty about 2021.

Applied Physiomechanics group - Chile

The Kinesiology department of the Universidad de Concepción from Chile developed a work plan to promote studies on human movement analysis and biomechanics in the south of the country. The Applied Physiomechanics group, including professors and students from the university and other collaborative institutions will be responsible to leverage the development of the projects for research on human locomotion, sports and rehabilitation, aiming to generate innovation and technological development. The group also wants to establish connections with other groups around the world to promote student exchanges, collaborative projects and also graduate studies.

Considering a challenging year as 2020 has been, this news are excellent and motivate us to keep active on science.

For further information please contact Leonardo Lagos Hausheer - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., www.kinesiologia.udec.cl

universidad dr concepcion 1 universidad dr concepcion 2

Wishing everyone a happy holidays - Felipe Carpes (South America Representative - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Our ISB Education Officer, Dario Cazzola, has been scouting biomechanical resources and came across the Awesome Biomechanics resource list created by Luca Modenese (Imperial College London). You can find an introductory video from Dario, with a short tutorial of the site given by Luca at the link below, and an interview extract explaining the motivations behing the list and how you might be able to help in keeping it up to date -

Awesome Biomechanics Interview with Luca Modenese

How on Earth did you decide to come up with this great idea?

I cannot say it was my original idea. “Awesome lists” are actually relatively common on GitHub and other open source communities, especially in fields rapidly evolving like deep learning or machine learning. They are free, open source lists meant to help others staying updated with new publications and online resources. I simply thought something like that was missing in biomechanics and decided to start one.

How long did it take to you to create it and what’s the actual weekly commitment you put into it?

It took few days to write the list, which is just a text document in Markdown format, and organise it. Actually, it helped me to collect old notes and finally close all those Chrome tabs I leave open every time I see something interesting and plan to check it later.

Since I use GitHub almost on a daily basis and I like trying new software and datasets when they become available, currently the maintenance effort is very low.

Were there many resources added to the list in 2020?

Because of the pandemic and remote teaching, this year there have been several excellent lectures, courses and conferences made publicly available. I have tried to collect some of those as well.

It is an open repo and people can contribute - is this happening? How often do people send you update?

The list is public for anyone to consult and, if they want, to contribute. So far, several people starred the list but only few contributed and I think this could be because Git can be intimidating for biomechanists, while once you approach it is actually very straightforward to use.

Are you planning to keep it on GitHub?

Yes, the list is a public domain document under a Creative Common Public license and I plan to keep it that way.

What’s next?

I will keep maintaining the list and I hope that seeing what it freely available will make people more inclined towards sharing their datasets, resources and knowledge. I think that only good things can come from it. At the lowest level, like this list of resources, sharing saves time to students or researchers. At a higher level, an open science approach can truly contribute to the advancement of the field, projects like OpenSim or the Biomechanical Toolkit (BTK) are perfect examples of this!

Womxn face barriers to achieving equitable representation in many fields and biomechanics is no exception. This in part results in womxn “leaking” from the professional pipeline. The mission of the International Womxn in Biomechanics (IWB) group, founded by research fellows Ana Ebrahimi (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA) and Jayishni Maharaj (Griffith University, Australia), is to increase the representation of womxn in biomechanics. Specifically, we aim to:

Support members at all career stages to achieve their personal and professional goals
Encourage womxn and girls to enter the biomechanics field via outreach initiatives.
Empower allies and all members of the biomechanics community to support womxn in creating a more equitable academy and workplace.

iwb im1

Our first IWB meeting in July 2020

IWB, is a community of approximately 500 members from over 150 universities and 20 countries (including US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Iran, and South Africa). Our members range from masters and PhD students to senior faculty and industry professionals, with diverse biomechanical backgrounds and areas of study. Currently, IWB is run through the voluntary efforts of a dedicated group of members – Sarah Kessler, Caitlin Banks, Jana Montgomery, Kirsty McDonald, Kat Daniels, Armita Manafzadeh, Sarah Breen, Fraje Watson, Laura Hutchinson.

To understand the factors that contribute to the leaky pipeline problem in biomechanics specifically, we conducted a survey among our members. From over 134+ responses, we identified three key barriers / concerns faced by womxn biomechanical researchers: mental health struggles, limited professional development and training, and lack of confidence in achieving career goals. The biggest concerns womxn reported having while working in a male-dominated field were:

Dealing with sexism in the workplace.
Not having ideas heard and seriously considered.
Not getting the same opportunities, job offers, and promotions as male colleagues.
Juggling personal and family commitments.
Not having enough champions/allies for support and guidance.

Our solution to addressing some of these challenges is rooted in creating a strong community for womxn in biomechanics. We have developed a platform on Slack where members are able to network, seek confidential support for personal and professional issues, and celebrate each other's successes. We also host monthly meetings on the first Monday/Tuesday (time zone dependent) of every month. In the last 6 months, we have hosted some incredible speakers from Academia, Industry, and several biomechanics societies. We have had meetings on applying for grants, fellowships, and awards (in collaboration with ASB, ISB, ISBS, and other biomechanics societies); discussing challenges faced by womxn in STEM; learning about racial and implicit bias in research spaces (in collaboration with the Black Biomechanists Association and Latinx in Biomechanix groups); and more. Check out our youtube page to watch some of our past meetings!

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Collage of presentations from recent IWB meetings and their key messages

We hope through IWB’s professional development trainings, outreach initiatives, and supportive network that womxn in biomechanics will gain a stronger sense of belonging and inclusion in the field. Learn more about IWB and support our mission by following us on Twitter and Instagram (@IntWomxnBiomech). Also, sign up to be a member by going to our website (here)!

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Examples of Instagram posts showcasing the diversity of work done by our members. We use these posts to both inspire younger generations to explore biomechanics and to increase visibility of womxn in biomechanics.

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Hello Friends and Colleagues,

National Biomechanics Day has successfully introduced our favorite science (no, not cosmology, BIOMECHANICS!) to nearly 30,000 high school students through the generous and enthusiastic support of Biomechanists (did you think I was going to say, Cosmologists?) the world over including many ISB members. NBD celebrations have occurred in 28 nations surely supporting our mantra, Biomechanics is the Breakthrough Science of the 21^st century! Thank you very much for your support.

NBD is now part of the Biomechanics firmament and as such is in a position to give back to our science community. In conjunction with ISB, we now announce our new program, National Biomechanics Day Outreach For Women in Biomechanics. The goals of the program are to support women biomechanists in creating an NBD 2021 event for young girls and to also provide travel support to ISB 2021 in Stockholm, Sweden. This program is available to women M.S. and Ph.D. students around the world.

Please see all details at the link just above. The submission deadline is January 31, 2021. If you are unfamiliar with NBD celebrations (then you must be a Cosmologist), please see about one billion great photos and videos in our NBD Archives.

Thank you to the ISB Executive Council for fighting for equality and inclusiveness in Biomechanics.

ISB Member and NBD Director,

Paul DeVita.

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1. Greeting from the new president of 3DAHM Technical Group.

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce to the friends and colleagues of ISB Group around the world that I, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi of AIST Japan, have recently taken over the presidential position of 3DAHM Technical Group from Professor Li-Shan Chou of Iowa State University.

Professor Chou will keep working as the Chair of next 3DAHM Symposium, which is re-scheduled to May of 2021. Simultaneously, I will be the president of this group until the summer of 2022. This is a special case under the current situation, and was approved recently by the 3DAHM executive committee.

Our research field is now facing very difficult situation. I, therefore, promise you that I will do my best as the president of this group to promote the research. Let' s work together to revive the research activities!

Sincerely yours,

Yoshiyuki Kobayashi

Human Augmentation Research Center,

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan

2. Call for Papers – the 16^th International Symposium on 3D Analysis of Human Movement (3D-AHM 2021)

The XVI International Symposium on 3D Analysis of Human Movement (3D-AHM 2021) will be held virtually from May 24-28, 2021.

We are accepting abstract submissions for presentations. https://www.regcytes.extension.iastate.edu/3dahm/abstracts/

For the Abstract, between two to four pages are allowed for submission, four being the accepted maximum length. Please submit your abstract as a pdf file and identify your submission file by your family name_first name_institution name (e.g., chou_lishan_ISU). If there are multiple submissions from the same author, please add the abstract number to the file name (e.g., chou_lishan_ISU_1).

Please view and download the Abstract Template for abstract submissions. Please use the downloadable word document to help format your abstract submission.

If your abstracts have been previously accepted for presentations (podium or poster) in the originally planned symposium in July 2020, please contact us (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) with one of the following options: 1) I would like to keep the same abstract for the May 2021 virtual symposium, 2) I would like to replace my original submission with an updated abstract for the May 2021 virtual symposium (please attach your updated abstract), or 3) I will not able to attend the May 2021 virtual symposium and would like to withdraw my submitted abstract. Please be sure to include the title and authors of your submitted abstract for our reference.

If you have any other questions, please submit to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Abstract Author must register for the event by February 28, 2021.

Important Dates:
December 8, 2020 – January 29, 2021 Abstract Submission
February 1, 2021 Abstract Selection Process Begins

3. General guidance for the safe return to the lab.

Executive committee of 3DAHM is now preparing a general guidance document that aims to facilitate a safe return to the lab, and also another documents that specifically address airborne transmission of Covid. This include the list of links to the Sanitization-Guidance / Recommendations of major experimental tools, such as mocap system. We will share these documents soon.

4. Call for Proposals to Host the 18th International Symposium on 3-D Analysis of Human Movement

Biennial Symposium of the 3D-AHM Group, International Society of Biomechanics

The 3-D Analysis of Human Movement (3D-AHM) Group is a Technical Group of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB), and has a special interest in the three- dimensional biomechanical analysis of human movement. The biennial symposium is the major event of the group, which attracts generally around 150 delegates to present research results and discuss issues related to the measurement and analysis of human movement in three dimensions as well as relevant applications. The symposium is typically held over a three-day period in the summer. The program consists of invited lectures, podium sessions and poster sessions. The industry is also offered the exceptional opportunity to address the general assembly, rather than the typical commercial exhibits.

The 17th International Symposium on 3-D Analysis of Human Movement will take place on the Kanamachi campus of Tokyo University of Science in Tokyo, Japan in July 2022. The host of the Symposium is Dr. Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, President of the 3-D Analysis of Human Movement Group. More information about the group and symposia can be found at http://geocities.ws/3d-ahm/.

We would like to invite proposals to host the 18th International Symposium in 2024. A one-page proposal identifying the host of the meeting and describing the affiliated institution and the facilities available for the meeting is requested. Additional information about the organizing committee and potential topics for the meeting is welcome but not essential. Also, tourist information about the region is useful since the meeting may coincide with summer holidays. The selection will be based also on the record of research in the area of human movement analysis from the hosting group, and on previous commitments with the 3D-AHM Group. The selected host will serve on the Executive Board as President-Elect.

DUE DATE FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION IS February 26th, 2021.

PLEASE SUBMIT PROPOSALS ELECTRONICALLY TO Yoshi Kobayashi at - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You may also address questions about this Call for Proposals to Georgios Stylianides at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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If you have any question about these contents, please feel free to contact me.

Best regards,

Yoshi Kobayashi

Footwear Biomechanics Symposium 2021

The 15th biennual Footwear Biomechanics Symposium will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, July 21 – 23, 2021. This will be in hybrid format (virtual and in-person), circumstances allowing. A final decision regarding the format will be made in Spring 2021. The conference will be held at the Radisson Blue Hotel in the centre of Gothenburg. Please see the symposium website for updates on abstract submission and student travel awards: https://fbs2021.footwearbiomechanics.org/

Thomas McMahon Student Travel Awards

FBG is pleased to announce the creation of the Thomas A. McMahon Student Travel Awards to honor the memory of one of the great minds in applied biomechanics. Before his untimely death in 1999, Professor McMahon contributed seminal works in locomotion biomechanics and was a collaborator, mentor, and friend to many of us in Footwear Biomechanics.

The awards of between $US 500 and $US 1000, funded by a group of anonymous donors and matching funds from FBG, will support travel and conference registration for students presenting their work at FBS2021 and subsequent symposia. Awards will be made on a competitive basis and their value will depend on travel distance. Application details are available on the symposium website.

Nike Footwear Award

Nike, Inc. (“Nike”) is sponsoring the eighth Nike Footwear Award presented at the 15th ISB Footwear Biomechanics Technical Group meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden in conjunction with the 2021 ISB Congress. The $5,000 award continues Nike’s leadership in driving footwear innovation for athletic performance, protection, and perception. Please see the FBS2021 website for further details.

Social Media

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter (@FootwearBiomech) or join the Footwear Biomechanics Group on Facebook to stay up to date about new publications, social events and the Footwear Biomechanics Symposium 2021.

Footwear Biomechanics Group (FBG) Membership

Don’t forget to purchase or renew your FBG membership at https://www.footwearbiomechanics.org/membership-2/ The current membership is £90 GBP (regular) or £45 GBP (student) for two years and includes the following benefits:

A discount on your registration fee for the upcoming 15^th biennial Footwear Biomechanics Symposium (FBS) taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden in July 2021
A two year subscription to Footwear Science, the official journal of the FBG
Eligibility to vote for Footwear Biomechanics Group Executive Board members
Eligibility to apply for Footwear Biomechanics Symposium Student Travel Grants to present at the FBS

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We are pleased to announce that the ISB Technical Group in Motor Control is planning four symposia for 2021, all featuring internationally renowned speakers presenting their work at the intersection of Motor Control and Biomechanics.

What	When	Where
Symposium at iFAB 2021	April 11-14, 2021	Virtual Meeting
Symposium at ACSM 2021	June 1-5, 2021	Washington DC, USA
Symposium at ISB 2021	July 25-29, 2021	Stockholm, Sweden
Symposium at Brazilian Congress of Biomechanics 2021	September 13-17, 2021	Virtual Meeting

The year 2020 has been challenging for all, and we look forward to meeting again, whether in person or virtually, to talk about Motor Control in various areas and applications of Biomechanics.

Details of the events will be updated on our website http://www.mcg.isbweb.org/ soon.

We look forward to seeing you at these events and until then stay well and safe.

Happy Holidays,

ISB Technical Group in Motor Control