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I’m excited to announce a change to the meeting this year, which I hope will have a very positive impact on our meeting experience and encourage Ubuntu. If you are not familiar with our meeting theme of Ubuntu, you can read my previous blog post here. The Annual Meeting will be from Saturday 09 May through Thursday 14 May 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Networking is an important aspect of our Annual Meeting. From the post-meeting questionnaires, I’ve learned that people enjoy the ISMRM workshops, especially because attendees encounter their colleagues multiple times throughout the workshop and can build relationships. I’d like to create such opportunities for multiple connections throughout the week at the Annual Meeting.
This year, the scientific meeting will kick off on Sunday with “Study Group Day.” Throughout the day on Sunday, there will be longer Study Group sessions to build connections, and then I hope that these connections will continue to develop throughout the week. These sessions on Sunday will be instead of the one-hour business meetings during the week. During these sessions, Study Groups will:
- Suggest scientific sessions to attend during the week, including presentations to judge for the trainee award competitions (depending on how your Study Group chooses to run its award competition).
- Give updates on Study Group initiatives.
- Allow plenty of time for networking and getting to know others in the Study Group.
- Partner with one other Study Group to build more connections within our community.
On Sunday, there will be six parallel sessions containing four 2-hour Study Group sessions, enabling us to accommodate all 38 study groups. Additionally, there will still be Educational sessions offered on Sunday, though in fewer parallel sessions than in previous years. Throughout the week, we will have longer breaks between sessions to enable time for connecting with your Study Group colleagues.
If you don’t belong to a Study Group, you are still welcome. This is a nice opportunity to see if you would like to join a Study Group. You have an open invitation to visit Study Groups that you are interested in joining (this is included with your meeting registration). Please stop in and see what the Study Groups are all about.
I hope that these increased opportunities for connection will build new relationships and foster the Ubuntu spirit. If you have an Ubuntu story to share, please let us know.
Finally, I hope that you are all thinking about abstracts to submit to the meeting. I have a few notes about abstract submission this year:
- Please note the earlier deadline: 29 October 2025.
- The Annual Meeting Program Committee along with the Indian Chapter organized a series of three virtual meetings on how to write strong ISMRM abstracts. These meetings were recorded, and they are available here: ISMRM Abstract Writing Webinar Series: An Overview of Crafting Strong ISMRM Abstracts, Session I, ISMRM Abstract Writing Webinar Series: Insights on Clinical & Technical Abstracts, Session II, and ISMRM Abstract Writing Webinar Series: Insights on Clinical & Technical Abstracts, Session III.
- To prepare for abstract submission, please update your ISMRM membership profile, and if you are applying for any stipends this year, please renew your membership.
- We will have registered abstracts this year, we are working on a new abstract category on the clinical impacts of MRI, and the member-initiated symposia submission will be concurrent with abstract submission.
Join us in Cape Town to kick off the meeting in a new way and build community and Ubuntu throughout the week!
Katy Keenan, Ph.D.
2026 Annual Meeting Program Chair
