The 11th International Organization of Palaeobotany Congress (IOPC XI) and the 15th International Palynological Congress (IPC XV) Joint Congress Convened in Prague, Czech Republic from May 27 to 31.

This event, attended by 521 participants from 46 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and China, is a quadrennial global gathering for the study of palynology and palaeobotany.

IPC and IOPC have long traditions, which started in 1962 and 1980 respectively. Since the XII IPC and VIII IOPC 2008 in Bonn, the congresses have been organized together. The conference went through quite a few setbacks. It was originally scheduled for 2020, but due to the pandemic, it was postponed several times after careful consideration and waiting, eventually being rescheduled to 2024. Finally, the conference was successfully held this year.

The conference was jointly organized by the International Organization of Palaeobotany (IOPC) and the International Pollen Conference (IPC), with the theme "200 years of Palaeobotany." It featured 41 specialized sub-sessions. The topics of the academic sub-sessions, covering major topics such as Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Quaternary, Palynology and Others.

The conference, with diverse themes and rich content, fully showcased a series of new achievements and progress made in global palaeobotany and palynology research in recent years, further promoting cooperation and academic exchanges among global palaeobotanists in the fields of plant evolution, palaeo-environmentology, and palaeo-climatology.

IPC and IOPC group photo

During the conference, the procedures for the election of the new Council Members for International Organization of Palaeobotany Congress and the International Palynological Congress were also completed. The new president of International Organization of Palaeobotany Congress is a scholar from Asia. One vice president and one members-at-large are also palaeontologists from Asia.

International Organization of Palaeobotany Congress:

President: Harufumi Nishida (Tokyo, Japan),

Vice presidents: Marion K. Bamford (Johannesburg, South Africa),

Maria A. Gandolfo (Ithaka, NY, USA)

Jun Wang (Nanjing, P. R. China)

Secretary/treasurer: Lutz Kunzmann (Dresden, Germany),

Members-at-large: Nareerat (Aom) Boonchai (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand),

Anne-Laure Decombelx (Montpellier, France),

Evelyn Kustatscher (Bolzen, Italy)

International Palynological Congress has also elected a new board of directors. James B. Riding from the British Geological Survey was elected as the new president of the International Palynological Congress.

The conference determined that the 16th International Congress of Palynology and the 12th International Congress of Palaeobotany will be jointly held in Calgary, Canada in 2028.