The Congress Scientific Committee, led by Professor Deirdre Desmond, has spent the last few months putting together a comprehensive programme, drawn from 450 submissions, for the four-day ISPO World Congress. It includes keynote lectures, symposia, practical instructional courses, free paper and poster sessions.

Inspirational and engaging programme

There are a wide variety of topics on the agenda including research on specific devices and techniques, service design and delivery, workforce planning and development of educational curricula.

The congress will begin with the Knud Jansen Lecture at the Opening Ceremony on 24 April. This year's speaker, Rosielena (Rosie) Jované, is a founder of the first national ISPO member society in Central America and is one of the leading representatives in the field of prosthetics and orthotics in Latin America.

The Opening Ceremony will also include the International Confederation of Amputee Associations (IC2A) Inspirational Lecture, which will be given by the Mexican journalist Ana Paulina Chavira, who is herself a prosthesis wearer.

In a tandem keynote lecture, prosthetist Chris Parsons and artist Sophie de Oliveira Barata will present the ”Alternative Limb Project”. The prosthesis artist Barata combines the latest technology with traditional craftsmanship to create highly stylised wearable art pieces in collaboration with prosthetist Chris Parsons.

Successfully putting research into practice

Speakers at two scientific keynote lectures will give insights into their work and provide inspiration for interdisciplinary cooperation.

Professor Nachiappan (Nachi) Chockalingam’s keynote lecture on ‘Modelling, models and masterpieces’ will address challenges in the translation of research evidence into clinical practice, emphasizing the need for wider research on clinical- and cost-effectiveness of orthotic interventions and the need for evolution in current clinical practice to meet future needs.

The keynote lecture by Professor Stefania Fatone from the University of Washington (USA) will focus on the development and dissemination of a sub-ischial prosthetic socket for persons with a transfemoral amputation. She was commissioned by the US Department of Defense to develop a simple and standardised sub-ischial socket technology in cooperation with her colleague Ryan Caldwell.

The majority of lectures will be held in English; there will be simultaneous translation into Spanish in five of the eight session rooms. There will be English translations for a small number of lectures held in Spanish.

The Preliminary Programme of the ISPO 19th World Congress is available online .

Registering for the congress: Early-Bird rates until the end of February

Participants who register early can benefit from discounted registration fees until 27 February. Please register at Link .

ISPO members from the Latin American region, who experience financial barriers to participation, can apply for a 20% registration discount on their applicable registration rates: Application details .