Biomedical Science Congress: a new planning challenge for 2021

‘Congress - A new planning challenge’. Well, that is probably the understatement of the decade as SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and COVID-19 disease appear to show no signs of slipping off the international radar any time soon. However, while the UK is seeing the number of cases, and thankfully deaths, decrease significantly, there is a collective holding of breath as planning begins for the start of the winter influenza season. It is fortunate that the IBMS still has more than a year before Congress 2021 and that leaves plenty of time for the meticulous planning that is being undertaken to ensure that the event can be held safely and successfully.

Since the start of the pandemic, laboratory testing has never been far from the news and will provide rich content both for the lecture programme and the exhibition. The Institute’s Biomedical Science Congress is famous for its choice of lecture options and the scale of its exhibition, and 2019 was probably the most successful event to date. For 2021 we are going to build on that success and again offer lectures over four days; a lecture programme that in addition to the discipline-specific science will again also extend to cover a point-of-care testing programme, education and training, laboratory management and quality management. All of this will include the latest updates and the lessons we will have learned from the coronavirus pandemic.

Our exhibitors are already planning their Congress and we will begin taking exhibition bookings in September. This Congress offers an unparalleled opportunity for our diagnostic industry partners to showcase the very latest in diagnostic testing kits, and the opportunity for our delegates to discuss the challenges that they have been meeting and the measures that they can take going forward.