.: 8th WCGALP - World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production


World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production
The origin and evolution of the World Congresses on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production. The initiation of the first Congress in 1974 is almost entirely due to the late Professor Carlos Luis de Cuenca. He was a veterinarian and geneticist at the University Complutense in Madrid, Spain, who wished to see the development of international 'Congresses of Madrid' in areas of animal science. He and his team managed the meeting but he sought expert advice on the programme: the Scientific Committee was led by Fernando Orozco of Madrid, and the President was Alan Robertson from Edinburgh, who helped provide names of potential session organisers. I recall it had a slightly shaky start: de Cuenca's letters of invitation were not in perfect English, from a person whom few in the animal genetics and breeding community knew, and offered no money for travel. Yet it worked! Speakers accepted, and several hundred delegates attended (I cannot find an exact record), and participants agreed it was a success. The general structure of the Congresses was set then and lasted: essentially a week of meetings, with many invited speakers and contributed papers from most delegates. Five of the 'Plenary Sessions' were theme based: factorial genetics, cytogenetics, biochemical genetics and genetic models with laboratory organisms, and five species based: dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. The seven 'Roundtables' comprised invited speakers in themes such as genetic conservation and genetic evaluation. For each a chair was responsible for nominating up to eight or so invited speakers. 'Symposia', in practice contributed paper sessions, were also held in each of the areas of the Plenary Sessions. There were no poster sessions. An important feature of the Congresses was also established: a series of proceedings volumes with (almost) all the papers, bound and ready for the participants at registration. These proceedings have become an important survey of the state of the subject, and are a 30 year history. de Cuenca organised the second congress in Madrid in 1982. This was also regarded as a big success, and since then the ball has been picked up by others, and the Congresses have moved around the world at four year intervals: 3rd Lincoln, Nebraska, USA 1986; 4th Edinburgh, UK 1990; 5th Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1994; 6th Armidale, NSW, Australia, 1998; 7th Montpellier, France, 2002. The 8th will be in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil in 2006. The Congresses have no permanent secretariat, incorporation etc., so all delegates' money is used for the meetings. They are under the aegis of a Permanent International Committee whose members have a geographical spread and normally serve two four year terms. It has two roles: One is to oversee the scientific programme, but in practice the local organising committee have both managed the meeting and mainly determined the programme and scientific content; the other is to decide on the venue of the next Congress on receipt of offers from potential hosts. The President is currently John Pollack of the USA, and the Secretary is ex officio the organiser of the next congress, Fernando Madalena. Over the 30 years since their inception the congresses have evolved rather than having undergone major change. There are many more sessions, but fewer invited speakers in each; and contributed papers are merged into the same sessions. Poster sessions comprise many papers. The meeting itself is now much larger, over 1300 attended the meeting in Montpellier. Some topics have almost vanished, others such as QTL and gene mapping were essentially absent; and for example genetic evaluation involves statistical methodology are levels of sophistication and computation unheard of in 1974. The focus on geneticists has been justified by the enormous improvements in breeding stock over the period. The Local Committee have put a great deal of thought and effort into organising 8WCGALP, and no-one should underestimate the work involved. (I know, having chaired the organising committee for 4WCGALP.) I have attended all the congresses so far, and will be at Brazil. I hope to see you there for what is bound to be a great scientific, cultural and social occasion. *Bill Hill, on behalf of the Permanent Organising Committee*