Sonja Gamsjaeger, senior researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna, will hand over the position as Cochair of the Social Media group to Melanie Haffner-Lunzer after the ECTS congress in Innsbruck. Mag. Dr. Sonja Gamsjaeger is a senior researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Osteology in Vienna, Austria. With her Graduation in Digital Marketing Management in addition to Biology and Physics she was perfectly prepared to cochair the Social Media group. Social media, is an internet-based form of communication, allows ECTS to have conversations, share information and create web content – to stay in close contact with the community.
With all her knowledge about the different social media channels and the corresponding users of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky and Mastodon she knew what information and content might be shared in which channel. She generously and easily shared her broad knowledge with the members of the group and was always very fast in helping and supporting. Together with the ECTS office she was in charge of the annual planning process for the social media activities. We admire her extraordinary enthusiasm for this Cochair task. Congratulation for this role and sincere thanks to you, Sonja!
With her, Michael Laurent, geriatrician working at Imelda Hospital and the University Hospital of Leuven, and Steve Stegen, Assistant Professor at the Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology unit, Leuven, will leave the group after their 3 years term. They were very active during this time and worked closely together with Sonja and all the other members. A great thank you also to both of you for investing so much of your time to be informed about all the different ECTS activities and to rapidly share information and content in the different channels.
In addition, we would like to bid farewell to Antonia Sophocleous, Assistant Professor at European University Cyprus, and Barbara Hauser, Consultant Rheumatologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. We are deeply grateful for their significant contributions to the ECTS newsletter, which helped it make a remarkable step forward. We will miss these two excellent scientists and dynamic members of the action group, whose impact will be felt for years to come.
All members interested to join the Social Media or the Newsletter group please get in contact during the ECTS meeting or by mail, group positions will be available again in 2026.
Heide Siggelkow and Antonio Maurizi