International Congress on Obesity | World Obesity Federation

International Congress on Obesity

The International Conference on Obesity (ICO) was established in 1974 and is the pre-eminent global gathering for experts in obesity.


World Obesity's flagship global event, The International Congress on Obesity, is a key platform for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and innovation in the area of obesity. This congress has attracted leading experts, researchers and policymakers from around the world to discuss and address the growing global obesity epidemic for over four decades.

Why attend ICO?

  • Learn about the latest research on all aspects of obesity
  • Discover innovative new treatment and prevention strategies
  • Gain insight from the world’s leading obesity specialists
  • Network with friends and colleagues
  • Develop global alliances to reduce the prevalence of obesity and its associated burden of diseases
ICO 2024

Join us in São Paulo for ICO 2024 from 26 - 29 June!

In partnership with World Obesity member organisation, Associação Brasileira para o Estudo da Obesidade (ABESO), ICO 2024 will take place at the Frei Caneca Conventions Center in São Paulo.

A range of activities will be available including specialist presentations, plenary sessions, SCOPE accredited seminars, teaching sessions, workshops, and abstract & topic discussion sessions.

ICO 2024
ICO 2022

ICO 2022

The International Congress on Obesity 2022 was held in Melbourne, Australia from 18 - 22 October 2022.

More than 1,000 people from 62 different countries delighted in meeting face-to-face after more than 2 years of COVID-associated restrictions.

We worked closely with the local member organisations, ANZOS (Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society), and AOASO (Asia Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity), plus many other individuals from our programme committee, to put together a fantastic meeting.

ICO 2022

ICO Awards

We present a number of prestigious awards at each International Congress on Obesity to recognise the achievements of well-derserving experts in their fields. Winners are invited to present at ICO as well as receiving a memento of their achievement. Previous awards have included:

Introduced in 1980, The Willendorf Award recognises outstanding clinically oriented research related to obesity.

The André Mayer Award was introduced in 1983 by the UICO (Unione Italiano Contra l'Obesita) for outstanding research in the field of obesity by a younger investigator.

The Wertheimer Award was introduced in 1986 at the International Congress on Obesity in Jerusalem. This is awarded for outstanding basic research contributions to the field of obesity. 

This award was introduced to the World Obesity Awards portfolio in 2006 for outstanding contributions to this field of obesity.

In 2020 a new award in the portfolio was created to acknowledge outstanding achievement in the field of obesity surveillance, prevention and management. In recognition of his expertise and service, it was named after William Philip T James.

Philip James contributed greatly to the efforts in obesity surveillance, the prevention and treatment of obesity, and in founding and leading IASO (International Association for the Study of Obesity), IOTF (International Obesity Task Force) and WOF (World Obesity Federation). 

A new award for youth leaders was introduced at ICO 2022. This award is for outstanding, youth proposed advocacy efforts and solutions to address overweight & obesity.

Download our awards

ICO Awards

World Obesity Federation recognises achievement in many ways, one of which is through the awards that are presented at each International Congress on Obesity.

Download (1.97 MB)

Contact us

If you have any queries or would like to get involved in ICO in any way, please contact our Events Manager on ico@worldobesity.org.

More information will be available soon and we look forward to seeing you there!

Contact us