SEMG
The Société ethnomycologique de Genève is a non-profit association governed by Swiss law and established in accordance with Art. 60 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code.
Our mission
Study, preserve and transmit.
The mission of the SEMG is to make visible the relationships between fungi, knowledge, environments and societies: what fungi nourish, heal, transform, inspire, tell and transmit.
It is interested in field-based knowledge, production practices, culinary and medicinal uses, popular narratives, artistic expressions, objects, archives and oral traditions.
It creates bridges between mycology, anthropology, history, ecology, production, cuisine, traditional medicine and contemporary cultural practices, in order to make ethnomycology exist as a living, documented and accessible field.
What does the SEMG do?
Spaces to document, learn and transmit.
Library & archives
The library brings together books, journals, resources and archives related to fungi, their uses and their cultural dimensions. It supports research, mediation and the transmission of ethnomycological knowledge.
Discover →Journal of Ethnomycology
The Journal of Ethnomycology is the audiovisual and documentary review of the SEMG. It brings together filmed formats, interviews, short written dossiers, transcripts and complementary resources.
Discover →SEMG Academy
SEMG Academy brings together e-learning, practical workshops and certificate programmes on a platform designed specifically for ethnomycology: courses, resources, exercises, documents and validations in one place.
Discover →Mycological cultivation and experimentation workshop
The workshop makes it possible to observe, cultivate, test and transmit practices linked to the fungal world. It supports educational activities, demonstrations, applied research and transmission projects.
Discover →Studio SEMG
Studio SEMG supports the creation of videos, interviews, courses, educational capsules and documentary content. It supports SEMG Academy, the Journal of Ethnomycology and the audiovisual memory of the Society.
Discover →Geneva Fungi Fest
Geneva Fungi Fest brings fungi into the city through cinema, conferences, photography, cuisine, a mycological parade, workshops and public encounters. A festival dedicated to the knowledge, imaginaries and creations of the fungal world.
Discover →Statutes
A clear associative framework.
The Société ethnomycologique de Genève is organized as a non-profit association. Its statutes define its purpose, bodies, membership categories, governance rules, as well as the principles relating to dissolution and the allocation of its assets.
This framework protects the mission of the SEMG, supports the stability of its spaces and guarantees transparent governance in the service of ethnomycology.
View the statutesJoin us
Take part in a living ethnomycological society.
Joining the SEMG means contributing to a space dedicated to the study, documentation and transmission of the relationships between fungi, knowledge, environments and societies.
Our history
The Société ethnomycologique de Genève was born from the desire to create a space dedicated to the relationships between fungi, knowledge, environments and societies.
Through research, readings, projects and encounters, one thing became clear: fungi move through cuisines, traditional medicines, arts, narratives, techniques, memories and living practices, yet no space in Switzerland was specifically dedicated to them from this perspective.
The SEMG responds to this absence by bringing together people interested in ethnomycology, structuring an emerging field and developing spaces capable of giving fungi a place in research, transmission, documentation and public culture.
New SEMG workshop
Molecular identification of fungi
Pre-registrations are open for the discovery workshop dedicated to ITS sequencing.
Discover the workshop