A New Era for JASMEE Conferences?
When planning the 29th JASMEE Conference at Kansai Medical University, the main goals were simple: Explore the core theme, Toward an EMP Model Core Curriculum — Balancing Standardization and Personalization, and build technical ICT infrastructure to make the whole conference experience better for everyone.
Now that the dust has settled, we want to spotlight some of the highlights and feedback from participants, then close with where JASMEE is heading next.
JASMEE has always been driven by its members. It is rare to find an academic group that balances serious research with such a supportive environment. As Dr Aya Watanabe noted in her post-conference message:
"It was one of the most professionally stimulating and heartwarming JASMEE conferences that I've attended!"
We also want to thank Prof John Skelton. His approachability and thoughtful feedback on individual presentations were a real highlight for many of us. It was also a great pleasure to host the President of the Japan Society of Medical Education (JSME), Prof Hiroshi Nishigori, who provided wonderful insight into future directions and established a robust collaboration path between JASMEE and JSME.
New Formats: The Fringe Sessions
One unique innovation of the 29th JASMEE conference that will hopefully catch on was the AMEE-inspired FRINGE session. FRINGE sessions were successfully adopted by JSME last year to overwhelming acclaim which continued this year at their 58th conference which was held in Toyama. FRINGE sessions aim to add a different flavour to strictly academic oral presentations. FRINGE sessions deliver an impactful, relevant message in an alternative way while incorporating interactivity at its core.
Personal Touches and the Venue
Beyond the academic schedule, conference organizers really wanted the in-person experience to feel special. Small details were added everywhere to make the weekend memorable, like the handmade conference bags and the custom JASMEE logo dorayaki. It was fantastic to hear so many of you mention how much you enjoyed these additions.
A stamp rally was set up to give everyone a fun reason to visit the sponsors. Mr Benjamin Phillis highlighted the setting in his feedback, noting:
"I also thought the venue was wonderful, and because of your thoughtful preparations, it lent itself perfectly to hosting the event."
Operations, Students, and ICT
Running an event like this takes a lot of support. On the ground, a massive thank you goes out to the student support team. Every single one of them worked incredibly hard to ensure things ran on time, from morning registration to the closing remarks.
On the digital side, we tested some new tools to complement the physical event. By setting up the Indico conference management system, the HEPCon app (which made navigating the schedule and the stamp rally much easier), and new presentation timers, we hoped to make the conference run smoothly. Mr Phillis highlighted how these tools impacted the experience:
"Without exaggeration, it was the smoothest and most enjoyable conference I have been to... The well-considered innovations such as the timer, the app and the fringe sessions were great."
Prof Takayuki Oshimi also reached out to kindly share that he felt:
"...it was the best JASMEE conference ever."
The JASMEE ICT Subcommittee has been doing great work for years, and this conference really showed what is possible with ICT. Guided by the idea of “Making JASMEE Better Through ICT,” the committee is working to turn these tools into a reusable infrastructure. We are already talking with future conference presidents Prof Kazuhiko Kurozumi and Prof Jun Iwata and the organizing teams for the 30th (2027) and 31st (2028) conferences to build on the ICT infrastructure established for the 29th conference. As Prof Iwata noted:
"It would be wonderful if future conference presidents could benefit from a reusable framework without having to reinvent the process each time."
Next Steps
Thank you to everyone who presented, attended, and helped out. We look forward to seeing you all next year and watching our shared EMP initiatives grow. And as the Vice-President of the 29th JASMEE Conference, I want to offer one more heartfelt acknowledgment to our Conference President, Prof Raoul Breugelmans. His vision shaped many of the innovations introduced at this conference, from driving our digital transformation to bringing the leadership of JSME and EALTHY together and helping open new avenues for collaboration through the new JSME subcommittee for EMP. Thank you, Prof Breugelmans, for challenging the status quo and showing us what the future of JASMEE could be.
Finally, to keep this momentum going, we need your voice. If you want to help shape the future of EMP and have an insight, a lesson, or a story to share with this community, the floor is yours. Got a blog idea? Send it over! We welcome contributions with open arms!
Reflecting on the 29th JASMEE Conference © 2026 by Eric H. Jego is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0 
