The Round Table Foundation

he Round Table Foundation (TRTF) was created by scien­tists of dif­fe­rent count­ries and fields. Its Mission has been codi­fied in the Found­a­tion's sta­tutes.

TRTF's Latin motto runs:
Tabula Rotunda — Tabula Fecunda (sit):
A round table should be a creative table.

Its var­ious Chapters pro­mote learn­ing and teach­ing, inter­disci­plinary science and research, sup­port­ing academia and inter­cul­tural under­stand­ing, and aiding the young. Learn more about the Chapters and other activities of the Foundation by choosing your topic of interest in the table of contents.

The President of TRTF, Peter A. Rinck, summarized the main mission features of the Foundation in his

    Letter from the President.

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The Pro Academia Prize — Exemplary Groups

n today's science and research, places of quiet dis­cus­sion free from strife are rare, and, though ge­ne­ral­ly preach­ed, broad-based in­te­rdis­ci­pli­nary ex­change usually remains minor-league.

Single out­standing scien­tists have become a rarity. They still exist; however, in most cases research and academia require teams, or­ganiz­ed as a net­work of groups with a com­mon inter­est. Lead­ing in­di­vi­duals, with a clear re­search ori­en­tation, forge success­ful groups and net­works with ac­com­plished and com­­pe­­tent re­sear­chers.

The Pro Academia Prize is be­stowed on the leader and — if possible — the mem­bers of aca­de­mic groups that serve as an exam­ple. The next prize de­ci­sion is ex­pect­ed in mid-2023.

    More ….

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European Magnetic Resonance Forum — EMRF

he European Magnetic Resonance Forum (EMRF) is the oldest scientific institution in Europe de­vot­ed to inter­dis­ci­pli­nary medi­cal and bio­logi­cal mag­netic reso­nance, bridging the gap between the exact scien­ces and me­di­cine. After its incor­pora­tion into TRTF in 2007, the or­ga­ni­zation an­nounc­ed the adoption of a new struc­ture and mission stra­te­gy.

As a Chapter of TRTF, the Forum has reorganized its acti­vities and extended its teaching program to the internet.

EMRF's status as an inde­pen­dent insti­tu­tion within TRTF will remain untouched. No com­mer­cial com­panies have any vested interest in EMRF and its mem­ber­ship branch ESMR.

   More about EMRF.

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TwinTree™

s part of the reorganization efforts some of the activities of the Virtual Campus Ini­tia­tive were taken over by TwinTree™.

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Periodicals

wo serial publications under the roof of TRTF.
In 2015, the learned columns pub­li­cation Rinckside (ISSN 2364-3889) was incorporated into the chapter structure of TRTF. Its Editorial Board has been enlarged.

The more than 30-year old column on “Imaging, Science, and Beyond” is published several times per year at irregular intervals both in an electronic and a printed version and is an officially citable scientific journal — small, but present. It is listed by the German National Library as a serial publication, and registered with the ISSN International Center in Paris.

Rinckside was revamped and got face-lifts between 2019 and 2021. Since 2018, "Special Supplements" are included in addition to the regular columns.

It widened its scope by opening a multilingual daughter site, A Small Café. It is meant to be a plea­sant and inspiring small virtual academic meeting place on literature, philosophy, criti­cism, chron­icles, discourse and debate and open to submissions by a wide range of authors.

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Magnetic Resonance Textbook

espite the fact that printed textbooks are better for personal learning, the insistent requests for a digital textbook site was overwhelming. Thus we produced another digital version.

The first version of this primer — a little booklet — was written at Paul C. Lau­ter­bur's la­bo­ra­to­ry on Long Is­land out­side New York in the ear­ly 1980s. Lauterbur was the father of MR imaging. Meanwhile we are at the fourteenth edition of Mag­ne­tic Re­so­nance in Me­di­cine — and its se­venth e-Learn­ing edi­tion. It has been revised, enlarged, and adap­ted for e-Learn­ing. Earlier editions have been translated into Por­tu­guese, Spanish, Italian, Ger­man, French, Polish, Russian, Ja­pa­ne­se, and Chinese.

TRTF's magnetic resonance teaching website is a com­plete, in­de­pen­dent — and free, open access — basic mag­ne­tic reso­nance e-text­book, to look up specific questions or to learn the fundamentals step-­by-­step. It includes a glossary and a list of acronyms. For the latest digital edition we have up­dated and optimized contents and lay­out, and made the visual pre­sen­ta­tion lighter to produce a more plea­sant, informative and efficient user experience.

For the time being, the on­line edi­tion will be available in Eng­lish only. Celebrating the 40th anniversary in 2024 will be a plea­sant occasion. The child had grown up, become an adult or, in our case — a rather successful standard text­book. The reviews and public reaction to the book were extremely positive. The editor, the co-authors, and the involved in­sti­tu­tions — The Round Table Foun­da­tion and the European Mag­ne­tic Resonance Forum — aim to pub­lish high quality teach­ing material. Our goal is to promote honest and knowledgeable in­for­mation of real significance; for this reason, we are com­mit­ted to peer review and edi­to­rial in­de­pen­den­ce. Free offprints of several chapters of the 13th (printed) edition are available here.

   Additional news and explanations are given in the Letter from the President.

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Groundwork for the Future

n Investment.
"There is no finer in­vest­ment for any com­mu­ni­ty than putt­ing milk into babies," Wins­ton Chur­chill once stated.

TRTF goes beyond milk; a little break­fast and lunch, teach­ing how to brush your teeth, and a basis of read­ing, writ­ing, sing­ing — at TRTF's South American branch in Bogotá, Colombia.

   More (including an update on Covid) …

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