18th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science

The Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS) will be hosted by the National Institute of Physical Education Catalonia (INEFC) in Barcelona (Spain), from the 26^th till the 29^th of June 2013.

Founded in 1995 in Nice, France the ECSS is a sport scientific society dedicated to the collection, generation and dissemination of scientific knowledge at the European level. Annual congresses have been organized since the inauguration of the ECSS in 1995. Today the ECSS congresses rank among the leading sport scientific congresses worldwide. The congress comprises a range of invited lecturers, multi- and mono-disciplinary symposia as well as tutorial lecturers and Socratic debates. The ECSS congress is attended by international sport scientists with an academic career. The ECSS congresses now welcome up to 2,000 participants from all over the world.

The main theme of the 2013 ECSS Congress is “Unifying Sport Science”.

The INEFC local committee explains its main goal in organising the event:

“Since its creation one of the main aims of the ECSS has been to contribute to the unification of sport science. However, the tremendous growth in the field has produced further fragmentation.  This raises two questions: Is it possible to unify these fragmented areas? Are there common principles between them?

Our goal in this 18th Annual Congress of the ECSS is to present the state of the art in the different specialized areas, at the same time as offering a global view of sport science. We hope that by moving from the whole to the parts and vice versa, sports scientists will be able to find the best paths through the field.

Reductionism has dominated research for over a century and has provided a wealth of knowledge, yet it is increasingly clear that a discrete biological function can only rarely be attributed to an individual molecule. Indeed, most biological characteristics arise from complex interactions: between proteins, cells, organisms, groups, societies, etc. A key challenge in the twenty-first century is therefore to understand the structure and dynamics of these complex interactions, as this will surely foster a better understanding between the different scientific disciplines”

The 18^th ECSS Congress represents a great opportunity for Sport Scientists and Exercise Professionals from all over the world to meet and discuss the latest research findings in the broad field of sport and exercise performance and medicine.

As for the previous meetings, the Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre (Loughborough University, UK), will take part to the scientific event.

Prof. George Havenith (Research Centre Director) will give a talk titled:

“Heat transfer from skin to environment in hyperthermic humans” 

as part of the ACSM Exchange symposium: Exercise – Thermoregulation (invited session: Physiology & Medicine).

Davide Filingeri (PhD student) will deliver an oral presentation, during the OP-PM26 Physiology [PH] 3 session, titled: 

“The role of thermal and touch sense in the perception of skin wetness at rest and during exercise in different environments”.

See you in Barcelona!