Abstract
This article provides a brief description of the Early Career Member session and guidance on how to get the most out of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress 2021, to help attendees plan their Congress in advance. https://bit.ly/3dBNrYC
The annual European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress will take place in a virtual format, from 5 to 8 September 2021. As in previous years, the programme will be full of outstanding scientific sessions in the field of respiratory medicine and enriching opportunities for Early Career Members (ECMs). In this article, we provide an overview of the structure and content of the Congress, as well as tips on how to navigate the programme and get the most out of it. We also provide a brief description of the ECM session which will focus on the keys to success in science.
How to get the most out of the ERS International Congress 2021
With every challenge there are silver linings, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a change in the 2020 ERS Congress. We provided access to our annual Congress via a user-friendly and interactive online platform, allowing us to reach members of our Community that may not normally be able to travel to our annual meeting. In 2020, we saw an increase in delegates participating from countries such as India, Brazil and Mexico. We welcome this greater level of participation and access as it gives the most up-to-date knowledge and a platform to share ongoing research (abstracts) and clinical experiences (clinical cases).
In 2021, the ERS is proud to be building on our experiences, gathered in both virtual and face-to-face events, to deliver an even more exceptional virtual Congress. We are currently exploring ways to ensure that online participants have:
A sharp visual and audio experience;
Greater interaction with faculty; and
Pre-defined and spontaneous opportunities to interact with other Congress delegates.
Currently, the 14 multidisciplinary ERS Scientific Assemblies are working together to finalise the programme to ensure that it covers the most up-to-date data in the diverse fields of respiratory medicine. Sessions range from research based, such as ALERT, to more up-to-date clinical sessions, such as State of the art (figure 1). Technical and soft skills will be covered in the Skills labs and at the online Game zone, where you can even face off against other delegates to be the “player of the day”.
Session types at the ERS International Congress 2021.
The programme will include over 300 sessions, so you may ask: “how do I choose the sessions to attend?” There are several ways to navigate the programme. When each session is developed, it is tagged with many types of metadata including:
Main disease areas (figure 2);
Methods (e.g. pulmonary function testing);
Research type (i.e. basic science, clinical or translational); and
Target audience.
Main disease areas addressed in the ERS International Congress 2021 sessions.
As a participant, you can explore our online programme and save your programme in your personalised agenda. If you are unable to attend a session due to parallel sessions or other commitments, you can access all the sessions by using the replay feature.
The leaders of our International Congress Programme Committee have selected some sessions to highlight.
Prof. Richard Costello (Education Council Chair): I am really looking forward to the sessions on artificial intelligence (AI) and digital medicine, insights into the future of healthcare.
Prof. Christopher Brightling (Science Council Chair): the ALERT sessions highlight the ground-breaking trials that will impact clinical management. I am eagerly awaiting the new findings in these sessions.
Dr Miriam Barrecheguren (2021 Congress Chair): the year in review is always a good session to catch up on some of the best recent evidence of different respiratory diseases. You can always learn something from the clinical cases sessions and the Imaging and clinical grand rounds, which are also good for interaction. The Early Career members’ session is a good opportunity to meet other peers and get input on how to be actively involved with the ERS.
Dr Marc Miravitlles (2021 Congress Chair): I always enjoy the sessions dedicated to the clinical guidelines, a good summary of recommendations for the best clinical practice.
Prof. Pierantonio Laveneziana (Education Programmes Director): Clinical physiology is the top pic, I invite you to select it in your personalised agenda. It is important to understand the basic principles of respiratory physiology and how and to what extent they apply to clinical practice. In the modern era (and the COVID-19 breakout did open our eyes on this matter!), there is a prevailing belief that many medical students, trainees and clinicians lack a solid grounding in pulmonary physiology and its application in the clinical arena. Influential scientists bemoan the fact that the clinical physiologist represents “a vanishing phenotype” and that funding for research in integrated human physiology has dramatically diminished, and with it, educational opportunities for the next generation of clinicians. However, these predictions of an uncertain future will be solidly counterbalanced by the erudite contributors to several activities (Expert view, Symposia) covering Clinical Physiology. You will appreciate, beyond reasonable doubt, that this discipline is very much alive and indeed continues to thrive and yield remarkable innovations in patient care.
Prof. Reinoud Gosens (Conference and Research Seminars Director): Lung regeneration and mucosal immunology are two topics featured at the ERS meeting and at the Lung Science Conferences of 2021 and 2022. The ERS features several sessions with world-leading speakers on these topics, which I am looking forward to hearing all about.
There are many ways for ECMs to get involved in the ERS International Congress programme, ranging from submitting a session proposal, an abstract or clinical case, to participating as an abstract session Chair. While it may be too late for some of these activities in 2021, your participation within the annual ERS Congresses is fundamental to the succession, regeneration, and continuity of the society's activities. Let's meet again online at the ERS International Congress!
Early career member session 2021: keys to success in science
The outstanding scientific programme of the ERS International Congress will offer many opportunities for ECMs to get an overview of the newest data in the diverse fields of respiratory medicine. Moreover, Skills labs and Expert view sessions will provide an excellent opportunity in which the exchange of basic and translational science and clinical knowledge will take place.
Every year, the Early Career Member Committee (ECMC) organises a session dedicated to the professional development of ECMs. This session “Keys to success in science” will take place on Tuesday afternoon (7 September 2021, 16:30–18:00 CEST) and includes an overview of how ECMs can get involved in ERS activities provided by the chair of the ECMC, Niki Ubags. In addition, the 2019 ECM awardee Lies Lahousse will present on the critical steps and keys for a successful career in respiratory research and medicine, and Sheila Ramjug (ECM representative for Assembly 13 – Pulmonary Vascular Diseases) will talk about challenges and opportunities faced by women in science. Moreover, the 2021 ECM awardee will be presented with her/his award and provide the Mina Gaga lecture.
To get the most out of their ERS membership, we recommend that all ECMs attend their Assembly meeting to get an update on the activities of the Assembly and whether there are any tasks in which you as an ECM can be involved. We are looking forward to meeting many ECMs during the virtual 2021 ECM session.
Concluding remarks
The ERS International Congress 2021 is now the largest respiratory meeting in the world. This paper provides tips on how to develop a personalised agenda and how to successfully use the Congress to get involved in ERS activities. Keep up to date with the latest news about the Congress by following us on Twitter (@EuroRespSoc and @EarlyCareerERS) and/or Facebook (@EuropeanRespiratorySociety, ERS Early Career Members group). We hope to meet you at the ERS Congress 2021!
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: A. Farr is an employee of the European Respiratory Society.
Conflict of interest: N. Ubags has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: C. Brightling has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: M. Miravitlles reports speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, Cipla, Menarini, Rovi, Bial, Zambon, Sandoz, CSL Behring, Grifols and Novartis, consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, Bial, Gebro Pharma, CSL Behring, Laboratorios Esteve, Ferrer, Mereo Biopharma, Verona Pharma, Kamada, TEVA, Sanofi, pH Pharma, Novartis and Grifols, and research grants from GlaxoSmithKline and Grifols, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: M. Barrecheguren reports speaker fees from Grifols, Menarini, CSL Behring, Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK, and consulting fees from GSK, Novartis and Gebro Pharma, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: P. Laveneziana reports personal fees from Chiesi France, Boehringer France and Novartis France, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: R. Gosens reports grants to his institution from Boehringer Ingelheim, Aquilo, Sanofi-Aventis and Chiesi, outside the submitted work.
Conflict of interest: R. Costello has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: J. Cruz has nothing to disclose.
Support statement J. Cruz acknowledges the support of the Center for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare), funded by Portuguese national funds provided by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (UIDB/05704/2020).
- Received April 9, 2021.
- Accepted April 18, 2021.
- Copyright ©ERS 2021
Breathe articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.
