From the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee
I am very pleased to welcome you all to Thessaloniki on behalf of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). A couple of decades ago, it might have seemed impossible that researchers in bioelectromagnetics from around the world would gather in Greece for their most important meeting. The bioelectromagnetics community in this country was never big, but it has grown in recent years, attracting young researchers from various scientific disciplines.Greece is the most alluring destination for any event. Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece and capital of Macedonia, is situated in Northern Greece. It hosts the largest University of the country and this is difficult to miss when one takes a stroll in the lively streets of its center, thriving with students. It is a cosmopolitan city offering a contrast between the ancient and the modern. The surrounding area boasts beautiful sandy beaches with crystal clear, turquoise water and landscapes of wooded mountains and beautiful coasts.BioEM2013 will be held at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall Conference Center, an architectural jewel designed by the famous Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. This year we have chosen NB Events as our partner to organize the conference. We hope that we have prepared a social program for participants and accompanying persons alike that Theodoros SamarasChairGreecePhil ChadwickUKEfthymios KarabetsosStavros KoulouridisGreeceNiels KusterSwitzerlandMicaela LibertiItalyCarmela MarinoItalyMeike MevissenSwitzerlandKonstantina NikitaGreeceAndrew WoodAustralia7will allow them to enjoy their visit to the region and take home unforgettable memories from Vergina, Meteora or Halkidiki. Everybody will have the chance to walk in the traces of Alexander the Great, become familiar with Byzantine spiritualism, or simply taste the wine of local producers and bathe in the sunlight.We, the organizers, understand that getting all of this right is a big challenge, especially after the very successful organization of the most recent BEMS and EBEA conferences in Brisbane and Rome and the last BioEM conference in Davos.Unfortunately, the financial crisis did not allow us to raise as much sponsor funding as we might have wished and this has meant that registration fees have had to increase slightly. We believe that this can be somewhat offset by reasonable accommodation prices negotiated by our event organizer with hotels and affordable ticket prices for traveling to Greece.As the Chair I wish to thank all members of the LOC for their support and hard work during the preparation of this conference. I must also thank my collaborators from the Radiocommunications Laboratory for their invaluable contributions to the organization of this event. Finally, I want to thank all of you for coming to this conference. I hope that your experience will be such that it will bring you back to Greece, and Thessaloniki, soon.
Καλώςήλθατε! (Kalós ílthate!)
Welcome!
Theodoros Samaras
Programme