Preview: ISENC 2020 online conference

By Floris Wardenaar

The International Sport + Exercise Nutrition Conference 2020 (ISENC 2020) program is the most loaded program since the start of the conference. 

Dates: 15-17 December 2020

If I remember correctly, it was meant to rotate from country to country, but after having a good start in New Castle (UK), it stayed where it started for many years. Due to COVID-19, the conference this year goes virtual, and to be honest, the program is really amazing. With a lineup of 42 contributors from all over the world, this year’s program is packed. Traditionally the conference has had a strong affiliation with the IOC sport nutrition program. Therefore many of the lecturers from this course contribute to this conference, but many for the larger public new names can be spot on the program. Due to the virtual character, the organization will ask some of the speakers to pre-record their lecture. This allows conference delegates to create a program that should fit more or less their personal time zone. See the full conference program and speaker list here – isenc.org/speakers.html.

Day 1 (Tuesday 15 December) is focusing on general sport nutrition topics, such as periodized nutrition (Trent Stellingwerff), Meal timing (John Hawley, James Betts), Iron status (Sponsored by GSSI, with the following presenters: Pete Peeling, Alannah McKay, Rachel McCormick), ending with a session that has as title: Sports Nutrition as a Secret Weapon.

Day 2 (Wednesday 16 December) focuses on milk sugars (Javier Gonzales, Gareth Wallis), Hydration and hydration assessment (Lewis James, Floris Wardenaar), Iodine and thyroid health (Enette Larson-Meyer), Creatine – what’s new (Eric Rawson), Accounting for the nutritional context in exercise research (Barry Braun) and a whole session about nutrition within the English Institute of Sport. Additionally, there will be a poster session in which conference delegates can present a poster, which is always an excellent way to get some new insights and friendly contacts with colleagues and students working in sports and exercise science.

Day 3 (Thursday 17 December) starts with some new insights on Cannabidiol and athletes (Graeme Close), Sports Nutrition in the big leagues such as NFL, NHL, NBE, EPL, Nitrate (Andy Jones), Ketones (Louise Burke, Peter Hespel), Protein and exercise (Stuart Philips, Kevin Tipton, Ben Wall, Luc van Loon) and Omega-3 fatty acids (Philip Calder, Lawrence Spriet and Stuart Gray).

Ron Maughan kicks off each day, and at the end of each day, Graeme Close will round it up. Overall, the ISENC 2020 program is a fantastic program packed with great speakers and with 156 GBP (British pounds: https://www.x-rates.com/calculator/), this is a very reasonable price for such a nice lineup.