It’s exciting to be writing my first ever “Intro from the President”, just following the amazing ISME17 meeting in Leipzig!  While there is a lot to say, I will try and keep this Intro brief for the more important announcements that will follow.  Firstly, as incoming President I really must thank my ISME colleagues and mentors. I especially thank outgoing President Colin Murrell for his tireless efforts, the excellent new programs he has fostered, and the stellar example he has set as a leader and a steward of the ISME organization. You are a tough act to follow Colin, and we all owe you a huge debt of gratitude for your amazing efforts and leadership.  And while I am at it, thanks also to the ISME executives and International Board for their leadership too, most especially Mark Bailey whose wisdom and experience help keep ISME healthy and prospering, along with the remarkable ISME staff who ensure that all ISME activities are top rate, professionally organized, and fun!  (Sarash, Sabine, Anastasiya, you are all amazing -  thanks!). I should say as well that I am really looking forward to working with our newly elected ISME Vice President, Nicole Dubilier.

Importantly too, the entire ISME team thanks all the new members who joined us for their first time at ISME17 in Leipzig.  We value the presence, participation, ideas and input of all ISME members, both new and continuing, as we strive to improve and innovate benefits and services for all. To that end, a survey will be soon be sent to all ISME delegates for their input and advice, and a report on the conference proceedings will also be published online over the next month or so.

As I outlined in my VP candidate’s statement several years ago, I hope to help the Society promote its vision of microbial ecology as a fundamentally critical scientific discipline, to help foster its inclusiveness across all demographics and nationalities, and to enable the success of the next generation of young scientists in microbial ecology.  Past and current ISME members and leadership have already set the course to ensure the continued growth, development and maturation of ISME and microbial ecology in general.  As well, it is helping to expand associated communication and policy efforts that are critical to getting our messages out to the larger world.  As an example, just consider the goings on at this year’s ISME17 in Leipzig. The stellar scientific programs, provocative Roundtables, and new outreach innovations like the amazing and successful “Night of the Microbes”, all help to build a strong and vibrant community, and foster broader recognition of our important science to a larger world (if you haven’t yet, do check out Night of the Microbes @ YouTube)!  In this context, the ISME17 Local Organizing Committee, under the leadership of Hauke Harms and his LOC colleagues, are largely responsible for all the great successes in Leipzig.  They deserve a huge round of applause, as do all the ISME members who were in attendance – bravo!

It’s stellar membership, past leadership, world class journal, and proud history have made ISME the prominent, robust, and well-developed Society that it is today. Our job over the next few years will be to help sustain and grow efforts that ensure the stature, relevance and importance of ISME to its membership, and the larger international community in an ever-changing world.  We will continue to work on ongoing programs and with our able ISME Ambassadors, we will continue to foster and support regional meetings and workshops.  We will aim to expand engagement with all our membership, and most especially the young scientists that will shape the future of our growing discipline. Active plans for ISME18 in Cape Town in 2020 are now underway, and we are already looking forward to ISME19 in Auckland, New Zealand in 2022. 

The future of ISME looks very bright indeed - we will do our very best to help keep it that way! Thanks and cheers,  Ed DeLong - ISME President

A word from ambassador director Nicole Webster

Reflecting back on the last 6 months of the ISME Ambassador program, there has been so much activity that it is difficult to single out any particular event.  The program has provided support for numerous local meetings, training workshops, early career networking events, student travel and invited speakers.  However, perhaps the biggest highlight was our Ambassador workshop undertaken in Africa which was attended by the ISME President, ISME Treasurer and ISME Ambassador Director as well as 10 ISME Ambassadors representing 9 African countries. During this workshop, after a brief introduction to ISME and an overview of the Ambassador Program, the Ambassadors of the different countries presented information about research opportunities and challenges in their respective countries. Feedback received from all Ambassadors showed that this activity was pivotal in bringing together the microbial ecology community in Africa and in developing a network of enthusiastic representatives who will take forward many of the ideas for how to progress microbial ecology in the region. As part of the event we also undertook outreach activities in Tembisa in conjunction with the Moipone Science Academy, inspiring the next generation of microbial ecologists.  ISME will undertake a similar workshop with Ambassadors and researchers from India and surrounding regions in December this year. 

Most recently in Leipzig, we held a wonderful Ambassador evening where we shared experiences from the past 2 years and formulated ideas on how to utilise the Ambassador network to continue to support the diversity of microbial ecologists represented within our society.  We also awarded the Ambassador of the year to Adrian Pinto-Tomas from Costa Rica and Young Ambassador of the year to Pierangeli Vital from the Philippines. Congratulations to both of you for your incredible efforts supporting the society!  We have also recently received a flood of member requests to participate in the Ambassador program- and on this front, we will soon be thanking and farewelling some of the Ambassadors who have served tirelessly over many years so that we can welcome some new faces to the program.  A complete list of Ambassadors is available on the ISME website so please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the Ambassador for your region as they are the first point of contact for ISME support of local initiatives.

   
Image 1: ISME Ambassador Dinner & Workshop
Image 2: School Outreach in Tembisa

Nicole Webster
ISME Board Member

The ISME Journal

ISMEJ welcomes new Senior Editors Joshua Weitz, Paola Bonfante and Hauke Schmidt, thank you for joining our editorial team! Furthermore we are happy to announce that the delegates at ISME17 selected a winner of The ISME Journal Cover Competition.

Selfie Challenge

During ISME17 many delegates also participated in a selfie challenge where the idea was to take a selfie with the current cover of The ISME Journal somewhere in Leipzig en post it on Twitter with the hashtag ISME18. All of this was done to win a free registration to our next symposium in Cape Town. Our office thoroughly enjoyed reviewing all entries but could only select one winner; congratulations to Johanna Tröscher with your awesome selfie!

#ISME17 2018 in Leipzig - what a congress! Was a blast! May it bear fruit of hope, success and joy for researchers all over the planet. Can’t wait for #ISME18 2020 in Capetown! #womeninscience

Join us (again) in 2019!
ISME membership for next year will already open in November!