WADA postpones its Global Education Conference to 2021 due to COVID-19

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announces that, due to COVID-19, the Agency is postponing its 2020 Global Education Conference (GEC), which was scheduled to be held from 13-14 October 2020 in Sydney, Australia -- to 2021 in Sydney. The new dates and specific venue will be communicated as soon as possible.

Similar to the successful Education Conferences WADA convened in 2015 (in Ottawa, Canada) and 2018 (in Beijing, China), the 2021 GEC will gather anti-doping  practitioners and researchers from around the world to share and discuss emerging trends, contribute to education program development, and examine how Anti-Doping Organizations can enhance their programs while keeping athletes and their support personnel at the center of their learning strategies.

WADA’s Director of Education, Amanda Hudson, said: “WADA’s Global Education Conference is a very important event in the WADA calendar. It provides a valuable opportunity for those responsible for education in Anti-Doping Organizations worldwide to gather as a community, together with academics engaged in social science research, to enhance everyone’s efforts to support athletes and their entourage. While we are disappointed that the Conference must be postponed, the priority is to respect and protect global health at this time.

“As many countries currently find themselves in various stages of lockdown, including travel restrictions and border closures, WADA is keen to ensure that everyone who wishes to attend the Conference can do so. The inclusion of as many international representatives as possible is key to the success of anti-doping education programs globally and our continued efforts to protect clean sport. The Agency appreciates Australia’s flexibility in accommodating the Conference in 2021.”

The GEC was intentionally scheduled to take place before the International Standard for Education (ISE) comes into force on 1 January 2021. While this is no longer possible, the Agency wishes to remind stakeholders that a variety of resources, including recorded webinars, are available on the Agency’s Anti-Doping eLearning Platform (ADeL) as part of its Code Implementation Support Program (CISP), which was launched on 4 May. This is in addition to a series of ‘live’ webinars that WADA is hosting on a variety of topics, including the ISE and other Standards (see June webinar schedule).

Should you have any questions regarding the Conference, please contact Anaïs Rodriguez, WADA’s Events Manager at anais.rodriguez@wada-ama.org.