When the Incredible Impacts finalists took to the stage at the 64th ICCA Congress in Porto, there was a quiet pride running through the ICCA UK & Ireland community. From more than 70 submissions, and after a rigorous evaluation process, all three finalists for the 2025 Incredible Impacts Award came from the ICCA UK & Ireland Chapter.
The winner, WONCA’s World Rural Health Conference 2022 in Limerick, showed what happens when an association, a university and destination partners truly align around purpose. The congress brought together family doctors, researchers and policymakers to address the realities of rural healthcare, resulting in the Limerick Declaration on Rural Healthcare, a new national standing committee and long-term initiatives that are still reshaping access to care across rural Ireland.
Glasgow’s World Endodontic Conference 2024, delivered by the International Federation of Endodontic Associations and the British Endodontic Society, used its platform to tackle something as everyday as tooth pain in a completely fresh way. Public exhibits, school resources and the “Glasgow Pledge” turned a specialist dental congress into a catalyst for public health literacy and policy conversations on oral healthcare, well beyond the congress halls.
The International Papillomavirus Society’s International Papillomavirus Conference 2024 in Edinburgh rounded out the trio. Building on an earlier Seed Fund grant, IPVS has created a multi-year legacy programme that uses congresses to drive HPV awareness, reduce health inequalities and empower communities. From targeted education for young people to plans for mobile screening in underserved areas, the initiative shows how a series of meetings can knit together into long term societal change.
What ties these projects together is not just geography, but mindset. Each one reflects a UK and Ireland ecosystem where associations, universities, clinicians, convention bureaux, venues and PCOs co-create from the very start of the bid. Legacy is not an add on, it is a central reason to host the meeting in that city or region.
The UK & Ireland Chapter has spent years building trusted relationships with academia and association leaders, sharing best practice on impact measurement and encouraging members to think about community benefit as seriously as delegate numbers. The Incredible Impacts results show that this work is paying off.
For ICCA members everywhere, these case studies are an invitation. Legacy does not require a huge budget, but it does demand early collaboration, curiosity and the courage to ask, “what will remain after we leave.” The UK & Ireland community is showing what that looks like. Now we invite everyone to borrow, adapt and build on that success.