Over the past few years, image analysis has become an essential step in the production and interpretation of microscopy images. As bioimaging experiments generate increasingly large and complex datasets, image analysis now plays a central role in transforming imaging data into meaningful scientific insights.

To support this rapidly growing field, the Network of European BioImage Analysts (NEUBIAS) was founded in 2016. NEUBIAS played a key role in structuring the European bioimage analysis community and in promoting the recognition of the bioimage analyst profession, positioned at the interface between biology, physics, computer science and data science.

Building on this success, an international consortium of researchers, including Florian Levet (Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, Bordeaux Imaging Center), received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2023 to extend this effort beyond Europe and establish a sustainable global organisation dedicated to bioimage analysis. This initiative led to the creation of GloBIAS, the Global BioImage Analysts’ Society.

In an article published in Nature Methods⁽¹⁾, the GloBIAS community presents the origins of the society, its missions and the actions implemented to support the development of bioimage analysis worldwide.

Over the years, this European initiative progressively opened up to international partners and inspired other bioimaging communities, including in North America, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. GloBIAS emerged from this momentum, with the ambition to create a sustainable global network for the entire bioimage analysis community.

GloBIAS aims to become a true “global hub for bioimage analysis” by bringing together a wide range of profiles, including bioimage analysts, developers, bioinformaticians, research software engineers, biologists, physicists, educators and scientists from various disciplines.

To address the needs of this international community, GloBIAS focuses on several key missions: fostering knowledge exchange, encouraging collaboration, promoting training, organising events, and collectively addressing emerging challenges in the field.

To better identify the needs and expectations of the community, GloBIAS conducted an international survey among bioimage analysts. The results helped structure several concrete actions, including the creation of new working groups dedicated to training and education, high-performance computing and cloud computing, annual events and publications. The society also organises monthly seminars and international workshops to encourage knowledge sharing and skills development within the community.

Through these actions, GloBIAS aims to democratise access to bioimage analysis resources, strengthen the recognition of the bioimage analyst profession and create an international platform for exchange, helping the community develop shared solutions to scientific, technical and professional challenges.

To learn more and join the network, visit the GloBIAS website.

(1) Corbat, A.A., Walther, C.G., de la Ballina, L.R, Condon, N.D., Felder, A.A., Schätz, M., Schmerl, B., Sugawara, K., Prats, C., Klemm, A., Miura, K., Sampaio, P., Tischer, C., Levet, F*., D’Antuono, R.*, Cimini, B.A.*, Haase, R*. GloBIAS: strengthening the foundations of bioimage analysis. Nat Methods (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-026-03060-7

*co-corresponding authors