2026 IAWA General Assembly

As our daily lives often pull us in many directions, what a luxury it was to have the time and space to interact with one another in person. We heard many wonderful things about ISWA, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the organizing team once again. To Sandra Contzen, Simon Diener, Melf-Hinrich Ehlers, Katja Heitkämper, and all the members of their teams who contributed to making the symposium a success: we know that organizing the symposium required much hard work and dedication. We are deeply grateful for the energy, commitment, and kindness you showed us throughout this wonderful event. Thank you for bringing the symposium to fruition and for creating such a welcoming and engaging experience. We would also like to thank Benoît Dedieu for his vision, which led to the creation of IAWA 10 years ago. Best wishes as you enter the next stage of life (mais ce n’est qu’un au revoir).

The symposium was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect as an IAWA association through the general assembly and the 10-years celebration. Previous, current, and future initiatives were discussed, and we would like to follow up on several of them:

•    IAWA website and newsletter: The website and monthly newsletter help us communicate about our activities and accomplishments as a collective. We are grateful for the work of Isabelle and Priscila.
1)    Whenever you are organizing an event, have a new publication, or would like to share a job opportunity, please send that information to Priscila (priscila.malanski@inrae.fr). Please be sure to include titles and links. 
2)    You should also have received an invitation from the ISWA Conference Organizing Committee to email your presentations to iswa2026@conftool.com so that they can be posted on the IAWA website.

•    Agreements with organizations: as a means to increase our connections with colleagues around the world, IAWA has been building partnerships with organizations and associations. So far, this has included agreements with organizations in Brazil and France. If you know of other organizations that might be good partners for IAWA, please let Nathalie know (nathalie.hostiou@inrae.fr).

•    IAWA Network of Experts: this is a new initiative to increase IAWA’s visibility and positioning the association as a trusted resource for government agencies, policy makers, or NGOs seeking expertise in our members’ area of work. 

•    Participation in international events: IAWA can take part in events organized by its members (exhibitions, symposia, courses), as will be the case in autumn 2026. If you have any suggestions, please reach out to Nathalie (nathalie.hostiou@inrae.fr).

•    2026 IAWA webinar: our 2026 webinar will focus on women in agriculture. We use a collaborative approach to plan these webinars, with work expected to begin in September. This should not be a heavy lift and please reach out to Florence (florence.becot@psu.edu) or Marion (marion.beecher@setu.ie) if you would like to join the effort.

•    Suggestions for future activities: We discussed several ideas for future IAWA activities, including developing relations with international organizations as part of the IAWA network of experts, offering PhD classes, incubating projects, etc. if you want to play a role in bringing these ideas to fruition or plan other ones, please reach out to Nathalie (nathalie.hostiou@inrae.fr).

•    Next ISWA in 2029 or 2030: ISWA 2026 made it crystal clear that the symposiums are highly valuable. We are therefore looking for a host to organize the next ISWA. So far, ISWA has been in Brazil (2016), France (2021), and Switzerland (2026). Interested in finding out more about what organizing ISWA entails? Already know that you are ready to take this on? Please reach out to Nathalie (nathalie.hostiou@inrae.fr). It would be wonderful to be held on another continent, reflecting the truly international nature of our association.

Until we hear from you again, 
Nathalie and Florence, on behalf of the IAWA Board