Raw Materials

2021-05-27

World Cotton Research Conference has been delayed until October 2022

When the seventh World Cotton Research Conference (WCRC-7) was cancelled last year after it became clear it wouldn't be possible to hold an in-person event during a pandemic, it was a great disappointment to the research community. Unfortunately, lingering uncertainty regarding COVID has forced the organisers to once again delay the event, which is held every four years.

The 2021 World Cotton Research Conference (WCRC):

Was scheduled to be held 3-7 October in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt

Has been delayed by a year for a second time due to ongoing pandemic uncertainty

Will now be held next year on the same dates and in the same location

'We waited as long as we could before making this decision, especially after the disappointment over last year's postponement', said Dr Keshav Kranthi, Chief Scientist of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC). 'But with uncertainty about vaccines and possible new variants, we came to the conclusion that delaying the event again in 2021 was our best choice'.

As a result, the WCRC has been rescheduled for 2022 in the same place and at the same time as the 2021 conference was supposed to be held: 3-7 October in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The organisers announced that they will reconvene to evaluate the situation in March or April of next year. It was agreed that it was important to keep the event as an in-person event as this was where the maximum benefit could be gained from cotton researchers interacting with their peers.

Because the 2021 WCRC Proceedings — a massive tome packed with a variety of in-depth research papers — has already been completed, it will be released in June 2021 as Volume 1 and a new set of Proceedings – Volume 2 — will be created for the 2022 WCRC. An announcement will be made when Volume 1 of the Proceedings are available.