JOURNAL OF IIMER May 2026 CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE Dear Friends and Supporters, Welcome to International ME Conference Week 2026 - a milestone year in every sense as we mark twenty years of Invest in ME Research and reflect on what two decades of dedication, collaboration, and principled advocacy have made possible. Over twenty years, this charity has remained focused on one unwavering objective: meaningful progress in the understanding and treatment of ME. Our efforts have ranged from direct advocacy and raising educational standards through influential international conferences, to establishing research fellowships, funding the UK's only clinical trial for ME, and initiating and sustaining European networks of researchers, clinicians, and patient groups. These efforts have made a difference - and we have achieved them thanks to the extraordinary support of our supporters and the collaboration of this community of researchers, clinicians, patients, carers, and supporters. This year's conference week spans five days - uniquely the only such 5-day event for ME in the world - and brings together a wonderful combination of events: the seventh early-career workshop led by Young EMERG; the European ME Research Group Annual Meeting, which this year discusses an EMERG-led panEuropean research project for ME; our fifteenth Biomedical Research into ME Colloquium; the eighteenth International ME Conference, now integrated into the final day of the colloquium, bringing researchers, clinicians, and patients together in a shared forum; and a planning meeting organised for a future critical clinical platform project. The theme of the events this year - "20 Years of Investing in ME Research to Discover ME" - reflects both where we have come from and where we now proceed. Our research colloquium focuses on systems biology, immunology, metabolism, neurology, microbiome research, AI and bioinformatics, and future pathways for treatment - representing the breadth and depth of international scientific engagement that our annual gatherings have helped to foster. We are delighted to welcome Professor Sarah Teichmann as keynote speaker at BRMEC15, and to host delegates and speakers from institutions across more than twenty countries - including the NIH, Karolinska Institutet, Columbia University, Imperial College London, the Quadram Institute, Cornell University, the University of Cambridge, Med. University of Vienna, Catholic University of Valencia and many more. This is, quietly but significantly, a landmark year. Though formal announcements must wait a little longer, two major developments - one representing the first substantial pan-European research initiative of its kind for ME, the other a meaningful advance in clinical research capacity - are the direct result of work built patiently over two decades by this charity, its collaborators, and its supporters. Both are landmarks for European ME research. Both are the direct consequence of sustained network-building, collaboration, and long-term investment in research infrastructure. The groundwork laid through EMERG, through our annual colloquia, through investment in early-career researchers, and through European partnership is bearing fruit in ways that will become clear in due course. We look forward to sharing the full story when the time is right. Invest in ME Research Page 2 of 35
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