What is the WCRB
The idea of a World Congress on Reproductive Biology grew out of casual discussions among members of the Society for the Study of Reproduction (US) and the Society for Reproductive Biology (AU) that the two societies should hold a joint annual meeting. The first formal discussion of a joint meeting occurred in Quebec City at the SSR’s 2005 annual meeting. Hawaii, conveniently located between the United States and Australia, seemed like a good place for the meeting. Because plans were underway for the 2008 annual meeting of SSR in Hawaii, it made sense to schedule the two meetings back-to-back. Further, the Relaxin meeting was also to be in Hawaii in 2008, so a time-pressed and frugal scientist could attend all three meetings in one trip!
It was quickly determined that the real need was for a truly international meeting of reproductive biologists that would be held in a different part of the world every 3 or 4 years. The Society for the Study of Fertility (based in the United Kingdom) and the Japanese Society of Animal Reproduction eagerly joined with SSR and SRB to sponsor and organize the first World Congress on Reproductive Biology (WCRB). It is hoped that this international conference will continue, held in association with a sponsoring society’s annual meeting, and grow to include additional societies throughout the world whose mission it is to advance reproductive research.