ISPRM President – 2022 Message

New Year Greetings from the President

Wish you all a Happy and Healthy Year of 2022 and Chinese New Year of Tiger.

The world is entering the 3^rd year of pandemic of Covid-19. Other than its impact on the health-care system and people’s health, the routine life style of most people was also affected. People in different countries nowadays meet online much more than physically. ISPRM had its first ever Online World Congress last year. Although members could not meet physically and they were to some extent restricted by different time zones, nearly 1.800 delegates from 86 countries joined us virtually. Some of them were less likely to join the usual physical congress due to various challenges and costs associated with travelling overseas even before the pandemic.

With Covid-19 vaccines being available and the less harmful variant, Omicron being dominant, travelling restrictions are gradually decreasing in some countries. This will be likely be the trend in the coming few months in many more countries. The ISPRM 2022 World Congress has been scheduled to be held in Lisbon, Portugal on  3-7  July 2022. This physical Congress will occur as arranged and scheduled. I, therefore, encourage members and non-members to register and participate in this coming Congress in Lisbon. We meet physically not just for academic exchange, but also to extend our friendship.

For those who are concerned about the status of travelling restrictions and quarantine arrangement in your own countries by July, I still encourage you to register. You could still participate even though you may not be able to travel. The local organizing team headed by Prof Jorge Lains, and the President’s Cabinet od ISPRM closely monitor the travelling issues. If by then there were still travelling restrictions causing members in some countries not being able to join physically in July, there would be electronic format for those who still had travel restriction in their countries.

Finally, I hope to see you at the coming Lisbon Congress in July 2022.

Prof. Leonard S W Li

President, ISPRM