It was founded in 1923 at Birkbeck College to "promote the art and science of experimental biology in all its branches".
[1] It aims to demonstrate the importance and impact of experimental biology research to the wider public and within the scientific community and to connect and support experimental biologists in their research and career development.
[3] The main activities of the society are the organisation and sponsorship of scientific meetings, the publication of relevant research, and the promotion of development of experimental biologist through education, communication, and career development programmes.
The main meeting is held in the United Kingdom or continental Europe[4] and has up to 1000 attendees, with three plenary lectures (the Bidder, Woolhouse, and Cell Plenary Lectures) and nine parallel sessions.
The freely available SEB Magazine has generally appeared in Spring and Autumn, since 2012.