Dear EAN Members, Friends, and Colleagues,
As we step into the 11th year of the European Academy of Neurology, I’m pleased to bring you the first Executive Page of 2025 and provide you with a preview of our upcoming 11th EAN Congress, which will take place in Helsinki, Finland, on 21–24 June.
Our preparations for Helsinki are well underway, and several key milestones have already been achieved. The Programme Planner is live, offering an extensive selection of scientific and educational sessions to help you design your personal schedule. Registration is open, with early bird rates available until 16 April. Most importantly, abstract submission remains open until 29 January. I strongly encourage you to take this opportunity to contribute to the congress’s scientific programme. Your submissions enrich the diversity and depth of our community’s work, making each congress an invaluable experience. Don’t miss the chance to be part of this one!
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The overarching theme of this year’s congress, ‘Neurology within Society’, will be a central focus of all invited sessions. This theme delves into the complex interplay between neurology and societal factors, covering crucial topics such as distinguishing neurodegeneration from normal aging, addressing economic challenges in European neurology, and understanding societal perceptions of neurological disorders. It also explores regional differences in neurological care, the impact of environmental changes on cognitive functions, and the integration of neuroscience with social sciences to tackle contemporary issues. This comprehensive theme highlights the vital connections between brain health and society, emphasizing the need for awareness among healthcare professionals.
I am pleased to announce that the opening lecture will be delivered by Prof. John Hardy (pictured), a renowned expert in neurodegenerative diseases. His lecture, titled ‘Neurodegeneration: From Genetics to Pathogenesis to the Beginning of Mechanistic Therapies,’ promises to provide invaluable insights into the latest advancements in the field.
Our Named Lectures, featured in the Presidential Symposium, will showcase an exceptional lineup of speakers, including Prof. Claudio Bassetti, Prof. Marina de Koning-Tijssen, Prof. Catherine Lubetzki, Prof. Haim Sompolinsky, and Prof. Maria Grazia Spillantini. Details of their lectures will be shared closer to the event, but you can already learn more about these experts on our website.
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Pictured (left to right):
- Claudio Bassetti, C. Brown-Séquard Award Lecture, “Sleep by the brain, for the brain: Implications for neurology”
- Marina de Koning-Tijssen, Moritz Romberg Award Lecture, “Myoclonus, you need to know it to see it”
- Catherine Lubetzki, Anita Harding Award Lecture, “Multiple sclerosis, from biology to clinical translation. A focus on nodes of Ranvier and electrical activity”
- Haim Sompolinsky, The Brain Prize Lecture, “How the brain represents the World”
- Maria Grazia Spillantini, Camillo Golgi Award Lecture, “Protein aggregation and its relevance for neurodegenerative diseases”
I am also thrilled to announce some innovative new elements and sessions to make the Helsinki event particularly memorable. Unlike 2024’s congress, this year will expand its regional focus beyond Finland to highlight the broader North-Eastern European region including the Baltic countries, as well as Spanish local organizers. Reflecting this change, the Co-Organising Committee (COC) will substitute the Local Organising Committee and work together to make the Opening session and other designated parts of the program even more attractive.
We will host innovative new sessions exploring the connections between neurological disorders and the arts, as well as relaxation sessions on autogenic training. In the latter one, participants will learn about the physiological and pathological responses to acute as well as chronic stress and experience psychological and physical benefits of mental and physical relaxation. We also prepare two new sessions on neurological breakthroughs of the last year and you will hear more about this soon.
After a successful pilot last year, we will now introduce altogether four Hands-on Courses “Bring your own laptop.” This format is ideally suited to courses where the learning objectives include virtual screening methods to support the diagnosis, treatment strategies, or reading skills of images. Using an interactive web platform, course participants will have access to anonymised patient cases, creating an electronic hands-on learning environment. These courses are free of charge and available on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the event. Therefore, remember to arrive early to secure a spot!
Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge great collaborations with many neurological subspeciality partner organisations that enrich our congress and add to its flavour and success. They are too many to list them all here. Most of this collaboration is utilized via common session proposals already at the level of Scientific Panels. In addition to this, this year we will have interdisciplinary sessions co-hosted with the European Society of Cardiology and the European Psychiatric Association that will examine heart-brain interactions and neuropsychiatric disorders.
To make the congress accessible, online participation options are free for EAN members, and our expanded Bursary scheme now includes Student Members. This initiative offers free registration and accommodation for 240 applicants. Additionally, the EAN Tournament Finals continue to inspire young professionals by offering the opportunity to present at the congress and win free registration for the following year. For more information about these initiatives, please see our Grants & Awards page.
Finally, a word on sustainability. Whenever feasible, we encourage attendees to opt for environmentally friendly travel. Helsinki’s exceptional public transport system, which will be free for congress participants, provides convenient connections between the airport and the venue—so please take full advantage of this resource. Additionally, I would like to ask you to consider offsetting your carbon footprint where possible. Please join us in our commitment to minimising the impact of our congress as much as possible.
As we prepare for this event, I look forward to sharing further updates and welcoming you to Helsinki for what promises to be an excellent 11th Annual Congress.
I wish you a happy and successful new year and particularly good health and a lot of energy, creativity, enthusiasm and joy in everything that you do. And my special wish is to see you all at our Helsinki 2025 congress!
All the best,
Irena Rektorova
EAN Programme Committee Chair
