U of R plays leading role in international conference

Posted: July 10, 2012 11:00 a.m.

University of Regina President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Vianne Timmons addresses delegates at the 2012 IASSID World Congress in Halifax. Photo: Jessica Judge

This week, approximately a thousand of the world's experts are gathering in Halifax to discuss their research in the field of intellectual disabilities at the International Association for the Study of Intellectual Disabilities (IASSID) World Congress. University of Regina President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Vianne Timmons, who is President-Elect of IASSID, is Chair of the Congress.

“The Congress organizing committee – which includes some colleagues from the University of Regina – has been working toward this week for more than three years,” Timmons says.  “The World Congress takes place only once every four years, making it the premier forum in the world for sharing knowledge and advances in biological, behavioural and social sciences related to intellectual disabilities.  This year’s theme – ‘A World of Potential’ – reflects both the variety of international presentations that will take place, and all of the wonderful possibilities that exist for people who have intellectual disabilities in the world today.” 

The conference, which runs from July 9-14, will consist of approximately 900 sessions in which presenters will share their recent findings, and will include more than a dozen plenary addresses from experts in the field. Because IASSID is the only world-wide group dedicated to the scientific study of intellectual disabilities, and maintains official relations with the World Health Organization, the World Congress has attracted the world’s leading researchers in the field of intellectual disabilities.

The 2012 Halifax World Congress marks only the second time in the IASSIDS’s nearly 50-year history that the event has taken place in Canada.  The previous Congress, held in 2008, took place in Cape Town, South Africa.