Named Lectures
Presidential Symposium - Named Lectures
Sunday, 28 June 2026, 10:30-12:30 (CEST), Main Auditorium
Manju Kurian
Anita Harding Award Lecture
Navigating the translational arc for childhood-onset genetic movement disorders
Manju Kurian is a Professor of Neurogenetics at UCL-Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. She is also a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
After graduating from Cambridge University, she trained in paediatrics before subspecialising in paediatric neurology. At the end of her clinical training, she undertook a PhD (University of Birmingham) investigating the molecular genetic basis of childhood neurological disorders (2007-2011). She moved to UCL after her PhD, and is now an independent Principal Investigator at the Institute of Child Health.
She has been awarded a Wellcome Intermediate Fellowship (2012-2017), L’Oreal For Women in Science Award (2017), NIHR Professorship (2017-2022), ICNA Jon Stobo Award (2018) and the Jules Thorn Award for Biomedical Research (2019-2025). Her grant income exceeds £10 million and she has more than 200 peer reviewed publications to her name, including works in Nature Genetics, Science, Science Translational Medicine and Lancet Neurology.
Kurian’s current research encompasses gene discovery for childhood neurological disorders, including early onset epilepsy, neurodegeneration and movement disorders. Her lab uses mainly cell models to investigate the underlying pathological basis of disease. She works closely with UCL Gene Therapy groups to develop novel therapeutic strategies for children with pharmacoresistant movement disorders. Her long-term goal is to translate her research for patient benefit, through improved clinical diagnosis and precision medicine approaches.
Anita Harding Award Lecture
Anita Harding is considered one of the most outstanding female figures in neurology of her generation, worldwide. The Anita Harding Award has been established to highlight the major achievements of women in neurology. The lecture delivered during the Presidential Symposium will serve as a beacon to inspire younger female neurologists and neuroscientists to pursue their careers, as well as to underscore achievements in and contributions to gender equality in neurology.
Daniela Berg
Moritz Romberg Award Lecture
What research and patients may teach us: Parkinson’s disease - a history and perspective of learning
Daniela Berg is Chair of the Department of Neurology at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel and Medical Director of the Clinic of Neurology at the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein. After completing her residency in Würzburg, she spent two years in the Department of Genetics in Tübingen before returning to neurology at the Hertie Institute of Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen, where she established her own research group and served as senior consultant.
Her research centres on the early and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson’s disease (PD). She has worked extensively on identifying and validating risk factors and biomarkers for PD diagnosis and progression. Driven by the goal of developing more individualised treatment options, she has served as principal investigator in numerous clinical studies, including conservative therapeutic approaches. To date, she has authored or co-authored more than 770 peer-reviewed publications.
As current President of the German Neurological Society (DGN) and delegate for Germany at the World Federation of Neurology, Berg actively promotes neurological training, clinical practice, research and advocacy, with a particular emphasis on prevention and brain health. She is also a member of the EAN Scientific Panel on Movement Disorders, past-chair of the Scientific Issues Panel of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, and a board member of the German Parkinson Society. Through these roles and her service on several national and international boards, she is deeply committed to advancing research and improving care in movement disorders, with a special focus on Parkinson’s disease.
Riccardo Soffietti
Camillo Golgi Award Lecture
Progress in gliomas: From histology to molecular biology and from surgery to precision therapies
Riccardo Soffietti is Emeritus Professor of Neurology and Neuro-Oncology at the University of Turin, Italy and Emeritus Head of Department of Neuro-Oncology University Hospital. He is now Director of the CNS Metastases Program at the Candiolo Cancer Institute, Turin.
Soffietti was a founding member of the European Association for Neuro-Oncology (EANO). He has held positions such as President of EANO, Co-Chair of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Scientific Panel on Neuro-Oncology, Chair of the Research Group of Neuro-Oncology of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN), Chair of the EAN Education Committee, member of the Steering Committee of the Brain Tumor Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), and Leader of the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) Group on Liquid Biopsy. He was a member of the Editorial Committee of the WHO Classification of CNS Tumors 2021. The research activity included neuropathological studies on the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on tumours and normal brain; histological and clinical prognostic factors in CNS tumours; chemotherapy for oligodendroglial tumours; design of trials with new drugs in gliomas, lymphomas, ependymomas, medulloblastomas and CNS metastases; monitoring of treatment effects with advanced neuroimaging; and molecular aspects of brain colonisation from solid tumours.
He has published 250 papers in high impact scientific journals, 16 books and 40 book chapters. He was Executive Editor of Neuro-Oncology (IF: 16.4) and Section Editor of Current Opinion in Neurology (IF: 4.1). Soffietti received the Award for Excellence in Clinical Research from the Society for Neuro-Oncology (US) and Life Achievement Award in Neuro-Oncology from EANO.
John Rothwell
Charles-Édouard Brown-Sequard Award Lecture
Non-invasive neuromodulation in neurology
John Rothwell is currently Emeritus Professor of Human Neurophysiology at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. His work has focused on developing novel non-invasive methods to probe the central control of movement in health and disease, particularly in the field of movement disorders and stroke. Studies in his group provided the theoretical rationale and methodological developments underpinning the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). They have revealed some of the details of how TMS interacts with ongoing brain activity and have been used to devise techniques to probe synaptic connections between brain areas that are now used as biomarkers in neurological disease and movement disorders. The work has also pioneered methods of repetitive stimulation that modulate synaptic plasticity and opened up new therapeutic opportunities in neurology and psychiatry.