Call for Bids in 2029

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Call for Bids: 2029 World Congress of Sport Psychology

To submit an application to host the 2029 World Congress, please fill out this form and return it by e-mail to the
Chair of the Site & Relations Committee of ISSP, Dr. Tatiana Ryba, by December 15, 2023.

Click HERE to download the “Evaluation Criteria” of BIDS for hosting 2029 World Congress of Sport Psychology.

The World Congress of Sport Psychology (WCSP) is held every four years. The WCSP is organized under the auspices of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP).

The ISSP Managing Council considers proposals and chooses a host for an WCSP many years before the event is held. It is then the responsibility of the host (and its scientific community) to organize the Congress – including developing the program, issuing calls for participation, publicizing the Congress, arranging accommodation, arranging special programming, and usually arranging additional funding through grants, sponsorship, etc.

 

Who may submit a bid to host?

  • Any national psychological association/society or network of psychological associations/societies in any country may submit a proposal for organizing a WCSP.
  • Any ISSP Full Member in good standing may submit a bid for organizing a WCSP in cooperation with a national psychological association/society or network of psychological associations/societies.


Determining the feasibility of hosting a WCSP in your country/city

To determine the feasibility of hosting a WCSP before applying, you might begin with an overview of your country/city as a Congress venue:

  • Is there a conference venue that can host up to 1,200 participants?
  • Are there sufficient hotel rooms (approx. 600) at a range of rates close to the conference venue, or is transportation from hotel to the conference venue easily accessible?


How are locations selected?

The ISSP Managing Council narrows down the choices from the submitted applications and ISSP members are invited to provide feedback on the top contenders. The Managing Council casts the deciding vote on the final location. The Managing Council typically takes the following items into account (not in order of importance):

  • Geographical rotation among continents and countries for the Congress. To guarantee broad geographical coverage, the Managing Council will be likely to favor applications that enable access across the major regions of the world. An additional factor is the location of large concentrations of psychologists. Therefore, some regions may be chosen more frequently than others. For your information, here is a list of recent Congress venues: https://issponline.org/meetings-resources/world-congress/previous/
  • The scientific community in the Congress country. You should provide evidence that the scientific community in your country is willing and sufficiently able to develop a strong and balanced scientific program with broad international representation.
  • Scientific exchange. Developing a good program also requires communication with scientists all over the world. Is there a strong tradition of efficient scientific exchange between your country and the scientific world?
  • Communication. There is a requirement for intensive and frequent communication between the Congress Organizers and the ISSP Officers. For example, the overall structure of the scientific program and other Congress details need to be discussed. It is therefore important that you can guarantee good communication with the ISSP Officers and particularly with the ISSP President.
  • Costs for attending the Congress are another factor. The ISSP Managing Council will expect that the Congress registration fee will be reasonable, that there is a range of good hotel rates (particularly including inexpensive ones), and that travel costs can be kept as low as possible. Bidders are encouraged to suggest appropriate registration fees for their region with their bid. For your information, the registration fees for WCSP 2014 and 2018 using early bird registration as reference are:
  • Despite efforts to keep costs low, travel is expensive for young psychologists, and for psychologists from the emerging and transitioning countries. It is therefore important to provide a plan that will guarantee special fees, housing, and support for those colleagues. This plan should be clearly outlined in the budget.
  • A detailed balanced budget should be provided as part of the application for hosting an WCSP. The local Organizing Committee is responsible for covering all costs and, should there be losses, ISSP has no financial liability whatsoever. Thus, it is important to show realistically how the revenue (registration fees and other) will cover the expected costs. It may be helpful to consult the organizers of preceding Congresses in drafting the budget. The budget template attached to this Call should be utilized.
  • The World Congress of Sport Psychology adheres to the International Council for Science (ICSU) principle of “free circulation of scientists” (ICSU Statute 5). Provide evidence that any scientist, from whatever country, will be allowed to enter your country without special requirements (except for the regular passport and visa). Based on former bids, it is a good idea to include an official letter from your country’s government (possibly, the Ministry/Department of Foreign Affairs), stating explicitly that your country adheres to the ICSU principle of free circulation of scientists.


How to Submit a Bid

  1. Before December 15, 2023 – Fill out the Application Form for Submitting a Bid for an International Society of Sport Psychology and send it to the Chair of the Site & Relations Committee, Dr. Tatiana Ryba. The form is available here. You may submit a brief video presentation (no longer than 10 minutes, via YouTube or Vimeo link) with your application to highlight your proposal, this is not required.


How will your application be processed?

Bids for hosting the 2029 WCSP will be processed by the ISSP Officers and the Managing Council as follows:

  1. January 15, 2024 – The ISSP Site & Relations Committee will review your application and, if needed, will request additional information before it goes to the Managing Council. If additional information has been requested, you will be given until January 30 to update your application.
  2. February 12, 2024 – The Managing Council will vote on your application. The voting is final. If there is more than one acceptable proposal, the MC will be asked to rank order them. The application at the top of the list will be selected for a site visit to confirm the suitability of the proposed site for hosting an WCSP.
  3. March 2024 – One – three of the current ISSP Officers and the Executive Director, at the expense of the applicant, will visit the proposed site for the WCSP:
    a)   If they find that the site is suitable, they will provide preliminary advice to the organizers concerning the preparations needed for a successful organization of WCSP.
    b)   If they find that it is unsuitable, the applicant will be invited to propose an alternate site.
    c)  If no suitable site is found, the bid will be discarded, and the next highest ranked application will be selected for a site visit.


What is ISSP responsible for?

ISSP will be responsible for the following:

  1. Creation and maintenance of a congress website, registration system, and abstract portal.
  2. Collection of registration fees, transferred to the organizing committee (less processing fees) every 90 days.
  3. Promotion and marketing of the congress.
  4. 50% of the Scientific Committee