From the President - 2024
It has been another busy few months since our last issue of infocus, with a host of RMS meetings, conferences and courses covering a huge range of topics in microscopy, imaging and flow cytometry.
As it happens, I’m writing on the day of our inaugural Frontiers in Physical Imaging meeting in London, focusing on recent advances and improvements in electron and X-ray microscopy, as applied in the physical sciences. This new initiative follows the success of the long-established Frontiers in BioImaging, held in Oxford earlier in November. It is really encouraging to see good attendance numbers at both these events – despite the difficult economic circumstances affecting many of our universities at the present time. On that note, I should also mention our September Flow Course, which attracted its largest number of participants for 10 years.
It was great to meet up with friends and colleagues in London at the RMS Annual General Meetings – including the majority of our Science Section AGMs. These took place in early October as part of Microscopy: Advances, Innovation, Impact 2024, which incorporated a range of brilliant talks from some highly engaging invited speakers. When attending our Section AGMs – which cover all branches of microscopy, data analysis and flow cytometry - I am always struck by just how much each committee is actually delivering for the microscopy community on a global scale. The event also featured the climax of the RMS Early Career Award and a series of award presentations recognising some of the latest outstanding achievements in microscopy. Congratulations to all our recent winners.
As a society, we are very mindful of the need not only to deliver for our academic membership, but also for our corporate members. To that end, we have a highly engaged Corporate Advisory Board, and a number of developing initiatives, such as our collaborative, RMS-hosted Corporate Member Events. These webinars, including the recent talk from Thermofisher on Corrected Lorentz STEM, are making available some fantastic, free content to members and non-members alike.
Looking ahead to the coming year, and mmc2025 is already on the horizon! I would encourage everyone to save the dates (1-3 July) and start making plans for travel and accommodation. Don’t forget the RMS offers support in the form of travel bursaries for early career members or those working in a support role in microscopy or cytometry. As always, mmc will have something for everyone with an interest in microscopy, imaging or flow cytometry, and is not to be missed!
Finally, as we approach the year’s end, I feel it is important to recognise the efforts and dedication of the RMS staff, volunteers and committee members who enable the Society to carry out all its activities, while embracing new ideas and ways of working along the way. Despite a swiftly changing – and challenging - environment in both academia and industry, plus all the uncertainties in the wider world at present, they somehow manage to keep delivering for the microscopy community, and it is a great credit to them all.
I would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and new year, and look forward to seeing you in 2025.
Best wishes,
Dr Peter O’Toole, RMS President