President's Perspective

It is an honour to be taking over as President of ANS for 2025/26. I would like to thank Janet Keast for her tireless efforts as President over the last two years, and for taking the time to show me the ropes as President-Elect in 2024. Janet will be a tough act to follow, but I am pleased to say she will remain as a member of Council as Past-President throughout 2025. Many thanks also to Jana Vukovic (Treasurer, 2023/24) and Michael Lardelli (Secretary, 2023/24) for their service, and welcome to Steve Kassem and Matilde Balbi, who are the new Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.

I was delighted to see so many members, friends and colleagues at the Annual Scientific Meeting held in Perth in December 2024. On behalf of the ANS Council, I would like to thank Hamid Sohrabi (Conference Executive Chair) and the entire Local Organising Committee, including Stuart Hodgetts, Stephanie Rainy-Smith, Sarah Hellewell, Chidozie Anyaegbu, Lishan Chiu, Belinda Brown, and Jenny Rodger for all their hard work. Their success in “Forging the Nexus, Crossing the Synapse” was strongly supported by our many exhibitors and sponsors, and the professionalism of the TAS team.

The scientific program for the Perth meeting was packed with high quality neuroscience research, complemented by a superb line-up of plenary speakers, including Tracy Bale (University of Colorado), Gavan McNally (UNSW), Andrew Morokoff (University of Melbourne), Jenny Rodger (UWA), and Susannah Tye (UQ). I would like to extend my congratulations in particular to Natalie Matosin, winner of the AW Campbell Award, Melanie Bahlo, winner of the Nina Kondelos Award, and to the recipients of the student and ECR awards.

I hope to see all of you at the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Hobart for the 43^rd Annual Scientific Meeting, which will run from 3 November to 3 December. The theme of this year’s meeting is “Diversifying the Network”, and an exciting program is being developed by the new Conference Executive Chair, Jenna Ziebell (UTAS), and Chair of the Local Organising Committee, Brad Sutherland (UTAS).

Thank you for your support of ANS, and I look forward to working with you over the next two years.