The ISB Congress in Calgary will mark the end of my Presidency of the International Society of Biomechanics. Thus, this is the last Presidential Blog message that I shall write before handing over the gavel into the capable hands of Professor Toni Arndt in Calgary. It has been a wonderful exerpience for me to serve as the ISB President for the last two years. I hope that I have lived up to the legacy of the past presidents. I would like to thank the members of the Executive Council who served during my time as President. These individuals have volunteered their precious time to help promote the Society. In particular, I would like to thank Graeme Wood, ISB Treasurer, for his many years of work for the Society.
In the last two years, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of countries during which time I promoted the goals and ideals of the International Society of Biomechanics. I visited Singapore, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, Australia, Czech Republic, England, Hong Kong, China and Ireland. In each country, I presented the opportunities for professionals and students within the ISB. In particular, I emphasized the student grant program offered by ISB. I believe this program is essential to ISB and the promotion of biomechanics worldwide.
The word ‘international’ has always been very important to me and implies to me a network of scientists and organizations. In the International Society of Biomechanics, we have a number of affiliate societies from a number of countries including several new societies that are presently being formed and who will shortly apply for affiliate status in ISB. It is my hope that many other national biomechanics organizations will become part of the wider network of ISB. It should be clear that there are many advantages for these national organizations to do so. For example, global exposure to our work, educational resources for students and visiting scholars, technical resources and, most important, cooperative intellectual opportunities.
A further example of the international nature of ISB is the results of our recent election for the new President-Elect and Executive Council. The new President-Elect is from Europe; three councilors are from Australia, three from North America and two from Europe, and one each from New Zealand and Korea. In addition, the Executive Council will have two appointed representatives from South America and Asia.
Recently, I had the privilege of speaking at the Brazilian Society of Biomechanics meeting in Manaus, a city in Amazonia state. I was invited to Brazil by Felipe Carpes, the President of the Brazilian Society, who is also a Councilor on the ISB Executive Council. This conference had over 600 delegates from all over Brazil and several other South American countries. This is the second time that I have spoken at this conference, the last time in 2009, and I am very pleased that the level of research has continued to progress. I was very impressed by the student poster presentations on a number of topics ranging from tissue biomechanics to ergonomics to musculoskeletal biomechanics. In addition, I had the opportunity to meet many faculty members from Brazilian universities and discuss aspects of research and intellectual cooperation opportunities. I also managed to see and take a boat ride on the Amazon River. Absolutely incredible!
The 2019 ISB Congress in Calgary, Canada is just around the corner. I have been informed that over 1900 abstracts were submitted making this possibly the largest ISB Congress of all. The program is impressive and I know that the Congress and the satellite meetings will be intellectually stimulating. The website for the 2019 Congress can be found at:
Lastly, I want to thank all of those who trusted me to guide ISB for the last two years. It has been an honor to serve ISB in this capacity. I hope that I will see many of the Society membership in Calgary at the ISB2019 Congress.
Prof Joseph Hamill
ISB President 2017-19
