The mission of the World Congress on Pain Task Force was to examine the current structure, Scientific Program, and viability of IASP’s World Congress on Pain and develop a set of recommendations and changes for future meetings.
Update from the World Congress on Pain Task Force
The World Congress on Pain Task Force was organized to review the existing structure of IASP’s World Congress on Pain and develop a set of recommendations for future meetings. Over 12-months, the Task Force met seven times and presented their final recommendations to the Executive Council in February. The recommendations included:
- The Pre-Congress Day will include SIG Symposia, Hands-On Workshops, and Cadaver Labs. Master Classes will be offered virtually moving forward to allow for more attendees, alleviate competition, and allow attendees to attend other Pre-Congress offerings. Except for Master Classes, there will not by a hybrid offering of World Congress.
- The poster floor will be organized by topic and printing guidelines will be shared to help presenters consider the environmental impact of their presentation.
- Topical Workshop submissions including early career professionals will be a priority and IASP will host a webinar for early career professionals on how to submit a topical workshop proposal. All submitters will be encouraged to include early career professions in their proposals.
- Speakers can only present at one topical workshop and will not receive registrations discounts, except for those delivering plenary talks.
- World Congress will no longer offer CME. The cost for CME accreditation was extremely high and it was only used by a small number of attendees.
- World Congress locations will be selected to ensure the venue has a low carbon footprint with a North American/Europe rotation with the possibility of every third rotation being in Asia, Australia, or South American. Locations selected with try to focus on family friendly environments with suggestions for activities for all to be promoted by IASP.
- IASP will strive to cut registration fees, provide food and beverage, and be transparent on how registration fees are allocated for expenses.