President's Message - June 2025

June 2, 2025

Dear OARSI membership,

I would like to personally thank all members attending our first conference in South Korea (and the second in the history of OARSI in Asia as in 1997 we were in Singapore). I would acknowledge all the great support from our industry members and distinguished sponsors!

In Incheon, we had 907 registrants from 43 countries. Clearly, the geographical location of our Congress matters a lot, as this year we noted a substantial increase in registrants from Asian countries as well as Australia and New Zeeland. That increase compensated well for the anticipated reduction of registrants from North America and Europe. Due to the success, the Board is now looking for another Asian venue for the OARSI World Congress in 2028 (the location has otherwise typically alternated between North America and Europe).

For the Incheon OARSI World Congress 2025 the distribution of attendees per continent was as follows:

Graph; Registrations per continent for Incheon 2025.

The top 5 list of registrations for Incheon by country:

Number of registrants; Incheon 2025

In the exciting “category” of true national dedication to the OA field of science, i.e., when taking population size into account, for the Incheon venue, we have a winner in Iceland (population about 400,000) a country which actually steadily have contributed with registrants over the years, much thanks to Professor Helgi Jonson. Congratulations Iceland!

In 2^nd place for the Incheon meeting, we have Finland (population about 5.6 million) with an impressive 25 registrants, tightly followed by Denmark, South Korea and Australia. Congratulations, well done!

Number of registrants per capita (incidence proportion per 1 million inhabitants; Incheon 2025

I also would like to highlight our fantastic Ambassador from Ukraine, Nataliia Grygorieva for attending in spirit of the courageous people of Ukraine.

President Martin Englund with Nataliia Grygorieva (OARSI Ambassador from Ukraine) and our Executive Director, Elizabeth Grotos

Entertainment at the OARSI Congress Dinner event with highly talented musicians performing a fusion of modern and traditional Korean music

In all, I think Songdo Convensia was an excellent venue. The modern city of Incheon offered cultural experiences as well as shopping and excellent dining, all within walking distance or by modern and safe public transport.

For those of you unable to be in Incheon, or to join the Presidential address on Thursday, here are the lyrics that I wrote to truly honor you as valuable member of our society. The piece was delivered as a cover to the music “La Belle Epoque” by the Swedish group Kent:

You are the rock on the Earth

You are the mountain holding ground

You are a diamond in its finest

waiting to be sparkling

You are the first drops of a rainfall

You are the waves reaching shoreline

You are the mist in the morning

welcoming the future

You are the brightest beam of light

You are the end of the tunnel

You are the true glimpse of sunshine

in a world full of darkness

You are the fresh air in the sky

You are the crisp breath that I take

You are the force of the wind

that can make true changes

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You are the flame of the fire

You are the glow in the ashes

You are the energy in the hard times

providing the warmth

You are the letters forming words

You are the sound of my voice

You are the guardians of the truth

in a world full of noise

You are the beam of the x-ray

You are the lenses of the scope

You are the hand of the provider

Giving people hope

You are the blade of the scalpel

You are the feathers on the arrow

You are the people of science

united for a cause

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You work in solidarity

You mentor your colleagues

You are explorers of the unknown

with the torch held with pride

You are the blade of the scalpel

You are the feather on the arrow

You are the people of science

united across the globe

Lyrics ©Martin Englund

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I would like to sincerely thank our outgoing Board members Elena Losina and Rik Lories for their excellent and highly valuable contributions to our society. Thank you very much!

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To already note in your calendars, our next World Congress on April 23-26, 2026, will be held in tropical West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, and on April 1-4, 2027, we are scheduled for Barcelona, Spain. For West Palm Beach plan to deliver top science but also a fun and entertaining social program!

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Finally, as always, please consider our two high-quality scientific journals to publish your work! Our two Co-Editors in Chief for OAC, Anne-Marie Malfait and David Hunter, and Editor in Chief for OAC Open, Henning Madry, continue their amazing work with their editorial teams.

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For our members on the Northern hemisphere, I wish you a great Summer, and our members on the Southern hemisphere I wish you a terrific Winter, all with lots of scientific productivity but also some time to relax!

OARSI inspires!

Professor Martin Englund, MD, PhD

OARSI President