Claudie Willemin, SFC

Premium Beauty News - Five months before the kick-off of this major event in the trade, what are the perspectives for the upcoming Congress?

Claudie Willemin - Thanks to the involvement of all stakeholders, the congress is looking extremely promising. We have had a very large influx of abstracts: 750 in total, coming from 34 different countries, with a notable presence of France, Japan, but also emerging countries like Brazil and Korea. Don’t forget that authors only commit to communicate recent work, which hasn’t yet been the subject of prior publications, thus giving the event its innovative character. The congress will be preceded by a day dedicated to "Predictive methods" and "Regulatory compliance" workshops. In addition this year - and this is a first - the congress will continue with two post IFSCC days, enabling to meet experts. The first one will be organized by the Cosmetic Valley with the following perfume thematic: oenology and cosmetic science, and the other, under the aegis of the European Centre of dermocosmetology (CED), which will focus on textile and tissue engineering. Hence, a perfect opportunity for the cosmetic world, to focus for a whole week on science and progress in its field of interest, quite a unique opportunity indeed.

Premium Beauty News - What will be the highlights of the Congress?

Claudie Willemin - The common thread of these four days is "cosmetics, innovation and performance for beauty and well-being" with a format alternating plenary lectures, oral conferences, poster presentations. During the four days of the conference, six plenary lectures animated by international experts are planned followed by 72 oral lectures around six themes illustrating some aspects of research in cosmetology, such as beauty and colour, beauty and sensoriality, beauty and society...

We want to show that research in cosmetology requires expertise and knowledge that go beyond the boundaries of the mere cosmetic sector. In addition, more than 650 posters will be exposed and to facilitate exchanges and discussions between scientists, break times will be extended.

As for the social programme, it will focus on beauty and the art of living in Paris, including a private tour of the Louvre Museum, a dinner under the pyramid and the closing ceremony, which will take place at the Museum of Fairground Arts.

Premium Beauty News - In terms of visitorship, is the current number registrations promising?

Claudie Willemin - We are very confident, the number of registrations is already very high. The final programme of the conference will be available early July.