Thinking the Future for ME
- a Network for Young ME Researchers

The Thinking the Future conferences are research meetings organised by the charity to encourage biomedical research into ME and international collaboration amongst young and early career researchers.
This has been a major objective of the charity.
An international family of researchers working together has been facilitated by the Invest in ME Research BRMEC* Biomedical Research into ME Colloquiums held annually in London, UK.
To ensure that a foundation of biomedical research into ME can be sustained and to encourage new ideas from new areas then we cannot rely just on this family of researchers that has been built up from all parts of the world.
We need to draw in knowledge and expertise from other areas – as we have been doing for many years with our research Colloquiums and international Conferences.

Importantly, we also need to encourage early career researchers – and young researchers.

As part of the EMERG (European ME Research Group) concept - which aims to build a network of close European biomedical research collaboration to make rapid advances in research and funding for ME - in 2018 the charity initiated the young/early career researcher conference - Thinking the Future - an initiative to build an international network of new and young research capacity for the future.

We continued this into 2019, in collaboration with the USA National Institutes of Health (NIH), to produce TtF events in Washington DC and London.


Participation

An Early Careers Researcher is defined an individual who is within a few years of the award of their PhD or equivalent professional training, or their first academic appointment.

These events are open to postgraduate students and postdocs involved in biomedical research, and also medical students with an interest in biomedical research into ME.

They provide an international forum where research into ME can be discussed, ideas can be generated and a network built to allow opportunities for those young or early career researchers who are already involved in research into ME, or involved in another research area which may be of relevance to understanding ME.

All applications for participation will be considered by the committee responsible for planning the agenda, which will include existing young researchers.

For those wishing to present please use the contact form below to contact us and arrange for abstracts/ideas to be sent for consideration for the conference.

Apply...


Future Young/Early Career Researchers Conferences

This international event will be in keeping with the emphasis we have placed on international cooperation.

As well as working with the NIH to turn this into an international network with events being held in other countries we are also working with our colleagues in the European ME Alliance (EMEA) to create a broader network across the continent. which will, in turn, facilitate further international collaboration in research into ME and encourage new ideas to be formulated.

It will, importantly, also give more awareness of the exciting possibilities of researching this disease – for the betterment of people with ME and their carers.

We welcome all support for this and hope that more early career researchers and research departments will begin to appreciate the interesting and challenging opportunities that exist for biomedical researchers entering this field.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the plans for future Thinking the Future conferences for young/early career researchers have been affected. We hope to continue to build on the foundations laid already by IiMER and NIH to bring in new faces and new ideas to the field of ME research as well as provide a forum for networking for existing young/ecr researchers.

Following the successful 2018 inaugural conference in London and the full day conferences held in Washington in April 2019 and in London in ME Conference Week in May 2019, the 2020 conference will allow young investigators to bring new ideas into this field of research.

We aim to continue to provide this event for free for accepted participants who join this network.

Past TtF Conferences


Thinking the Future 1 London, 2018


29th May 2018

The first Young/ECRConference took place in London on 29th May 2018.

The conference aimed to increase international collaboration in research into ME by initiating a new network for young/ECR researchers.

Representation came from six countries and included experienced researchers from Oxford, Cambridge, Uppsala in Sweden, Columbia and Tufts in USA. The USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) was also represented.

TtF Conference Agenda 2018

Chair: Professor Jonas Blomberg, Uppsala University, Sweden

University of Tromsø, Norway

University of Bergen, Norway

Catholic University of Valencia, Spain

Rosen Group, Linköping University, Sweden

  • - How to build interest in ME research in early career
  • - Next event
  • - Output from meeting. Questions/Input to BRMEC8 Colloquium
  • Professor Jonas Blomberg

    TtF Participants and Researchers

    Agenda

    Copy of the TtF2019UK Agenda



    Apply to Participate in Thinking the Future

    Use the contact form below to apply to participate and to provide details of your research and why you wish to participate.

    All applications will be considered by the committee responsible for planning the agenda.

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    Contact Us

    Get in Touch

    Please use the form here to submit an application to attend the Thinking the Future for ME conference.

    You can also use this form if you have any questions regarding the this event

    All submissions will receive a response and all applications will be considered by the committee responsible for planning the agenda.

    Thank you for your interest in the conference.


    The Office

    • Address: Invest in ME Research
      PO Box 561 Eastleigh SO50 0GQ Hampshire, UK
    • Phone: 02380 643736 / 07759 349743
    • Email:
    • Conference:
    • Centre of Excellence for ME:

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    Last Update January 2021