The pandemic has been shaking up the world, businesses, research institutes and businesses. But we have weathered the storm and continued to do what ESN does best: develop research ideas, conduct research, publish our results, and connect with each other – even though this happened mostly online. Every couple of months, we came together for webinars covering topics from gamification to sustainability.

The virtual connection worked surprisingly well. But … nothing compares to sitting face to face, exchanging experiences over a good meal and - as the evening goes on - a fine wine. Everybody who has joined an ESN meeting (whether it has been in South Africa admiring wildlife, in Norway looking at a fjord while dining on reindeer, soaking in the blue lagoon in Iceland, dancing folk dances together in Budapest …) knows that they are special and offer a unique opportunity of meeting colleagues, exchanging new ideas and coming up with challenging research questions.

After the two-year break, we meet at a special location that is not only close to the heart of our members, but also of everybody who loves to tackle the senses: Paris. One of the meeting hosts, Lise Dreyfuss, the ESN research chair explains: “I love this city… and am a real Parisian! I like the smell of the wet concrete when rain begins to fall at the beginning of spring, I like the noise and the liveliness of the city.”

À tous nos membres: nous sommes impatients de vous accueillir à Paris!