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ESRS Newsletter September 2024

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President's Message September 2024

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As we enter the final countdown to Sleep Europe 2024, and my final President`s newsletter, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past four years and thank you, the membership of ESRS, for entrusting me to lead the society. Over the past four years, ESRS went through a lot of firsts in its 52 year history. We held our first virtual congress and started a new tradition by offering a fully virtual event (eSleep) in odd years which we are already planning to continue into 2025. 

 

ESRS initiated and funded the Sleep Europe Foundation (sef) to support the next generation of sleep researchers. We now offer more Sleep Europe travel grants to support participation of early career researchers, families, and lower income countries. We are also encouraging sustainable travel with designated grants as well as offering digital participation at the highly discounted rate of 40 EUR colleagues from lower and lower-middle-income countries. We aim to make sleep science accessible to all. Even outside of the traditional congress, we have established a tradition of webinars covering hot topics and new research in a timely manner. 

 

As the voice of sleep in Europe, ESRS have established formal connections and joint programming with relevant societies like the EPA and FENS and strengthened our working relationships with the European Respiratory Society (ERS) via a signed Memorandum of Understanding and the continuation of the Sleep and Breathing conference. ESRS has also supported the revision and publication of European guidelines for clinical practice.  

 

I am proud that we were able to hold in person Sleep Science Schools in 2021 and 2023 and ESRS offered its first Paediatric Sleep School in 2024. This year ANSS hosted Beyond Boundaries in person once again as well with a successful course taking place in Georgia, one of our newest ANSS member countries.

 

These are just some of the highlights, from the past four years. The ESRS could not have accomplished all of this without the support of the staff which has now grown to five part time individuals and three project based contractors. After nine years with the ESRS, Axel Wiechmann will deliver his final examination this month. Erica Schwebs has been promoted to Education Manager and Ana Rocha was hired as Marketing Manager.  I am confident the society is in good hands for continued success. I was elected in a virtual meeting and am very much looking forward to shaking the hand of the next ESRS President later this month in Seville with all of you.  

 

Please be reminded that the Call for Nominations for positions on the ESRS Board and Scientific Committee will close in less than one week. If you have been considering submitting a nomination, now is the time to act. These positions are important for steering the strategic direction of our society, and your contributions are highly valued. 

 

This year, all voting is being conducted online. Voting on Bylaws amendments is currently open and you will be able to vote for Board and Scientific Committee positions from 12 – 25 September. You will need to login to your ESRS account, if you are unsure of your password, please reset it now. I remind you to attend the ESRS Business Meeting in Seville on Thursday, 26 September at 19:00 CEST, as we welcome in newly elected officers and present the ESRS update.  

 

Last but certainly not least, I can hardly believe that we have over 3,200 participants already registered to attend Sleep Europe where more than 1600 scientific posters will be on display. This will be the largest and most influential gathering of sleep professionals in Europe. If you have not yet planned to be in Seville, you can still register right up until the start of the congress to join us onsite or digitally  

Kind regards,

Pierre-Hervé Luppi

 

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