Abstract
The 15th Congress of the International Headache Society (IHS) will take place from 23–26 June 2011 in Berlin, Germany (www.ihc2011.org). The Scientific Programme Committee, under the guidance of Professor Michel Ferrari from the Netherlands, has put together a very attractive programme. There will be six scientific sessions with no other activities in parallel, a joint symposium with the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), two debate sessions and a session on large clinical trials. During lunchtime we will have three scientific sessions running in parallel. The Scientific Programme Committee considers posters to be the special highlight of the congress, and have therefore ensured that enough time for poster viewing is integrated into the programme. The poster with the best grades on review will be orally presented.
The congress will also feature teaching courses on scientific basis of headache, headache research methods, secondary headaches and behavioural treatment of headache on Thursday morning, 23 June. Additional teaching courses will be offered on Friday and Saturday mornings, 24 and 25 June.
A new International Headache Congress (IHC) Forum has been launched, where medical professionals can engage in ongoing discussions and exchange of knowledge on up‐to‐date issues in the field. The articles posted for debate are original research papers which have been published in Cephalalgia. The forum is an excellent opportunity to network with fellow scientists and clinicians in advance of the IHC, and can be accessed at http://ihcforum.com/.
The IHS Affiliate Membership scheme is underway, and as I write, four affiliate societies are offering IHS membership to their members through their society: the American Headache Society, two Italian Societies (Società Italiana per lo Studio delle Cefalee [SISC] and Associazione Neurologica Italiana Per La Ricerca Sulle Cefalee [ANIRCEF]) and the Japanese Headache Society. These societies join the British Association for the Study of Headache (BASH), the Danish Migraine Society, the Brazilian Headache Society, the Latin American Headache Society and the Headache Chapter of the Turkish Neurological Association, all of which have been active in encouraging and supporting their members to join IHS for several years. I am grateful to all these societies for their support of this initiative and hope to see it grow over the coming years.
In 2011 IHS will offer two fellowship awards. These awards aim to encourage the mobility of researchers and physicians within different institutions worldwide, and to actively increase the knowledge base of headache disorders. The IHS Basic Research Fellowship Award is open to any original basic science investigation in the headache field. The IHS Clinical Fellowship Award is open to any original clinical science investigation in the headache field. Applicants must be members of IHS; the deadline for applications is 15 May 2011. For more information, please visit the IHS website (www.ihs-headache.org).
