The 1st International Online Conference on Societies
The 1st International Online Conference on Societies
Part of the International Online Conference on Societies series
Event's Timezone: Central European Time
19 October 2025
16 November 2025
19 January 2026
Social of Health, Wellbeing, Leisure, Recreation, Tourism, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Science and Technology, People with Disabilities
Abstract Submission Deadline is Closed
Thank you for submitting your abstract to the IOCSO 2026.
The abstract acceptance notification will be sent by 16 November 2025.
Registration remains open. Secure your spot and join us for a stimulating conference. Register for free Here.
For any inquiries, please contact us at iocso2026@mdpi.com.
Welcome from the Chair
I am truly honored to extend a warm and heartfelt welcome to each and every one of you on behalf of the organizing committee of the 1st International Online Conference on Societies, which will be hosted online and promoted by the open access MDPI journal Societies (ISSN: 2075-4698; IF 1.6).
The overarching aim of this gathering is not merely to convene a group of individuals but to assemble a constellation of esteemed experts from every nook and cranny of the globe. These are the brilliant minds who are actively engaged in the fascinating and ever-evolving field of sociology. They come from diverse academic institutions, research centers, and professional backgrounds, each bringing with them a unique set of experiences, perspectives, and insights that are as rich and varied as the societies we study.
In today's interconnected world, the field of sociology plays an increasingly crucial role in understanding the complex social dynamics that shape our lives. It delves into the intricacies of human behavior, social institutions, cultural norms, and the forces that drive social change. By providing this online conference, we hope to create a vibrant and inclusive space where ideas can flow freely, where knowledge can be shared without the constraints of geographical boundaries, and where meaningful conversations can take place.
Particular attention will also be given to young scientists entering the world of sociology in order to stimulate their participation in discussions on the topic.
Throughout the conference, we aim to cover—among others—the following topics:
S1. The Social Nature of Health and Well-Being;
S2. Disabled People/People with Disabilities (Non-Medical Coverage);
S3. Sport/Leisure/Recreation/Tourism;
S4. Equity/Equality, Diversity and Inclusion;
S5. Science and Technology.
Once again, welcome to IOCSO 2026. I look forward to a stimulating and rewarding experience for all of us.
Kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Gregor Wolbring
Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Chair of the 1st International Online Conference on Societies
Follow the conference organizer on Social Media
Program Overview
IOCSO 2026 Program (Day 1)
21st January - Morning
IOCSO 2026
Session 3. Sport/Leisure/Recreation/Tourism
Date: 21st January 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 09:00 (CET, Basel) | 03:00 (EST, New York) | 16:00 (CST Asia, Beijing)
21st January - Morning
IOCSO 2026
Session 5. Science and Technology
Date: 21st January 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 10:40 (CET, Basel) | 04:40 (EST, New York) | 17:40 (CST Asia, Beijing)
21st January - Afternoon
IOCSO 2026
Session 2. Disabled People/People with Disabilities (Non-Medical Coverage)
Date: 21st January 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 14:00 (CET, Basel) | 08:00 (EST, New York) | 21:00 (CST Asia, Beijing)
IOCSO 2026 Program (Day 2)
22nd January - Morning
IOCSO 2026
Session 4. Equity/Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Date: 22nd January 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 09:00 (CET, Basel) | 03:00 (EST, New York) | 16:00 (CST Asia, Beijing)
22nd January - Afternoon
IOCSO 2026
Session 1. The Social Nature of Health and Well-Being
Date: 22nd January 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 14:00 (CET, Basel) | 08:00 (EST, New York) | 21:00 (CST Asia, Beijing)
IOCSO 2026 Program (Day 3)
Flash Poster Session
IOCSO 2026
Date: 23rd January 2026 (Friday)
Time: 09:00 (CET, Basel) | 03:00 (EST, New York) | 16:00 (CST Asia, Beijing)
Event Chair
Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Session Chair
Dr. Patrick Devlieger
Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Dr. Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco
Department of Sociology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
Prof. Dr. António B. Moniz
Observatory of Technology Assessment, CICS.NOVA, Campus Campolide, Lisboa, Portugal; Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University Nova Lisbon, Campus Caparica, Caparica, Portugal
Dr. Roda Madziva
School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Dr. Katie Aubrecht
Department of Sociology, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Canada
Event Committee Members
Department of Economics, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece;
School of Business, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus;
Knowledge Management, Innovation and Strategy Center (KISC), University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus
Research interests: International political economy; business ecosystems; entrepreneurship; energy systems
Department of Theories and Analysis of Communication, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Institute for Sport and Sustainable Development, University of Applied Sciences Kufstein, Kufstein, Austria
Faculty of Communication, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada, Portugal
Department of Management, Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada,
Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration, CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, Quebec City, Canada
Department of Languages and Intercultural Studies, Migration theme lead, Intercultural Research Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
Professor of Conflict Management, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw USA;
Executive Director, TRENDS Global, Marietta, USA
Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Dr Sean Creaney is a Criminologist and Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Criminal Justice at Edge Hill University. Dr Creaney co-guest edited the special issue of Societies MDPI on Youth Justice: Social Policy, Social Work and Practice. Dr Creaney is a member of the Transdisciplinary Research for Youth Justice network.
Department of Demography, Institute for Population and Human Studies–Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Business Management and Sociology, Faculty of Business, Finance and Tourism, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain
School of Industrial and Graphic Design, Auburn University, Auburn, USA
Department of Psychology, Sport and Geography, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
Department of American Studies, University of Minnesota, Minnesota, USA
Graduate School of Medicine, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
Invited Speakers
Department of Specific Didactics, Faculty of Education, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain
Social Representations of Teaching Controversial Issues in Secondary Education: A Study with Pre-Service Teachers from a Central Core Theory Perspective
Professor Delfín Ortega-Sánchez holds a PhD in the Didactics of History and Social Sciences (Autonomous University of Barcelona), Education (University of Burgos), and History (University of Extremadura). His scholarly work centres on democratic, inclusive, and socially engaged citizenship education, with a particular emphasis on the teaching and learning of controversial issues. His research trajectory has earned international recognition, including his selection as one of the world’s Top 10 Social Science Researchers in the seventh edition of the USERN Prize (2022). He was also awarded the First Prize in Transformative Education Research (2025) by the Global Citizenship Foundation, in partnership with UNESCO MGIEP, in recognition of his research trajectory in the field of education for democratic citizenship.
Understanding Physical Activity Engagement Among Young Autistic People: Social Context, Motivation and Inclusion
Orr is a Professor of Geography and Sociology of Sport at Tel-Hai Academic College, Israel, where he serves as the Head of the Physical Education Department and the Head of the Research Center for Sport and Physical Activity. His work focuses on the social dimensions of sport and physical activity, particularly questions of inclusion, identity and participation among diverse populations, with growing attention to autistic youth in sport and leisure contexts.
To be confirmed
To be confirmed
Department of Safety and Bioethics, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Roma, Italy
Nicola Magnavita was Professor of Occupational Medicine and Director of the postgraduate School of Occupational Health at Catholic University of the Sacred Hearth of Rome, Italy. He retired in November 2023, after over 44 years of teaching in the university and assistance in the university hospital. He is currently teaching in the same university and working as a consultant in some public and private companies. His main areas of expertise are personalised occupational health, psychosocial factors, health promotion, management of hazardous workers, occupational epidemiology, workplace violence, sleep. He has directed 38 research projects. He published >900 papers. Scopus h-index: 50, Web of Sciences h-index: 45, Google Scholar h-index: 64. He has 5 copyrights. The professor is Editor-in-Chief of the Health Care section of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) and is Academic Editor of Applied Sciences; BMC Public Health; EJIHPE; Psychology International; AIMS Public Health.
Registration
The registration for IOCSO 2026 will be free of charge! The registration includes attendance to all conference sessions.
If you are registering several people under the same registration, please do not use the same email address for each person, but their individual university email addresses. Thank you for your understanding.
Please note that the submission and registration are two separate parts. Only scholars who registered can receive a link to access the conference live streaming. The deadline for registration is 19 January 2026.
Instructions for Authors
IOCSO 2026 will accept abstracts only. The accepted abstracts will be available online on Sciforum.net during and after the conference.
Important Deadline
1. Deadline for abstract submission: 19 October 2025.
2. Abstract acceptance notification: 16 November 2025.
You will be notified of the acceptance of an oral/poster presentation in a separate email.
2. All abstracts should be submitted and presented in clear, publication-ready English with accurate grammar and spelling.
3. You may submit multiple abstracts. However, only one abstract will be selected for oral presentation.
4. The abstracts submitted to this conference must be original and novel, without prior publication in any journals or it will not be accepted to this conference.
1. The submitting author must ensure that all co-authors are aware of the contents of the abstract.
2. Please select only one presenter for each submission. If you would like to change the presenter after submission, please email us accordingly.
- Should include the title, authors, contact details and main research findings, as well as tables, figures and graphs where necessary.
- Size in pixel: 1080 width x 1536 height–portrait orientation.
- Size in cm: 38,1 width x 54,2 height–portrait orientation.
- Font size: ≥16.
- Examples of successful submissions can be viewed here at the following links: (1), (2), (3).
- You can use our free template to create your poster.
The poster template can be downloaded HERE. We will reach out to you closer to the dates of the conference with more information.
It is the author's responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state "The authors declare no conflicts of interest." This should be conveyed in a separate "Conflict of Interest" statement preceding the "Acknowledgments" and "References" sections at the end of the manuscript. Any financial support for the study must be fully disclosed in the "Acknowledgments" section.
Publication Opportunities
Participants in this conference are cordially invited to contribute a full manuscript to the conference's Special Issue, published in Societies (ISSN: 2075-4698, Impact Factor: 1.7), with a 20% discount on the publication fee. Please note, if you have IOAP/association discounts, conference discounts will be combined with IOAP/association discounts. Conference discounts cannot be combined with reviewer vouchers. All submitted papers will undergo MDPI’s standard peer-review procedure. The abstracts should be cited and noted on the first page of the paper.
All accepted abstracts will be published in the conference report of the 1st International Online Conference on Societies in the Proceedings (ISSN: 2504-3900); if you wish to publish an extended proceeding paper (4-8 pages), please submit it to the same journal after the conference.
Authors are asked to disclose that it is a proceeding paper of the IOCSO 2026 conference paper in their cover letter. Carefully read the rules outlined in the 'Instructions for Authors' on the journal’s website and ensure that your submission adheres to these guidelines.
Manuscripts for the proceedings issue must be formatted as follows:
Title.
Full author names.
Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors' e-mail addresses.
Abstract.
Keywords.
Introduction.
Methods.
Results and Discussion.
Conclusions.
Acknowledgements.
References.
Please click HERE to submit your proceeding paper to the Proceedings.
IOCSO 2026_proceeding_paper-template.dot
Event Awards
To acknowledge the support of the conference's esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to announce that the conference will provide 4 awards including Best Oral Presentation Awards and Best Poster Awards.
The Awards
Number of Awards Available: 4
Best Oral Presentation Award
Eligibility: Open to all authors selected as oral speakers who have delivered their presentation.
Criteria: Evaluation based on content quality, delivery clarity, audience interaction, and overall impact.
Best Poster Award
Eligibility: Open to all authors who have presented their work through posters.
Criteria: Evaluation based on scientific merit, creativity, and ability to attract and engage viewers.
There will be four winners selected for these awards. The winner will receive a certificate and 200 CHF each.
Sponsors and Partners
For information regarding sponsorship and exhibition opportunities, please click here.
Organizers
Media Partners
Conference Secretariat
Ms. Ann Li
Mr. Russell Wang
Ms. Chloe Lv
Email: iocso2026@mdpi.com
For inquiries regarding submissions and sponsorship opportunities, please feel free to contact us.
