A note from Tim Sangster – the 24th Reid International Bioanalytical Forum

I have the great pleasure to announce that the 24^th Reid International Bioanalytical Forum will be held on the 20–23 September 2021 at the Doubletree by Hilton Cambridge Belfry (UK).

The Reid Forum has long tried and succeeded to bring the whole bioanalytical community together to further the field of bioanalytical science and while pharmaceutical developments have been a central topic, we have and continue to encourage and attract scientists from a diverse range of backgrounds. This includes areas such as food, consumer products, veterinary, forensic sciences and, more recently, some great presentations on the use of biomarkers in conservation research by Sue Walker and Rebecca Mogey from Chester Zoo (UK) at the 2019 Forum. In 2021, we will be looking to bring together as diverse a field of bioanalytical scientists as we can to help us all develop and learn from each other. A meeting report for the 2019 Forum can be found online you were unlucky enough not to attend [1].

The Reid Forum has always succeeded in having a great community feeling and this has always been maintained by having a fully inclusive approach to attendance, where everyone is treated equally be they a research student in the first year of their PhD, a senior Director, or a business development representative. We encourage early career scientists and students to come along and mix with some of the biggest names in the field with the aim of trying to create a safe place for everyone to learn and develop, no matter how much experience they have. The small size and active social program mean that by the end of the 3 days, you can easily come away knowing every attendee by name, which we actually encourage as an aim for attendance. We firmly believe that collaboration is key to moving the field forward and creating social networks has been a key principle of Reid from the beginning.

The Reid Forum is also unique in that we actively encourage people to not just celebrate their successes, but also their failures – something that is made possible by the supportive environment fostered by the hard-working, active and engaged committee. The ‘Ask the doctor’ sessions which have long been part of the Reid Forum are always popular, where delegates bring challenges they are facing and the audience and a panel of experts discuss and debate possible solutions.

The Forum has been running every 2 years since 1975 making the meeting 46 years old. If you want to know more about the incredible history of the meeting, I would direct you to this article from Derek Stevenson (a long-serving and hard-working member of the Forum syndicate) [2].

At this stage we are actively looking for people interested in presenting at the 2021 meeting and encourage people to submit short abstracts for consideration: https://na.eventscloud.com/eSites/553115/Login

Registration for attendance, exhibitions and sponsorship is also available now, with a discount for early registration: https://na.eventscloud.com/ereg/index.php?eventid=553115

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch by email – [email protected]