The idea of a society for the study of the bande dessinée was first raised at a 1999 Glasgow International conference.  The Society was officially founded in 2001, again following a conference in Glasgow, and its work has continued at further conferences in Leicester, Manchester and London, in both 2007 and 2009. The International Bande Dessinée Society Conference is thus a bi-annual fixture, and we look forward to our next meeting, again in Glasgow and Dundee, in June 2013 .