A tribute to Euan MacDonald: celebrating the Euan MacDonald Centre and Euan's legacy
A tribute to Euan MacDonald: celebrating the Euan MacDonald Centre and Euan's legacy
A 1.5-day symposium showcasing current MND research, and a celebration of Euan's legacy, including Euan's Guide and SpeakUnique.
The Euan MacDonald Centre is delighted to be hosting a research symposium in honour of our founder Euan.
Euan MacDonald MBE, who lived with MND for over 20 years, died in 2024. The Centre that Euan founded, with his businessman father Donald MacDonald CBE, continues to flourish and brings together >250 MND researchers across Scotland.
The symposium will feature:
- academic sessions, with speakers who are leaders in the laboratory and clinical science of MND/ALS
- a public session to honour and build upon Euan's legacy, showcasing Euan's many achievements, including disabled access charity Euan's Guide, and digital speech technology company SpeakUnique
Date and venue
Weds 8th October and Thurs 9th October 2025
John MacIntyre Conference Centre, University of Edinburgh, Pollock Halls, 18 Holyrood Park Rd, Edinburgh, EH16 5AY
The event will be recorded for those not able to attend in person and shared later via our website. There is no need to register for the event to watch the recording.
Programme
(Programme print-outs will be available at the event)
Overview
Public elements of the programme are shown in bold.
Weds 8th October 202509.00-10.00 Registration and coffee 10.00-13.10 Session 1 (academic) 14.10-17.00 Session 2: Public event: Celebrating Euan's Legacy 17.00-18.30 Reception |
Thurs 9th October 202509.00-11.00 - Session 3 (academic) 11.30-13.15 - Session 4 (academic) 13.15 Close |
Keynote Speakers
- Prof Chris Shaw, Professor of Neurology and Neurogenetics, Director of the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London
- Prof Sabine Liebscher, Director, Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical University of Innsbruck
- Prof Max Parmar, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Director MRC Clinical Trials Unit and Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology, University College London
- Dr Andrea Serio, Reader in Neural Tissue Engineering, King’s College London; Group Leader, The Francis Crick Institute; Principal Investigator, UK Dementia Research Institute
- Dr Owen Gwydion James, Wellcome Early Career Research Fellow, UK Dementia Research Institute at King’s College London
- Dr Matthew Livesey, Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), University of Sheffield
- Prof Tom Gillingwater, Professor of Anatomy, University of Edinburgh
- Prof Sharon Abrahams, Professor of Neuropsychology, University of Edinburgh
- Prof Suvankar Pal, Professor of Neurodegeneration and Clinical Trials, University of Edinburgh
- Prof Siddharthan Chandran, Director of the Euan MacDonald Centre, MacDonald Professor of Neurology, University of Edinburgh; Director, UK Dementia Research Institute
Sponsors
With thanks to our sponsors:
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Abstracts
Please submit abstracts to be considered for 5-minute 'flashtalks' (academic or public focused) and poster presentations.
Please submit your abstract on the form below and email it to EMC_admin@ed.ac.uk.
Abstract submission form_A tribute to Euan MacDonald Symposium (MS Word)
The deadline for abstract submission is 5pm on Friday 15th August (now extended to 5pm on Friday 22nd August). You will be notified whether your abstract has been accepted by Friday 29th August.
Cost
There are two attendance options:
- £100 for attendance at the full symposium (Weds 8th Oct and Thurs 9th Oct), including the academic sessions, public session and reception
- £20 for attendance at the 'Celebrating Euan's Legacy' public session plus reception only (Weds 8th Oct 14:10-18:30)
Discount code
A 100% discount code is available to enable free attendance for:
- members of the Euan MacDonald Centre
- invited guests
- people living with MND and their families/carers
Please contact us on EMC_Admin@ed.ac.uk to obtain the code. The code should be entered at the Eventbrite checkout.
Registration
Registration is open via Eventbrite here: https://tribute-euan-macdonald-symposium-2025.eventbrite.co.uk
If you are attending the full event, this already includes the public session, so you do not need to register for the two events separately.
Registration will close on Monday 22nd September at 9am. Full refunds are available for cancelled places until this time, but refunds cannot be offered after this date as numbers will have been confirmed with the venue.
Venue, accessibility, parking and travel
The John MacIntyre Centre is on the University's Pollock Estate, approximately 30 minutes from Edinburgh Waverley train station by bus or on foot.
There is some free parking available on the estate on a first-come-first-served basis, but as this is very limited we recommend using public transport.
View a full accessibility and travel guide on Accessable.co.uk (external website)
Downloadable PDFs:
Accommodation
We recommend the University of Edinburgh hotel accommodation; this is either on site or close to the venue.
You can receive a 15% discount using the code EVENT.
Browse and book accommodation here: www.uoecollection.com/hotels
Privacy Statement
Information about you: how we use it and with whom we share it
We will use your personal data to allow us to process your registration, communicate with you and obtain your feedback about the event. We are processing the information about you for these purposes because by registering for the conference, you are entering into a contractual agreement for us to do so.
In order to facilitate online booking for this event, we are using Eventbrite - a third party service which is not operated by the University of Edinburgh. Details of Eventbrite’s privacy policy can be found at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/help/en-gb/articles/460838/eventbrite-privacy-policy
If you wish to attend this event, but do not wish to use Eventbrite, please email us at EMC_Admin@ed.ac.uk.
If you have given us your permission, we will share your name, affiliation and contact details with the other participants in the delegate list. We will not share information about you with any other third party.
After the event, we will send you a survey as it is our legitimate interest to help us improve any future events we organise.
We will hold the personal data you provided us for 12 months. Financial data such as a payment record will be held for 7 years, but we will ensure that all information that can identify you directly is removed after 12 months.
We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes.
If you have any questions, please contact EMC_Admin@ed.ac.uk.
This Privacy Statement is continued at: Continued privacy notice | Data Protection
Photography and Videography notice
Images and videos from this event will be used by the University of Edinburgh, including the Euan MacDonald Centre for MND Research, and our symposium partners Euan's Guide and SpeakUnique, to promote our activities to current and prospective staff, students, funders, stakeholders and partners. This will be used in our printed publications and digital channels, including websites and social media.
We will use this on the basis of our legitimate business interest to record and promote our work. We will inform you that we will be capturing and using your image.
The University uses external partners to communicate and promote our activities on the University’s behalf. Therefore, your personal information/image may be shared with partner agencies involved in the promotion the University of Edinburgh. This includes on third party platforms including social media, Eventbrite and Dotdigital.
Where we use your image online this will inevitably be subject to international data transfer and, in using third party platforms, we may also share your personal information to agencies which operate outside of the UK.
All personal information/images that we collect is held securely on the University’s servers and treated as confidential.