Message From the President: A Career-Changing Meeting
Oswald Steward
As we gear up for Neuroscience 2023, I am filled with a sense of excitement and anticipation. SfN's annual meeting is not just an event — it's an experience that holds immense potential for personal and professional growth. I vividly remember my first meeting I attended as a second year graduate student, which was the second annual meeting in 1972 in Houston, Texas — it opened new worlds! My favorite was the session on “Neural Plasticity,” chaired by Lloyd Guth, who became my collaborator and friend 20 years later when I began to focus on spinal cord injury. In today's world, where our interactions are enabled, but also constrained by computer screens, the unique energy generated by coming together in person cannot be overstated.
In today's world, where our interactions are enabled, but also constrained by computer screens, the unique energy generated by coming together in person cannot be overstated.
Neuroscience 2023 offers amazing opportunities to gather with others who share your personal and professional interests. After a successful introduction last year, Neuroscience Meet-Ups are back. Meet-Ups are aimed at creating informal gatherings, outside of annual meeting programming hours, for attendees that share a common interest. SfN-Sponsored Socials offer the familiar setting of networking with colleagues in a specific field over refreshments after a long day at the meeting.
Outside of the many networking opportunities, the sheer number of attendees and the myriad of sessions create a rich environment for unexpected encounters and interactions. We’ve all heard the stories of a colleague’s chance conversation that unveiled a novel approach to a difficult problem, or how they stumbled upon a session that ignited their curiosity in an unexplored area. Serendipity thrives in the shared space of the annual meeting, offering a chance to make connections you could never have predicted. Maybe the next story of a career-changing moment will be yours.
... the virtual component offers a cost- and time-effective way to participate in the meeting remotely.
In my opinion, the fact that such opportunities for connection extend to those who are unable to travel to the meeting remains under-appreciated. The Neuroscience 2023 Virtual Component brings so much of the annual meeting’s scientific content directly to you, including Special Lectures, symposia, and posters. Available starting 10 days before Neuroscience 2023 and for 30 days after the meeting concludes, the virtual component offers a cost- and time-effective way to participate in the meeting remotely. In addition, because the virtual component’s content is available as part of the in-person registration, it expands opportunities to see posters and sessions you may have missed.
It's been six years since SfN’s annual meeting was last in Washington, D.C. A lot has changed in those six years, but a lot has stayed the same. Neuroscience remains a vibrant and important field. And we as a community are at our best when 25,000+ of us put our heads together — literally — to ignite a flurry of connections and insights that give us an energy boost until our next gathering.
