On 7 May, representatives of 12 Innovative Medicines Initiative neurodegeneration research projects met virtually to exchange on best practices in communication and common challenges in their day-to-day work. The community consists of communication representatives from the Innovative Medicines Initiative’s neurodegeneration research portfolio and is moderated by Alzheimer Europe. The meetings are organised on a quarterly basis and aim to provide a platform for cross-project exchange regarding challenges faced and best practices adopted in overcoming them. Furthermore, they serve as a basis to plan for collaborative activities in the endeavour to represent the portfolio as a whole and support visibility of the 386 million EUR research programme.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the AMYPAD, EPAD, IDEA-FAST, IMPRIND, Mobilise-D, MOPEAD, PD-MIND, PHAGO, RADAR-AD, RADAR-CNS and ROADMAP projects along with members of the Neuronet consortium. The meeting kicked off with general updates on Neuronet activities since the previous meeting that was held in December 2020. This included an update on the success of the latest communication campaign with short clips introducing the various projects as part of Brain Awareness Week. Next, each of the representatives provided a short presentation with updates (or introductions for newly onboarded projects) on communication/dissemination plans/strategies (also including needs & challenges faced) as well as envisaged activities until March 2022. Each presentation was followed by a question and answers round. Due to the high number of represented projects and engaged discussions, the initially planned 2-hour meeting did not suffice to include all presentations. Therefore, a follow-up call is already in the planning for June.