Dear friends and colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to invite you to our fully online ESMRMB 38th Annual Scientific Meeting!

The 2021 Congress will focus on the theme of Broadening the MRI Spectrum. Fascinated by how one single modality can reach out in so many different directions, we explore the prodigious versatility and myriad possibilities of MRI. Following the success in previous years, the congress will be organised around three main topics related with this theme, while keeping the broad scientific scope of the annual meeting to engage the whole ESMRMB community.

EXPLOITING THE FIELD EXTREMES – FROM TECHNOLOGY TO APPLICATIONS

In this topic we highlight the clinical promises at both extremes of the field-strength spectrum in a plenary session, and we offer teaching sessions on new technologies for very high and very low field strengths, the neuroscientific impact of ultra-high field MRI, and off-the-beaten-track techniques opening windows into metabolism. At the end of the day, two opponents on each side of the spectrum engage in a hot topic debate over the merits of ultra-low and ultra-high field MRI. Moreover, we have invited representatives from different vendors to sit around the table and discuss their views on low field MRI, when less is more! Along this topic, we have also organised a session in collaboration with the European Federation of Medical Physicists (EFOMP) addressing low- and ultra-low field MRI – all set for rebirth?

COMBINING MRI WITH NEW MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES

Because MRI is constantly being enriched by bridging to other disciplines, we have organised a plenary session where leading scientists in the field will show us practical means to enhance clinical MRI using novel metamaterials. Two teaching sessions will then cover the combination of MRI with other imaging modalities, in both clinical and preclinical settings, and the use of MRI for therapy.

AI ACROSS THE FULL MRI PIPELINE

In this stream, we will walk through the whole MRI pipeline seeing where AI fits into each step. While the plenary session will give an overview of where deep learning meets MRI, in acquisition / reconstruction, quantification, and clinical applications / validation, three separate teaching sessions will go deeper into each of these topics. They will be complemented with a session on preparing data for AI, and a roundtable discussion on challenges and solutions in data sharing.

Besides a fantastic lineup of invited speakers across the three focus topics, this year we are also featuring collaborative sessions with several European networks in the field of MRI. Moreover, we are dedicating a special session to MRI research in the time of Covid-19, and we are also offering interactive sessions where you will have the opportunity to hear from experts on getting EU grants, going from research to commercialisation, and managing your career.

We will continue the successful experience in previous years and precede our 3-day congress with the Preclinical Day and the GREC (Gadolinium Research & Education Committee) working group meeting. Because education has always been a priority for ESMRMB, this year we are expanding this day with an offer of half-day courses for physicists, clinicians, and radiographers.

Over the four days, we will have at least two parallel live streams, offering a mixture of live and pre-recorded talks, as well as plenty of interaction opportunities. We are very excited about our programme, and we look forward to receiving your abstract submissions and welcoming you online in October.

Save the date and stay tuned!

Patrícia Figueiredo
Chair of the Congress Planning Committee 2021