We are more than excited to announce our new theme for 2026: "From Early Development to Lifelong Health!"
Human health is shaped long before it is visible - beginning in the earliest stages of development, extending through childhood, and influencing health trajectories well into adulthood. The conditions and experiences that accompany early development play a pivotal role in determining how individuals grow, adapt, and respond to challenges throughout life.
Last year, under the theme “Shaping Tomorrow’s Health Today,” we emphasized the urgent need to address the health challenges of today while planning for the health needs of tomorrow. Our focus was on fostering a healthier future through innovation, collaboration, and a commitment to ensuring that today’s advancements in science, policy, and care are shifted toward creating better health outcomes for all.
This year, we take a deliberate step back in the life cycle with our new theme, “From Early Development to Lifelong Health.” In doing so, we aim to explore how healthy futures are shaped long before birth. By shifting our attention to these foundational stages, we highlight the critical role that prenatal and early-life environments play in determining long-term physical, cognitive, and emotional outcomes. Early biological, environmental, and social influences can have profound and lasting consequences. These early factors may foster resilience or contribute to vulnerabilities that only become visible much later in life.
Through this theme, we seek to uncover the mechanisms that connect early development to later health outcomes. By integrating perspectives from molecular biology, epidemiology, social sciences, and clinical practice, we aim to highlight the pathways through which early-life exposures shape health across the lifespan. This includes studying the developmental origins of various conditions, identifying sensitive prenatal periods, and understanding the interplay between genetic predisposition and environment.
As part of this year’s theme, we are excited to bring our community together during two major events. Our annual AR&D Symposium will take place on June 4, offering a platform for researchers to share insights, exchange ideas, and highlight innovative work focused on early development and long-term health. Later in the year, we will deepen these discussions during the AR&D Retreat on November 26 and 27, hosted at the NH Noordwijk Conference Centre Leeuwenhorst, where interdisciplinary collaboration and forward-thinking dialogue will be central.
Together, these activities strengthen our collective mission. This theme brings together researchers across disciplines within Amsterdam Reproduction & Development to advance knowledge that supports healthier beginnings, healthier childhoods, and ultimately healthier lives.
