Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2008

The 50^th Annual IMTA Conference was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands from September 29^th till October 3^rd 2008 and was sponsored by the Netherlands' Defence Services Centre of Behavioural Sciences. The venue was the Events Centre at the Naval Barracks.
This year’s conference was the 50^th jubilee conference! About 200 participants from 27 nations enjoyed the very full program with three parallel tracks across the three conference days including keynotes, symposia, paper presentations and posters.
For the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the IMTA, Dr Marty Wiskoff, who is one of the Harry H. Greer award recipients, gave a memorable keynote on the the history of 50 years IMTA titled 'Down Memory Lane'.
The Steering Committee was pleased to note that many member organizations are willing to host the conference in the coming years and that a number of countries (New-Zealand, South Africa and China) or research institutes (the US Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the US Air Force Academy) expressed interest in joining the Association.
The conference also included warm social events: a ‘Meet and Greet’ at the Beurs van Berlage, the IBTA at the Baantjer Museum Café, the 50^th anniversary party held at the historical 'West Indisch Huis' where the participants were welcomed by Peter Stuyvesant and a choice of tours closing the conference on Friday October 3^rd.
Dr Renier van Gelooven, Director of the Defence Services Centre of Behavioural Sciences and his wonderful team did a great job to make the 50^th IMTA jubilee conference both a professionally rewarding and personally enjoyable experience.
Thanks and congratulations to all of you!