The large lady practising her scales in the wings may have given the clue that the BioNet project comes to an end on 31 December. I would like to express the thanks of the BioNet consortium to all who contributed to its success.
The BioNet Event has spawned many activities that, we hope, will start coming to fruition as early as 2003. With the end of the BioNet project, these are being continued by BEL, the Biomechanics European Laboratory, which currently has 169 members but would welcome more (see below). BEL emerged in the post-Event discussions and has been set up as a democratic structure that will give the grass-roots biomechanics community an opportunity to influence future developments in the area. Representatives have already been elected by the community - more will follow.

Proceedings of the BioNet Event will be available as a special issue of Theoretical Issues in Ergonomic Science thanks to the hard work of Krystyna Gielo-Perczak (Guest Editor) and the support of Waldemar Karwowksi, Editor in Chief. Further details will be sent to this list nearer the publication date.

The BioNet mailing lists, hosted by CINECA, which supported the heavy traffic of all the preparations for Framework 6, will be shut down in early January, so we urge all members who have not already done so to join BEL soon.

While BEL is a European initiative, we greatly valued the contribution of colleagues from North America to the BioNet project and we hope that bi-lateral initiatives can continue under BEL.

I would like to express my personal thanks to colleagues in the BioNet consortium - Marco Viceconti, Serge Van Sint Jan and Alberto Leardini - for their support throughout, and particularly to Marco for his immense efforts over the past 6 months in establishing BEL on a solid foundation.

Best wishes,

Gordon Clapworthy

BioNet Coordinator

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To become a member of the Biomechanics European Lab virtual community (membership is free - there is no charge) please send an e-mail to register.vrlab@tecno.ior.it, in which you specify your Surname, Name, Position, Lab/Dept, Institution and Services Page URL along with your e-mail and regular mail addresses. Surname, Lab/Dept, Institution and Services Page URL may be linked to web pages of your unit web site, if you provide the exact URL. If you do not want your e-mail address published on the web page, please state it explicitly.

You must work in a European institution (or associated countries) and have a doctoral or equivalent degree in biomechanics or related topics, or to be able to document at least five years of active research in the field of biomechanics.

The BEL home page can be found at http://www.tecno.ior.it/VRLAB/index.html



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