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Q: As Head of Assembly 1, what are you most looking forward to about this year’s ERS Congress?
I am most looking forward to reconnecting with our members during the Assembly 1 members’ meeting that is scheduled to take place in Hall 3A between 17:15 and 18:45 CEST on Tuesday 30 September. This meeting will provide the opportunity to identify training and development needs for education and skills courses and discuss with colleagues our plans for task forces and programme priorities for the ERS Congress in 2026.
Q: What in your opinion will be the hot topics for respiratory clinical care and physiology?
These will be emerging topics in digital health and AI solutions in respiratory medicine, diagnosis and management of breathlessness, novel models of rehabilitation and chronic care, and the physiology and biology of exercise limitation in chronic respiratory diseases. On Sunday 28 September, Assembly 1, alongside Assembly 9, will feature a special hot topic on ‘Integrated respiratory services and digital health: streamlining system provision’.
Q: Tell us your top three picks from the congress programme.
Limiting it to top three picks is challenging, but I particularly look forward to the following three sessions at the upcoming Congress:
1. Year in review – Global updates on screening and therapeutic intervention development in respiratory diseases
Tuesday 30 September, 10:15–11:45 CEST
This is an important session to evaluate the impact of COPD screening on primary care clinician behaviour and patient outcomes; to discuss current treatment options and emerging therapeutic approaches for chronic cough; to review the unmet needs in care of patients with pulmonary fibrosis; and to consider approaches for ensuring that technology is accessible and subject to the same scrutiny as all healthcare interventions.
Monday 29 September, 13:45–15:15 CEST
The symposium will explore global perspectives on utilising real-world data and real-world evidence to enhance responsible artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled respiratory innovation and discuss opportunities and challenges in the collection, analysis and deployment of responsible and effective AI integration in different countries.
3. Mini Symposium – Lung sounds unplugged: a global perspective
Monday 29 September, 15:30–17:00 CEST
This session will provide an updated operational classification of respiratory sounds across several pathophysiological respiratory conditions; will describe technical aspects and applications of lung sound analysis in clinical practice, including early diagnosis and detection of disease exacerbations/progression; and introduce telemedicine applications of respiratory sound analysis in the clinical management of adult and paediatric pulmonology in low-resource settings.
Q: As ECM Representative of Assembly 1, what are you most looking forward to about this year’s ERS Congress?
As ECM Representative of ERS Assembly 1, I am looking forward to young scientists presenting their work and succeeding at the ERS Congress! In fact, it will be my very first time having a PhD student under my supervision presenting and I feel proud that her work was accepted in the programme.
Some ECMs from Assembly 1 will also be given the opportunity to chair a poster or oral presentation session paired with more established colleagues. This way, we contribute to promoting the development of the youngest generation of scientists in our field!
Q: In your opinion, what will be the highlights for ECMs in Assembly 1 during the ERS Congress?
The ERS Congress naturally offers high-quality scientific sessions and provides the latest advances in the field of respiratory medicine. Of course, this is part of the highlights for ECMs including Assembly 1.
For ECMs, the ERS Congress is also a unique opportunity to meet with more advanced and established researchers in their respective areas of interest. I would therefore highly recommend to ECMs to get in touch with people they really want to meet prior to the Congress to make sure they get the chance to discuss at the venue. At the same time, the ERS Congress gives an opportunity to ECMs to showcase their research in the largest conference in the respiratory field. I remember being both proud and overwhelmed when I first attended to present myself.
The last highlight I would like to emphasise, fully dedicated to EMCs, is the Networking Excellence Training (NEXT) Programme. The session provides comprehensive training about different important aspects, such as presentation and moderating skills or manuscript writing and publishing. NEXT will welcome this year about 60 ERS ECMs that have an abstract to be presented at the Congress, and I want to encourage people to apply for the upcoming editions!
Q: Tell us your top three picks from the congress programme.
My picks are highly influenced by my role as Assembly 1 ECM Representative and my specific interest as a clinical exercise physiologist.
1. NEXT – Networking Excellence Training Programme (NEXT)
Saturday 27 September, 09:00–17:00 CEST
For the reasons I listed above, the NEXT Programme is definitely in my top 3.
2. Mini symposium – Exercise training in severely impaired patients
Tuesday 30 September, 08:30–10:00 CEST
This session will discuss how to identify patients with chronic respiratory disease who may benefit from emerging exercise training modalities.
3. Oral presentation – The cause of respiratory symptoms: new insights from exercise physiology
Tuesday 30 September, 09:30–10:45 CEST
This session will offer advances in the field of exercise testing for the understanding and management of dyspnea in particular.
I am again excited to attend this year’s ERS Congress and hope ECMs will make the most of their experience in Amsterdam!