Welcome

Dear Colleagues, The 23rd IWGO Conference will take place in:

Munich, Germany

April 5 to 8, 2009

Please reserve these dates!

History and Mission of this Conference
This conference is the continuation of a series of international meetings on Ostrinia and other maize pests that began in 1968. IWGO is a well-established large international working group, which deals today with all matters of maize pests and pest resistance. Focus areas of the 22nd IWGO Conference in Vienna, Austria, included many aspects of the ecology and management of maize pests. The intent of these IWGO conferences is to create a meeting for practitioners, a forum for information exchange, an event to build cohesion among the research community and to foster discussions of issues affecting the control of maize insect pests, particularly pertaining to the use of integrated control measures in the maize crop agro-system.

The 23rd IWGO Conference will be organized following this concept and will deal with all maize insect pests, not only Diabrotica. The scientific committee consists of IWGO convenors, Dr. Ulli Kuhlmann, CABI Europe, Delemont, Switzerland, Prof. C. Richard Edwards, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. and Dr. Wang Zhenying, Plant Protection Institute of CAAS, Beijing, P.R. China. The local organizer is Dr. Michael Zellner, Bavarian State Research Centre of Agriculture, Freising near Munich, Germany. After an international mailing requesting ideas for scientific sessions, session subjects and session organizers have been selected by the scientific committee. Afterwards, speaker selection will be the responsibility of session organizers in collaboration with the scientific committee. Attendees who are not speakers have the opportunity to submit their research in the form of a poster presentation. All talks and posters will present original data from specific projects pertaining to maize pests. Efforts should be made to be specific and to avoid presenting overviews, summaries or material that is already widely known, if not specifically requested by session leaders. The goal of the meeting is to stimulate ideas and discussion by presenting new information.

International Participation
An important goal of this meeting is to make it truly international, with good participation from all parts of the world. To promote this outcome, the job of the IWGO convenors will be to promote awareness of the meeting among IOBC, IWGO and non-IOBC members in specific geographic areas. Selected scientific session organizers should follow this concept to ensure an international atmosphere during sessions.

Meeting Location - Munich, Germany
The capital of Bavaria is situated in the midst of a beautiful pre-alpine countryside and offers an abundance of art, culture, architecture and leisure-time enjoyment. Munich combines the splendor of an old royal seat with the vitality of a modern high-tech location. The city owes its generous architecture to the reign of King Ludwig I. Its townscape is marked by broad avenues and the contrast between Classicistic restraint and Baroque profusion. Munich is endowed with excellent treasures of art and culture from antiquity and the various styles of past centuries to our present time. The Royal Residence, the largest urban palace in Germany, with its impressive treasury in the city center, Nymphenburg Castle with its vast park facilities, as well as, the three Pinakothek art galleries are top sights. Shopping in Munich is a particular pleasure. Strolling along the extravagant Maximilianstrasse and Theatinerstrasse you quickly reach the pedestrian mall where department stores and shops offer their selected goods. Visit Munich the weekend prior the IWGO Conference and don't forget to enjoy a mug of freshly tapped beer!

Hotel
Our hotel is the angelo Designhotel Munich which opened in mid May 2008. This trendy lifestyle hotel offers design, individuality and extravagant interiors with dominant red, black, and yellow tones, all combined with the latest technology. The hotel rooms offer the highest level of comfort and include, individual climate control, internet access, flat screen SAT TV, DVD player, tea & coffee making facilities, minibar and safe. The hotel is conveniently located in the Haidhausen district of Munich, east of the city centre and easily reachable by public transport. Munich International Airport can be reached in just 25 minutes using the separate airport line (S 8), which is a 1-minute-walk away. We were able to negotiate very competitive rates for conference participants and we thoroughly recommend this hotel.

Conference Location
The conference location will be the Amt für Ländliche Entwicklung Oberbayern of the Bavarian State Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, Infanteriestrasse 1, Munich. The conference location is easily reachable from the hotel with public transport.

Costs
The conference costs for participants are as follows: hotel accommodations Euro 80 single room/night or Euro 101 double room/night including breakfast and taxes; early registration fee is Euro 220 and available until 15 February afterwards the registration fee will increase to Euro 280. Registration fee includes the IWGO Conference Booklet, all coffee/tea breaks, lunches and dinners.

IWGO Conference Secretary
We are looking forward to organizing a stimulating conference and hope that you will participate. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the IWGO Conference Secretary in Switzerland (conference@iwgo.org). Also, please forward our website address to colleagues who may have an interest in the participating in the 23rd IWGO Conference.

With kind regards,

Dr. Ulli Kuhlmann Convenor IWGO CABI Europe Switzerland Delemont, Switzerland u.kuhlmann@cabi.org	Prof. Rich Edwards Co-Convenor IWGO Purdue University Lafayette, U.S.A edwards@purdue.edu
Prof. Wang Zhenying Co-Convenor IWGO Institute of Plant Protection Beijing, China zywang@ippcaas.cn	Dr. Michael Zellner Local Organizer IWGO Munich 2009 Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture Freising, Germany Michael.Zellner@LfL.Bayern.de