The creation of the European Medical Research Councils (EMRC) in 1971 predates that of the ESF and became a permanent committee of the ESF in 1975.

The EMRC is the membership organisation for all the Medical Research Councils in Europe under the ESF.
Its mission is to promote innovative medical research and its clinical application towards improved human health.
The EMRC offers authoritative strategic advice for policy making, research management, ethics and better health services. In its activities, the EMRC serves as a voice of its Member Organisations and the European scientific community through its science policy.

The Group of the EMRC is an association of organisations supporting medical and biomedical research, and since 1975 a Standing Committee of the ESF. It meets twice a year in order to discuss science policies and research activities pursued by its member organisations and to consider ways in which co-operation and collaboration in the field can best be promoted on a European level.
The presence of EMRC representatives on the Executive Council and on the ESF liaison Committee for Recombinant DNA Research ensure the cooperation between the group and the Foundation.
The membership of the group contains not only representatives from countries associated with the ESF but also delegates from Finland and Iceland as well as specially invited experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The sub-sub-fonds contains documents relating to the activities of the ERMC, mainly: the Standing Committee Meetings; programmes and activities.