The International Ergonomics Association (IEA) welcomes you to the 17th Triennial Congress hosted in Beijing, China.The IEA is a federation of ergonomics societies from 42 countries and involves over 20,000 members.Every three years we join with a society for our Congress.It is with much pleasure to work with the Chinese Ergonomics Society together with the Ergonomics society of Taiwan and Hong Kong Ergonomics Society, China for the 2009 Congress.

The theme of this Congress is “Changes, Challenges and Opportunities”. The IEA has been actively seeking partnerships with other professional associations, international agencies and research partners to strengthen the growth of our domain.I am delighted to welcome these partners to our Congress and I encourage your participation with them during the Congress.

This Congress will enable presentations by, and interaction with, the leading ergonomics researchers and practitioners from around the world.The IEA has 26 Technical Committees each representing areas of the ergonomics domain.We welcome all members to join and participate in their seminars, workshops and presentation sessions.

Finally, I welcome you to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of our Chinese hosts in this vibrant city of Beijing.

You will have a wonderful time.

 Professor David Caple
 President
 International Ergonomics Association