[The French-Speaking Neuropsychological Society: 30 years young]

On the occasion of a one-day scientific conference staged at the Collège de France on December 7th 2007 to mark the thirtieth birthday of the French-Speaking Neuropsychological Society (SNLF for Société de Neuropsychologie de Langue Française), the authors retrace the landmark events in the history of this learned society, beginning with its founding by Henri Hécaen and a group of French-speaking clinicians and research scientists. Emphasis is placed on its increasingly influential status and on its noteworthy contribution to the development of clinical and cognitive neurosciences at both scientific and institutional levels. With a current membership of five hundred, the SNLF engages in a range of activities, including publishing, and holds several meetings each year. It played an active part in setting up the Federation of the European Societies of Neuropsychology (FESN), but has also been keen to reinforce its links with Canadian researchers and clinicians. Loyal to the stated aims of its founder members, the SNLF advocates as high a theoretical level of debate as possible, while working to promote constructive discussions and exchanges of ideas between clinicians, researchers and academics from varied professional backgrounds.