The 20th INQUA Congress 2019 was the largest event in the series to date, with 2,305 delegates from 75 countries in attendance. The Irish Quaternary Association (IQUA) were proud to host the INQUA Congress 2019 in Ireland, with the help of professional conference organisers Keynote PCO Ltd.
The International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) seeks to improve understanding of environmental change during the glacial ages through interdisciplinary research. In 2019, the Congress was held at the Convention Centre Dublin after an international bid, which began in 2012 and was won for Dublin in 2015 at the preceding congress in Nagoya, Japan.
Keynote PCO Ltd acted as the professional conference organiser employed to assist with the organisation and hosting of the event. As a Dublin-based specialist company, they were best placed to bring the magic of the city to life for attendees. With their guidance, there was an extremely good take-up for the fieldtrip programme which ran in tandem with the Congress meeting. 585 delegates attended 22 pre-, mid- and post-Congress field trips to all corners of the island of Ireland (for which the field guides can be purchased below) and several locations in Britain thanks to the excellent support of the QRA.
The Congress certainly had impact with 139 sessions convened including 1185 oral presentations and 1476 posters. In addition, there were 6 plenary lectures by invited guests and a set of lunchtime presentations given by the INQUA medal winners with a well-received special presentation on ‘Quaternary Mars’ taking place on the final day. The flawless timetabling and organisation of this volume of presentations took a lot of care and patience by a number of people in IQUA and Keynote Ltd staff working in close collaboration in the months before and during the Congress.
This level of success for the Congress could not have been achieved without the support of all our sponsors that include Science Foundation Ireland, Geological Survey Ireland, Geological Survey of Northern Ireland and Failte Ireland and many years of work by members of the Local Organising Committee, Keynote PCO Ltd, all the fieldtrip organisers and many contributors to fieldtrip success including accommodation and other services providers, the IQUA members who volunteered at the Congress and the staff of the Convention Centre Dublin.