It's about that time of the year

Many of you are enjoying (well-deserved) summer vacations, while others are taking advantage of the peaceful summer to get some productive work done. One way or another, most of us are gearing up for that time of the year: the annual ECNP Congress. Our congress will be held this year in Paris from 2-5 September. Once again, Europe’s premier scientific meeting for disease-oriented brain research will attract between 4,000 and 6,000 delegates from the world over.

It is the time of the year when neuroscientists, psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists, and anyone interested in brain-related disorders from a translational perspective will meet for four days full of opportunities for interaction. It is the time of the year when we will be able to choose among brainstorming sessions, career development sessions, new findings symposia, regulatory update sessions, TNM symposia, top paper sessions, satellite symposia, expert science exchange, and the regular five types of track symposia (clinical treatment, clinical research, translational research, preclinical research, and educational track) and a host of other activities. The congress has undergone an extensive makeover and has been updated to make it even more lively and inspiring!

It is the time of the year when young and senior researchers have the time to discuss their research projects, when researchers from all over the world have the opportunity to attend plenary sessions with the best scientific minds in our field and other related disciplines, and when the many hugely successful ECNP Networks meet to prepare new proposals for EU-funded research.

It is the time of the year when high-quality posters (I cannot think of any other meeting with such a high rejection rate for submitted posters) are presented in front of a huge audience and receive the interest they deserve. It is the time of year when scientist parents who attend have a professional childcare agency available to care for their children and when junior scientists and junior clinicians can register for only 100 euros and benefit from the full package. The Junior Members Advisory Panel (JMAP) works very hard to ensure that junior researchers are an integral part of the ECNP Congress and encourages their participation at every level.

This year we will again have a joint day with our sister society, ISCTM, which is also meeting in Paris (31 August-2 September) to discuss the latest methodological issues in CNS drug and device development. I encourage any of you interested in clinical trial methodology to attend this meeting!

It is about that time of the year again and I, for one, cannot wait to get started. See you in Paris!

Celso Arango
ECNP President

All information on the 30th ECNP Congress is available via http://2017.ecnp.eu.