On March 27, the AMS Annual Research Meeting once again brought together researchers, students, and professionals for a day full of inspiring talks, engaging workshops, and impressive scientific posters. Hosted at KIT in Amsterdam, the event offered fresh scientific insights and sparked lively discussions, making it a memorable day for everyone involved.
This year’s meeting had a playful twist, with a running‚ gotcha game, where the participants are supposed to tag the person on your card try to collect as many card as possible. It started right after the opening presentation and continued throughout the day.
The first keynote speaker was Floor Hettinga from the department of Human Movement Sciences at VU Amsterdam. She gave an insightful talk on the science behind pacing and exercise regulation. While her presentation touched on elite sports, it also explored how these principles can boost motivation in recreational and clinical settings.
Closing the event was the second keynote speaker Job Doornberg from University Medical Center Groningen. With his deep understanding of what clinicians and hospitals truly need, he shared his thoughts on ‘The Why of AI’, offering a thought-provoking perspective on how human and artificial intelligence can complement and strengthen each other. He also had the honour of kicking off the informal part of the evening with the much-anticipated “traffic jam” drinks.
Between an exciting lineup of keynote lectures and parallel session presentations, over 80 enthusiastic master’s students and PhD candidates showcased their research during the vibrant poster sessions. Some were also given the spotlight with a one-minute plenary pitch, offering the audience a rapid, yet captivating sneak peek into their work—just enough to pique curiosity and draw visitors to their posters afterwards.
After the first poster session, attendees had the chance to sharpen their skills in one of six hands-on educational workshops. Topics ranged from AI consultancy, sustainability in research, and valorisation to Bayesian statistics, media training, and the ever-important research integrity. New of this year were the parallel sessions that touched upon the latest insights in personalized medicine, fundamental science, and the powerful role of exercise as health and medicine.
And of course, no Annual Meeting would be complete without celebrating excellence! At the end of the day, the much-anticipated awards were presented:
Societal Impact Award
- Wendy Scholten-Peeters – for her impactful research titled Humour as medicine: how laughter impacts pain sensitivity, showing how something as simple as laughter can help reduce pain.
Outstanding Paper Awards
- Fundamental Sciences: Moritz Eggelbusch – For the paper published in ‘Cell Reports Medicine’ titled The impact of bed rest on human skeletal muscle metabolism;
- Clinical Sciences: Braedon Charlton – For the paper published in ‘Nature Communications’ titled Muscle abnormalities worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID;
- Sports & Health Sciences: Michel de Haan for the paper published in the ‘Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport’ titled Determining VO₂max in competitive swimmers: comparing the validity and reliability of cycling, arm cranking, ergometer swimming, and tethered swimming.
Best Poster Awards
- Fundamental Sciences: Braedon Charlton – An inability to recover: reduced satellite cells in patients with PEM;
- Clinical Sciences: Marijke de Leeuwerk – The efficacy of a blended intervention to improve physical activity and protein intake for optimal recovery after oncological surgery: a multicenter randomized controlled trial;
- Sports & Health Sciences: Bram Hoogerheide – Longitudinal change in physical activity among older adults and associations with physical and mental health;
- The Audience award for the best poster went to Babette Mooijekind for her poster titled Calf muscle length adaptations to functional power training in children with cerebral palsy: a double-baseline design.
Gotcha Game Award
For networking and collecting the most Gotcha cards during the day: Simone Berkelmans.
Do you want to scroll through the pictures? Click the link to access the pics, made by Xander Remkes Photography The pictures are temporarily available.
Keep an eye on the AMS Newsletter where we will share the pics from the meeting.
On behalf of the organizing committee, we would like to thank everyone who joined us at this year’s Annual Meeting. We hope you left inspired, energized, and maybe even with a few new ideas in your back pocket. We’re already looking forward to welcoming you again next year!
Organizing committee: Hanne van Dongen, Melissa Hooijmans, Aske Gye Larsen, Victoria Milbourn, Milo Mokkenstorm, Ivo Lutke Schipholt, Ton Schoenmaker, MaLu di Carlo Riato, Elise van t Hof, Solveig Lund, Hans Tol, Richard Jaspers.