INVITATION
- Ron Grunstein
- President of World Sleep Federation
It is my pleasure as President of the World Sleep Federation to invite you to our 6th Quadrennial Congress Kyoto in October, 2011. The Federation brings together all who have a passion for sleep research and care of patients with sleep disorders into one venue to network our ideas and opinions. Our member societies share many challenges in promoting and funding sleep research or ensuring our governments and education systems prioritise sleep medicine. The Congress in Kyoto will help us meet these challenges with fresh concepts, shared experiences and future plans. As our Congress theme says we are aiming for new horizons in our field.
Kyoto is a spectacular setting for our congress and delegates will hopefully have time to appreciate the old capital of Japan and its surrounding areas. Our hosts the Asian Sleep Research Society and the local organising committee are hard at work creating the mix of science and social events to make your time in Kyoto a wonderful experience. As co-chair of the last Congress, I know how much effort is required and I thank them. This is our first Congress in Asia and brings the Federation to the fastest growing region in sleep research and sleep medicine,
Our congresses are every 4 years only because they are special - a truly global meeting in a wonderful historical venue with a special atmosphere of a shared fascination with the world of sleep. See you in Kyoto !
- Masako Okawa
- Chair of Local Organizing Committee
We, the Asian Sleep Research Society (ASRS) and the Japanese Society of Sleep Research (JSSR), are looking forward to welcoming the sleep researchers in the world to the Worldsleep2011 in Kyoto, 2011. We consider the Worldsleep2011 is important for the ASRS and JSSR with several aspects.
Firstly, 30 years have passed since the JSSR has hosted its first international meeting in 1979 in Tokyo (3rd International Congress of Sleep Research). Since then, the JSSR has dramatically advanced sleep research and sleep medicine, with an increase of the number of sleep researchers. We believe that it is an excellent opportunity to invite those who devoted their energies for the development of our societies, as well as colleagues from all around the world, to Kyoto.
Secondly, it is a good opportunity to show our existence in an era where the World Sleep Federation is undergoing transformation into new structures. Within the framework of an ever-globalizing society in the 21st century, human beings have been facing challenges to better ones life in facing those challenges, we found that the sleep has an important role in human lives, although many do not fully realize its importance. It is high time for us, sleep researchers, to widely and loudly announce the importance of sleep, and the WFS carries its mission to advocate it. The Worldsleep2011 is the first step to achieve this goal.
Given that, we aim to achieve the following at this Worldsleep2011, 1) to illustrate the social problems reside with the sleep in scientific and medical aspects, 2) to educate and cultivate future researchers in this field, which is the foremost task required at this Congress, and 3) to widen and deepen the sphere that female researchers can be active and energetic. Gender-related roles have been transforming its significance among our daily lives, and we believe that such gender-based differences will play their roles within and outside of the academic fields, including the JSSR. On this occasion as I take a role as one of the chairs of this Worldsleep2011, it would be a good opportunity to focus on this topic. I expect that this Worldsleep2011 to be the beginning for new academic findings, as well as to bring up many female researchers and leaders.
We anticipate as many participants as possible from all around the world to join the Worldsleep2011.