Report submitted by:
Vinciane Debaille and Steven Goderis
Co-chairs of the MetSoc 2024 Local Organization Committee
The 86th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society (MetSoc 24) was held from July 28 to August 2 2024 at the Palace of the Academies in Brussels, Belgium. This was the first MetSoc meeting in Belgium, at the heart of Europe, and also the first since the pandemic to be in-person only. The organization was a joint effort between the Université libre de Bruxelles, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and was ensured to run smoothly thanks to the large volumes of Belgian chocolates. In total, 505 participants from 33 different countries attended the conference, including 329 professionals (scientists + exhibitors), 137 student participants, and 39 guests. A total of 470 abstracts were accepted for 314 oral, 150 poster and 6 print-only presentations. Oral presentations were scheduled in three parallel sessions from Monday (29 July) to Friday (2 August) while two poster sessions took place on Tuesday and Thursday in the late afternoon, with many good discussions over drinks, including the Impact Ale beer, brewed specifically for the conference.
The conference kicked off on Saturday 27 July and Sunday 28 July with the pre-conference workshop chaired by Aurore Hutzler (ESA) and Tomohiro Usui (JAXA) at the Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences in Brussels, dedicated to the advanced curation of extra-terrestrial samples in an increasing international community. Around 100 participants attended the workshop. On Sunday, this was followed by the welcome reception that took place at the magnificent city hall of Brussels. The Barringer lecture was presented on Monday evening by Véronique Dehant of the Royal Observatory of Belgium in the art-deco theater of the Plaza Hotel in Brussels followed by drinks and a walking dinner. Her talk, entitled “Does the Red Planet have a heart? Results from the Mars InSight mission” was dedicated to the deep interior of Mars. The talk was attended by a large audience.
On Wednesday morning, the presentation of Society Awards and distinguished lectures occurred. Monica Grady, recipient of the Leonard Medal, gave a lecture about “A Voyage in Space and Time”. John Spray, recipient of the Barringer Medal, presented on “Bulk Versus Discrete Deformation in Rocks: A Question of Scale?”. Richard Greenwood received the Service Award, while Elishevah van Kooten was awarded the Nier Prize. On Wednesday afternoon, the attendees could enjoy some of the cultural hotspots in and around Brussels: the Atomium and the mini-Europe park, the European Parliament and the House of Europe, a walk in the historical center of Brussels, the discovery on boat of the beautiful city of Ghent, or a visit to the Waterloo battlefield where the fate of Europe was determined. The conference banquet took place on Wednesday evening at the Museum of Natural Sciences. The participants could enjoy a walking dinner and some dancing amongst the famous dinosaur gallery.
The conference concluded on Friday mid-afternoon, when around 130 attendees said their goodbyes over ice cream and the last cans of Impact Ale during a farewell party.
The conference program and abstract volume can be accessed on the website of the Lunar and Planetary Institute: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2024/technical_program/.
We would like to thank the local organizing committee - Hasnaa Aoudjehanne Chennaoui (Hassan II University of Casablanca), Dina Cabrita (ULB), Bernard Charlier, (ULiège), Philippe Claeys (VUB), Max Collinet (UNamur), Sophie Decrée (BINS), Jean-Guillaume Feignon (VUB), Pim Kaskes (ULB), Lisa Kramer Ruggiu (VUB), Katarina Miljkovic (Curtin University), Olivier Namur (KULeuven), Gabriel Pinto (BINS), Trygve Prestgard (VUB), Maxwell Thiemens (VUB), Maria Valdes (the Field Museum), and Flore Van Maldeghem, (UCopenhagen) - and also our many Belgian colleagues who greatly helped us to improve the conference experience: Marleen De Ceukelaire, Thierry Leduc, Thomas Goovaerts, and Karine Triquenaux.
We also thank Hasnaa Aoudjehanne Chennaoui who chaired the scientific program committee, composed of Maizey Benner (UArizona), Bernard Charlier (ULiège), Max Collinet (UNamur), Luigi Folco (UPisa), Jérôme Gattacecca (CEREGE), Richard Greenwood (Open University), Pierre Haenecour (UArizona), Philipp Heck (Field Museum), Ming-Chang Liu (LLNL), Takachi Mikouchi (UTokyo), Olivier Namur (KULeuven), Lidia Pittarello (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien), Uwe Reimold (UBrasília), Maria Schönbächler (ETH Zurich), Anuj Singh, (UAllahabad), Haoxuan Sun (IPGP) and Akira Yamaguchi (NIPR).
Pierre Haenecour chaired the travel award committee that provided travel grants to 67 attendees to participate in Brussels, for a total of 84 k USD. This was made possible thanks to the support of the Barringer Crater Company, The Brian Mason fund, Elsevier, the Macovich Meteorite Collection, the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum, NASA, the O. Richard Norton fund, The Planetary Studies Foundation, and of course, the Meteoritical Society early career and TIM travel awards.
Renée Dotson and Jamie Shumbera from LPI have been of invaluable help on the abstract submission and program design. Our sponsors, FWO and FNRS, CAMECA instruments, Nu Instruments and ThermoScientific are greatly acknowledged for their financial support. The Meteoritical Society Council is thanked for its trust and guidance.
Finally, we would like to sincerely thank the beating heart of the conference – the large number of master students, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from all Belgian universities who volunteered to make this conference possible.