The Heidelberg Forum on the Biosciences and Society refers to an initiative that four leading research institutions in Heidelberg, EMBL (the European Molecular Biology Laboratory), DKFZ (the German Cancer Research Centre) and the University of Heidelberg (the Centre for Molecular Biology (ZMBH) and the Medical Faculty), have launched for the promotion of public understanding of science. It consists of a series of public lectures organised for the benefit of a variety of audiences.

Researchers working within diverse sub-fields of the life sciences recognise the need to communicate across their own narrowly defined professional boundaries. Diverse applications of modern biology are now crossing paths and converging in frontier territories. The Heidelberg Forum is meant to become a locus where leading experts from within the life sciences will be invited to come to accomplish a two-fold task. On the one hand they will be invited to communicate their science directly to peers, and on the other hand they will reflect openly in a public auditorium on how their scientific work relates to societal interests.