Five institutional members of the EMS (European Mathematical Society) have agreed to organise their First Joint International Meeting (FJIM in what follows) in Bilbao, Spain, from June 30 to July 4, 2014. Two of them are from Italy:

• UMI (Italian Mathematical Union), and
• SIMAI (Italian Society for Applied and Industrial Mathematics),

and the other three are from Spain:

• RSME (Royal Spanish Mathematical Society), 
• SCM (Catalan Mathematical Society), and
• SEMA (Spanish Society for Applied Mathematics).

Spain and Italy are among the countries with highest numbers of EMS individual members.

The main goal of the meeting is to share recent research by mathematicians from all over the world, but especially from Italy and Spain, in a pleasant atmosphere which hopefully will foster the strengthening of cooperation ties and will attract interest to new fields.

The FJIM will open the day after the closing of the EMS Council Meeting, scheduled in the Auditorium Antonio Beristain of the Centro Carlos Santamaría in San Sebastián on June 28-29, 2014.  The two events will take place at the respective science and technology campuses of the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastián and in Leioa, near Bilbao.

The programme of the FJIM consists of:

• Twelve plenary lectures, one of them by Alfio Quarteroni, EMS Distinguished Speaker.
• The course 'Mathematical Modelling and Simulation in Biomedicine', by Miguel Ángel Herrero, the 2014 EMS Lecturer.
• Thirty special sessions, covering practically all areas of mathematics.

Bilbao is within easy reach of most of Europe through its international airport, which offers frequent, convenient flights. Moreover, the city is truly attractive for visitors following its development and modernization in recent years. In the centre of Bilbao stand the Guggenheim Museum, the Fine Arts Museum, the Auditorium of the University of the Basque Country and the Library and University of Deusto, all of which are close to the Old Town and the newly developed Alhondiga Cultural Centre.

It is a pleasure to invite you, on behalf of the Organising Committee, to the FJIM. We would be grateful if you could help disseminate the information about this meeting. All mathematicians interested in sharing in the event with us are very welcome.

Please click here for more information on the 2014 EMS Council, to be held in San Sebastián.