Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the International Association for Aerobiology and the organizing committee, I cordially invite you to participate in the 8^th International Congress on Aerobiology which will be held in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 21^st-25^th August 2006.

The International Association for Aerobiology holds International Congresses every four years since 1978. Such events are a forum for interdisciplinary discussion among specialists from many sciences related to the aerobiological pathway, from sources to impacts - emission, dispersion, transport, deposition - of airborne particles from biological origin. The 2006 edition is jointly organized by the Swiss Society for Aerobiology, the Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology – MeteoSwiss, and the University of Neuchâtel.

Aerobiology has deserved increasing interest in the last decades. Switzerland has been for years very dynamic in this science. Added to the charm of the city, this makes of Neuchâtel an ideal place for the 8^th International Congress on Aerobiology.

Plenary sessions and specialized symposia will contribute to trace the scientific progress of our discipline in the past four years. During workshops, participants will be able to directly interact and share ideas on practical issues as well as outline future challenges. We will strongly encourage interpersonal scientific exchanges by supporting attractive poster sessions and awards.

A social program for both participants and accompanying persons will provide plenty of opportunities to savour the flair of the city of Neuchâtel and its surroundings.

Therefore, join your colleagues from around the world and learn about the latest advances in aerobiology; we are looking forward to welcoming you all in Neuchâtel in 2006.

Bernard Clot
8^th International Congress on Aerobiology
Neuchâtel, 21-25 August 2006

2002 invitation to hold the 8^th International Congress on Aerobiology in Neuchâtel :

"Aerobiology: towards a comprehensive vision"

With the beginning of the new millennium, the organizers of the 7th ICA, and every aerobiologist with them, wish to see aerobiology take off from the stagnant "plateau" it has reached in its development. The Montebello Congress will give the impulse to that process, then we aerobiologists will all be responsible for transforming thoughts into facts and implementing our exciting ideas in everyday tasks.

Aerobiology was basically developed at the junction of several traditional sciences just to answer questions specifically concerning these sciences. Since then, aerobiology has become a science in its own right - a multidisciplinary one. In parallel, during the past decades, traditional sciences and technology have achieved spectacular breakthroughs. More than ever it is impossible for a few researchers to master all the implications of one single field. This fact underlines the need for renewed collaboration to face new challenges. But even if very effective groups are working together all around the world, the integrated or cooperative thought which is necessary to tackle such complex systems has not yet been generalised in the aerobiology community. As a consequence, aerobiology has not fully benefited from the advances realised in other fields and technologies. In fact, how many people working in the field of aerobiology consider themselves as "aerobiologists"?

Now, it is time to transform aerobiology from a multidisciplinary science into an integrated science, similar to ecology, which reached this status in the course of the last 20 years. During the five years that separate us from 2006 and in the perspective of the 8^th ICA, we would like to encourage closer collaboration between aerobiologists and scientists working in related fields in order to achieve a more meaningful "aerobiological spirit". Only the attention paid to that human factor will allow all of us to benefit from the fruits of the advances in particular fields. It may imply organizational and educational efforts and creativity which in turn will also contribute to the motivation of young aerobiologists with an exciting scientific target: to see, from the collection of contributions we bring along, more than the sum of these contributions, the emergence of a more global understanding of the aerobiological phenomena.