The Irish Society of Human Genetics (ISHG) is an independent, non-profit professional organisation dedicated to advancing human genetics and genomics in both research and clinical practice, while promoting public awareness of the field. Each year, the ISHG Annual Conference brings together scientists, doctors, genetic counsellors, trainees and students to showcase cutting-edge research from across the island of Ireland and internationally. The meeting fosters collaboration and encourages cross-disciplinary discussion around emerging opportunities and challenges in human genomics. It is attended by representatives from every Clinical Genetics department and almost every university in Ireland, with approximately 140-170 attendees annually.
Each year, we invite four distinguished researchers to deliver keynote lectures on diverse topics within the field (see https://ishg.ie/ishg-conference-history/ for previous speakers). Attendees are also invited to submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations. Four oral plenaries are held through the day, with two focussed on clinical research and two on basic scientific research. We aim to select speakers who represent a diversity of career stages, institutions and specialities. Prizes are awarded for the best oral and poster presentations, with clinical/basic and student/advanced categories. We also present prizes to the winners of our Secondary School DNA Day Essay Competition, an initiative established to inspire and support the next generation of researchers in human genetics.
The conference provides immense value to the human genetics community in Ireland, as well as to patients and the wider public. Previous meetings have facilitated new research collaborations, improvements in diagnostics and patient management, as well as expert consensus on issues of public interest. Each year, we aim to build further momentum and engage more researchers. We expect this year’s programme to be highly rewarding, with our invited speakers covering topics as diverse as the genetics of ageing, paediatric neurology, human evolution and complex traits.