Dear EAN members, friends, and colleagues,
As we approach the end of another productive year for our society, I would like to highlight some of the most remarkable moments from 2025 and share a glimpse of the exciting developments that we have planned for 2026.
Again, this year has been filled with many events, initiatives, meetings, and accomplishments – far too numerous to list exhaustively.
I would like to start with the most important yearly event for our community: our annual EAN congress. It was my great privilege to preside over a hugely successful EAN Congress 2025, with 2,152 abstracts submitted back in January, and 8,289 registered participants – 6,383 of whom joined us in Helsinki – showing that the interest in and engagement with our congress remains consistently high. A remarkable and diverse programme featured contributions from 405 invited speakers, with sessions exploring the entire field of neurology and offering something of value for every attendee, regardless of career stage or subspecialty. I deeply thank all of you who contributed to the success of our congress.
Read more:
- Executive Page: thank you for making the EAN Congress 2025 a great success!
- Revisit the Highlights of EAN 2025 in Our Congress Review eBook
The congress also provided the setting for another outstanding event, our brand-new outreach initiative, the Public Brain Health Day. This special event welcomed patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, educators, non-profit representatives, and anyone with an interest in brain health, held on the third day of the congress. It was a great success and will be held again in 2026 to raise awareness and provide the general public with practical knowledge on maintaining and promoting brain health.
On a similar note, the Brain Health Mission (BHM) organised several important activities to promote and improve brain health in Europe, like the very productive Brain Health Summit in March and the launch of the BHM Podcast in June. For the full story, please take a look at the recently published BHM annual report.
Another relevant highlight has been the EAN Board decision to give all associate members access to the eanCampus, which has also recently been updated with new content and features. Moreover, we have seen record numbers of applications for our numerous educational projects this year, from regional teaching events to research fellowships and the mentorship programme. The first edition of the EAN Leadership Programme concluded with exceptional feedback from participants. I am looking forward to working with these young leaders in the future!
Among our usual throng of scientific activity, a fantastic newcomer has been the first EAN Panel Yearbook, which was launched during the congress in Helsinki. Intended for specialists and general neurologists, the yearbook highlights the most important recent contributions to neurological literature and scientific progress, as selected by the various EAN Scientific & Coordinating Panels. Additionally, the EAN DEI Hub was launched at the congress, providing a central repository for resources on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in neurology, containing information on the impact of gender, sex, and diversity in neurological diseases, as well as EAN DEI initiatives, and DEI efforts across Europe and beyond. I particularly thank the DEI Coordinating Panel for their work on the hub.
I was also proud to announce a new change (approved by the EAN General Assembly) to the EAN bylaws during the Opening Session at the congress, which gives the Resident & Research Fellow Section (RRFS) Representative a voting seat on the EAN Board. Our RRFS is an exceptionally strong and rich community that is continuously growing, fueled in part by the heartening number of students who are opting to pursue neurology. To cater for and encourage those potential new neurologists, the EAN launched a new online course for undergraduate medical students that has become an instant hit – so much so that we witnessed a sharp increase in the number of Student Members shortly after the launch.
I believe that the diversity of our membership is what makes the EAN so strong. In 2025, we have further enriched this diversity by welcoming a new addition to our Corresponding Institutional Members: the Neurological Association of South Africa (NASA). We are always looking for ways to increase inclusivity and representation of the rich and diverse panorama of the neurological community in Europe and beyond. This is the value that drove our announcement in October that we are inviting applications from national neurological societies to act as co-hosts of future EAN congresses, alongside the national society of the host country. This new initiative aims to promote engagement with national societies, increase their visibility, and make our annual congress more diverse and inclusive. For more information about this, read more here: National Neurological Societies as congress co-hosts.
Looking to the closest future, there are already many exciting projects and events on the horizon in 2026. The most exciting is, of course, the EAN Congress 2026, in Geneva, Switzerland, on 27-30 June. Abstract submission and registration for our twelfth annual congress are both already open, so I strongly invite you to submit your work and get your early fee ticket as soon as possible!
Another major event on the EAN calendar is the next European Brain Health Summiton Wednesday, 18 March 2026. The 2026 summit bears the title ‘Building the Foundation for a Brain Healthy Society and Economy,’and will beheld in Brussels and broadcast live on the EAN website during Brain Awareness Week (16-22 March 2026). As momentum builds for a coordinated European strategy to address neurological health through unified brain health plans, this summit will serve as a timely focal point and an unmissable moment for anyone with an interest in the vision of improving brain health for all. Before this event, the EAN Board and the national neurological societies’ presidents will meet to build a global and local strategy to address the most urgent and relevant challenges for neurology within the next ten years. We need to enhance neurology in Europe together!
Several new projects are also set to get underway in 2026, beginning with the Certificate in Clinical Research in Neurology, aimed at early-to-mid career neurologists. This two-year programme combines onsite workshops, online courses, and hands-on working group sessions, culminating in certification at the annual EAN Congress, and application is now open until 20 January. Read more and apply here: Certificate in Clinical Research in Neurology
We are also finalising the details of a new Junior Journal Reviewer Training Programme in collaboration with the European Journal of Neurology (EJoN), designed to empower early to mid-career neurologists and trainees by equipping them with essential skills in scientific peer review. In partnership with experienced EJoN editors, participants will learn best practices, ensuring both skill development and exposure to cutting-edge research. Stay tuned for more on this in the near future!
Finally, as you may already be aware, we are about to head into an EAN election year. Not only will the EAN Board be recomposed, with several positions up for election by the Assembly of Delegates at the upcoming congress, but we will also be electing individual delegates to the Assembly of Delegates. Voting in the latter election is open to all Full Individual EAN Members and will be carried out online in March. If you are eligible to vote, please keep a look out for further information.
All that remains is to wish you a very pleasant holiday season and a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2026!
Warm wishes
Elena Moro, EAN President
