ESM 2016 was a wonderful experience (by Stefan Spiel)
Connecting experts – the ESM 2016 in Lisbon Portugal, hosted by António Prieto Veloso, was a great meeting of scientists, researchers, developers, colleagues and friends. With its well-balanced program, the 15th biennial conference offered an extensive insight into the latest results in the field of load distribution measurement and more, with great opportunities for social interaction and interesting discussions.
The conference started with a series of workshops on Wednesday, which provided an overview over the latest developments in sensor technology and scientific software. Interested participants got the chance to test new systems themselves and find out more about future applications and development ideas. The evolving discussions were carried on to the roof top bar of hotel Baía, where the day ended with a nice get together and a beautiful view over the seafront of Cascais.
On Thursday, four scientific sessions including three keynote lectures and a poster session covered a broad variety of topics from Biomechanics to Diabetes, to Neuroscience and Start-Up challenges and a lot more. Sharing knowledge across the different fields, everybody was enjoying the great quality of the presentations and displayed results.
The next day, it was time for the popular networking event which was all about enjoying the amazing Portuguese weather and landscape. Hiking through the green hills of the Sintra-Cascais National Park or biking downwards towards the sea, beautiful nature and magnificent views were guaranteed to everybody. Meeting up at the beach bar do Guincho, personal trainer Klaus Reithmeier was already waiting for the group. His special Lederhosentraining session right at the beach was a perfect demonstration of the power of bodyweight exercises, which left us exhausted, but happy & hungry for the barbecue and sundowner afterwards.
With two more keynote lectures, different scientific presentations and a fun competition for the most promising proposal award Saturday set an end to the scientific conference. The final banquet at Verbasco Restaurant & Bar rounded off the event with good food, nice music and a great ambience in the dunes of Oitavos, where the award winners were presented and the last couple of days recapitulated.
Thanks to all the people involved in planning and organizing the conference, the ESM 2016 was a great success and a wonderful event! We are really looking forward to see all of you again in two years – at another beautiful location, with the same amazing people!
