OHBM 2019 in the Eternal City

By Claude Bajada, Emiliano Ricciardi, Pietro Pietrini and the Rome LOC

As you might know, the 25th OHBM Congress will come back to Italy and this time we will be in Rome. The capital and the largest city of Italy, Rome is one of the most visited cities in the world and is famous for its extensive, rich history. Delegates will travel from all corners of the world, all nooks and crannies to visit the eternal city for a week of neural cartography.

"Panorama", Copyright Luciano Mortula / stock.adobe.com

The 25th anniversary meeting will feature the most up to date research in the field of neuroimaging, using multimodal data and cutting edge analysis techniques with an increasingly strong focus upon machine learning and ‘big data’ approaches. OHBM also proudly promotes an increasingly open science environment.

The conference caters for all levels of researchers. This includes educational sessions for PhD students, postdocs and early career researchers, as well as the annual OHBM Hackathon, now a staple event that welcomes both new and established open science enthusiasts.

Given its long tradition in neuroscience, neurophysiology and psychology, Italy is well qualified to host such an important gathering of scientists who come from every corner of the globe. Indeed, it was the conclusion of Italian physiologist Angelo Mosso that brain circulation changes selectively with neural activity that is the basis of the powerful methodologies that we now employ to explore neural correlates of mental function. Currently, Italy has a rapidly expanding neuroimaging community distributed across the whole country and the 2019 Local Organizing Committee gathers together ‘brain mappers’ from the major Italian research centers, covering all methodological approaches of neuroimaging.

"Trevi Fountain", copyright TTstudio/ stock.adobe.com

Rome was called “the Eternal City” by the ancient Romans, first of all because they believed that no matter what happened in the rest of the world, the city of Rome would always remain standing, and also because when the Roman Empire was new, Rome was already very old! Rome's history spans over two and half thousand years. During this time it transformed from a small Latin village to the center of a vast empire, through the founding of Catholicism, the Italian Renaissance and into the capital of today's Italy. 

The historic center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with wonderful palaces, thousand-year-old churches, Romantic ruins, opulent monuments, ornate statues and graceful fountains. Rome has a rich historical heritage and cosmopolitan atmosphere, making it one of Europe's and the world's most famous, influential and beautiful capitals.

Today, Rome has a growing nightlife scene and is also seen as a shopping haven, being regarded as one of the fashion capitals of the world. Modern Rome is captivating with its heady mix of haunting ruins, awe-inspiring art and a vibrant street life. 

"Colosseum", Copyright Fabio Mancini / stock.adobe.com

There are so many things to do and places to visit that your week in Rome will be intense!

Ancient Rome aficionados cannot miss the great Colosseum, the Circus Maximus and the Roman Forum. Those who would like to discover Baroque Rome have to visit Piazza Navona with its great fountains and the world-wide famous Fontana di Trevi.

You cannot leave Rome without visiting the Vatican City with its majestic museums, Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

And what about the beautiful gardens of Villa Borghese? A great opportunity to switch-off and take a stroll ending your visit with the entrance at the Borghese gallery Museum!

Then you can spend a great time shopping in the city center; you can go to Via del Corso for the major brands, to Via Condotti for the luxury brands and to Via del Boschetto for the independent boutiques. And it goes without saying, you cannot have shopping in Rome if you don’t experience one of the weekly markets in the city!  

"Caeser's forum", Copyright Viacheslav Lopatin / stock.adobe.com

Italians, and Romans, often boast that their food is the greatest in the world; from the most known and iconic Italian foods, as pizza or ice-cream, to the more local dishes as “pasta all’amatriciana” or “supplì” or “maritozzi con la panna”… are you curious? We will not tell you what they are because you have to come and taste them to discover how great could be the real Roman food!

"Vatican", Marco Gessani, CC BY-NC-ND

Reaching us is very easy. The Leonardo Da Vinci international airport operates daily flights to over 300 destinations throughout the world. The airport is also well connected to Rome's city center. There is the Leonardo Express, a train exclusively for airport passengers to/from Rome Termini railway station, leaving every 15 minutes with a journey time of 32 minutes.

The conference will be held at  Auditorium Parco della Musica, a big multi-functional art complex designed by the most important Italian Archistar, Renzo Piano, and located in the heart of Rome.

We encourage you to submit your abstracts as soon as possible (the deadline is 11:59pm EST Wednesday, December 19). and what more can we say except… see you in Rome!!

For even more information, visit Rome’s official tourism website: http://www.turismoroma.it/?lang=en  

"Piazza Navona", Copyright Phant / Adobe Stock

The OHBM have negotiated better rates for local hotels - we welcome you to take advantage of them.