As part of the online Nature Careers section on the Nature journal website, an interview was published with Prof. Ratko Magjarević, PhD, former president of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) and a prominent advocate of international scientific collaboration in the field of biomedical engineering.

In the interview, he emphasizes that scientific societies, throughout history, from the Accademia dei Lincei to the Royal Society, have been crucial for the development and dissemination of knowledge. They continue to play this role today as important channels for networking and the exchange of ideas. However, they now face serious challenges.

The growing share of virtual networking and the shift toward open-access publishing are reducing income from membership fees and subscriptions, trends that were further accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these challenges, he concludes that scientific societies remain irreplaceable in connecting researchers and strengthening the global scientific community.

Prof. Magjarević highlights a concrete benefit of membership: "by joining scientific societies, researchers can connect with colleagues earlier and more easily than if they had to build their own network of contacts from scratch", and a strong network increases competitiveness when applying for international projects. For example, during the pandemic, IFMBE members collaborated on developing technologies for health monitoring and the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, demonstrating the strength of global scientific connectivity.

Prof. Magjarević served as IFMBE president for two terms, from 2012 to 2015 and from 2022 to 2025. For his contribution to the development of international scientific cooperation, he received recognition from the Senate of Colombia in 2014, and in 2025 he was also awarded the Distinguished Service Award by IFMBE.