The Scandinavian Society for Immunology (SSI) Annual Meeting 2026 was held in Bergen, Norway, from 7-10 September 2026. The Young Scandinavian Society for Immunology (ySSI) played an active role throughout the meeting, organizing and contributing to several activities, including the 3-Minute Flash Talk Competition, a ySSI presentation, workshop co-chairing, a social evening, and a dedicated ySSI booth.
Notably, ySSI hosted the 3-Minute Flash Talk Competition for the first time during the SSI Summer School. Six researchers from across the Scandinavian countries were selected and challenged to present their research in just three minutes. The two winners, Eylem Baysal (University of Bergen, Norway) and Saumya Sinha (University of Turku, Finland), were selected by the judges and the audience (“People’s Choice”), respectively. Both winners will represent Scandinavia at the European-wide 3-Minute Flash Talk Competition, organized by yEFIS, during ECI 2027 in Florence, Italy.
This year also marked the fifth anniversary of ySSI. To celebrate this milestone, we introduced ourselves to meeting attendees through a short presentation highlighting who we are, our goals, and how we work to support young immunologists across Scandinavia and Europe through active collaboration with yEFIS.
We also continued the popular ySSI tradition of hosting a social evening and quiz on the second day of the conference. To promote networking and encourage interactions among attendees, ySSI designed special name-tag stickers featuring country flags, indicators for first-time attendees and SSI veterans, and immunology field specialties. These stickers helped participants connect more easily with colleagues who shared similar backgrounds and interests.
At the ySSI booth, we engaged with many conference participants and organized several interactive activities, including a pipetting challenge and immune memory games, with small prizes awarded to winners. The booth provided a lively space for networking, discussion, and learning more about ySSI initiatives.
