ICOPA 2022: living with parasites, collaborating globally, and breaking a glass ceiling

Abstract

The 15th International Congress of Parasitology (ICOPA) was organized on 21–26 August 2022 in Copenhagen, Denmark, hosted by the Danish Society for Parasitology (DSP) and the Scandinavian-Baltic Society for Parasitology (SBSP). It was the first time that this main event of the World Federation of Parasitologists (WFP) was organized in a Nordic country, and the first time that the event was hybrid. In this TrendsTalk, the Chair of the Congress, Pikka Jokelainen, summarizes a selection of key parts of the ‘ICOPAnhagen’ experience. Pikka Jokelainen ICOPA, the main event of the WFP, is organized every fourth year [1.Jokelainen P. Life cycle of International Congress of Parasitology (ICOPA).Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz. 2019; 114e190012Google Scholar]i. The 15th edition of the congress, ICOPA 2022, took place in the Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark – and virtually everywhereii,iii. It was hosted by the DSPiv and the SBSPv, and became also known as ‘ICOPAnhagen’. The flag of the WFP was brought to the main stage with dancing steps (Figure 1A ). ICOPA 2022 gathered altogether 1507 participants from 95 countries. For many on-site participants, ICOPA 2022 was the first physical scientific meeting in more than 2 years. The scientific program included Plenary Keynote Sessions (Figure 1B), a high number of timely Symposia, seven parallel tracks of Scientific Sessions with invited talks and oral presentations selected from submitted abstracts, and both physical and virtual posters (Figure 1C). The International Symposium for Fish Parasitology (ISFP) and the Annual Meeting of the European Veterinary Parasitology College (EVPC) were integrated into the scientific program, and several projects and initiatives had meetings during the week. Social media – Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook – played a substantially more important role in ICOPA 2022 than in previous ICOPAs. In addition to a professional team and nine Social Media Ambassadors, who contributed to disseminating the science to wider audiences, numerous participants were active on social media. The Twitter statistics for the official hashtags for the period of August 18–27 were 6.987 million impressions and 4513 tweets by 663 users for #ICOPA2022, and 3.330 million impressions and 2412 tweets by 338 users for #ICOPAnhagen. The shared content covered both science and networking, and among specific social media activities, a photo contest #ICOPAinPhotos was organized. The theme of ICOPA 2022, ‘Living with parasites’, covered parasitology sensu lato – from battles against devastating diseases caused by some parasites to beneficial effects of hosting other parasites, and from the intriguing evolutionary arms race between parasites and their hosts to acknowledging parasites as an important part of biodiversity. The theme proved applicable to topics ranging from the microscopic scale of cells and tissues to individual hosts, populations, and interconnected ecosystems. The theme also highlighted the need for, and challenges of, sustainable surveillance and control strategies in the changing landscape, with parasites, vectors, and hosts expanding their distribution to new areas affected by climate change. The theme was also applicable to local outreach efforts, including free public events and radio interviews. Opening speeches highlighted the need for collaborations and for applying a One Health approach. Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, thanked the international community of parasitologists for the commitment to fight against parasitic diseases, and highlighted both the great progress made against parasitic diseases as well as the complex challenges, including widened funding gaps, drug resistance, and vector migration. Nine Plenary Keynote Talks approached the theme from different points of view. Peter Nejsum (Aarhus University) shared historical and personal experimental experiences about living with parasites, and Richard K. Grencis (University of Manchester) discussed the use of experimental animals in parasitology research. Chelsea Wood (University of Washington) guided the audience to historical ecology of parasitism, and Juan David Ramirez-Gonzalez (Universidad del Rosario) introduced the concept of parasitomics. Barbara F. Nowak (University of Tasmania) talked about parasitological challenges in the aquaculture industry, emphasizing the role of seafood in feeding the world. Mingyuan Liu (Jilin University) shared experiences of international collaborative research on foodborne parasites in the framework of a Collaborating Centre of the World Organisation for Animal Health, and Gordon A. Awandare (University of Ghana) shared inspiring success stories of training and capacity building. Lars Hviid (University of Copenhagen) discussed progress and challenges in the path towards malaria eradication, and John Reeder (TDR/World Health Organization) shared insights about the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)vi, with a focus on the research-implementation relationship. Many parasitic diseases disproportionately affect people in vulnerable situations while research on them remains chronically underfunded. The decision to organize ICOPA as a hybrid congress, for the first time, was primarily made due to direct and indirect impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, the hybrid format was also considered to support inclusiveness, as on-site participation may be less suitable, challenging, or impossible for many reasons. Moreover, the hybrid format added flexibility and alleviated the potential fear of missing out when selecting the sessions to attend among the many parallel sessions. All sessions were recorded and made available for participants for 3 months after the congress. The current state of the world caused challenges to both organizing and attending. Major barriers to attending international scientific congresses include costs of attending and challenges in visa applications. For ICOPA 2022, the first barrier was addressed by setting the registration fees as low as possible and facilitating opportunities for support, and the latter by providing invitation letters as part of the registration process and actively contacting relevant structures. Solutions like these have limited impact as they do not target the core reasons for the barriers. At the opening ceremony of ICOPA 2022, a member of the Organizing Committee, Nao Takeuchi-Storm (Technical University of Denmark), delivered a brilliant, impactful speech on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Discussions on the topic continued during the congress. The parasitology community has acknowledged that diversity, equity, and inclusion aspects have not received enough attention and action in the past, and different initiatives have been launched in recent years. Among such initiatives is Herminthology, organized by Nichola E.D. Calvani (University of Galway) and highlighting female parasitologists, which celebrated its 1-year anniversary and published its 100th profile during the congressvii. I had the pleasure to be that profile. At ICOPA 2022, I was elected to the position as the president of the WFP – and it is noteworthy that I am the first woman in the role, in the over-60-year history of the WFP. The sound of the glass ceiling breaking was the sound of standing ovation in the main hall at the closing ceremony. I express my immense gratitude to the Chair of Scientific Committee, Lars Hviid, and other members of the Organizing Committee and Scientific Committee (Figure 1D): Kurt Buchmann, Brian Fredensborg, Jørgen Kurtzhals, Peter Nejsum, Jakob Skov, Christen Rune Stensvold, Nao Takeuchi-Storm, Stig Thamsborg, Birgitte Vennervald, and Andrew Richard Williams. I warmly thank the officials and board members of WFP, DSP, and SBSP for their contributions along the way; in particular, the current Vice-President of SBSP, Vaidas Palinauskas, for invaluable support. Finally, kudos to the professional KENES Team, the venue Bella Center, Copenhagen CVB, Wonderful Copenhagen, City of Copenhagen, Social Media Ambassadors, and the awesome team of volunteers led by Tatiana Siegler Lathrop for making everything go smoothly during the congress. iwww.wfpnet.org/ iihttps://icopa2022.org/ iiihttps://twitter.com/ICOPAnhagen ivhttps://parasitology.dk/ vhttp://sbsp.eu/ vihttps://tdr.who.int/ viihttps://twitter.com/herminthology viiihttps://twitter.com/bartosz_ciba