The eighth World Congress in Probability and Statistics) will be held on July 9–14, 2012, in Istanbul, Turkey. Scheduled every four years, it is jointly organized by IMS and the Bernoulli Society. This meeting is a major worldwide event for statistics and probability, covering all its branches including theoretical, methodological, applied and computational statistics and probability, and stochastic processes. It features the latest scientific developments in these fields.

The congress will present recent developments and the state-of-the-art in a variety of modern research topics, with in-depth sessions on applications of these disciplines to other sciences, industrial innovation and society. It will feature several special plenary lectures: eight named lectures, five medallion lectures, and a public lecture, presented by leading specialists. In addition, there will be 40 invited sessions highlighting topics of current research interests, as well as a large number of contributed sessions and posters.

IMS President Ruth Williams provided information on the IMS initiatives available to help members attend the congress in the October/November Bulletin. These include the IMS Laha Travel Awards and Childcare Initiative, as well as the possibility of a US funding agency to help support junior researchers from US institutions to attend the Congress. More information on these and other funding opportunities is posted at http://www.worldcong2012.org/?p=financial_support.

The venue of the meeting is Grand Cevahir Hotel & Convention Center which has many conference amenities. The host city, Istanbul is more than 8,000 years old, and is a multi-cultural, easy to access and cosmopolitan city that bridges Europe and Asia. It has a unique cultural fusion of east and west, offering such famous cultural attractions as Hagia Sophia, Sultanahmet, Topkapı Palace and Maiden’s Tower. Istanbul offers memorable historical tours and easy city transportation (including ground, underground, and sea transportation). For shopping, it has both old-style colorful bazaars and modern malls.

Furthermore, Istanbul is Europe’s third-largest city (and the world’s 21st), yet it is one of the safest cities, having the lowest crime rate among European capitals (research conducted by the EU Crime and Security Consortium). The host country, Turkey is a must-see place, famous for its hospitality, centrally-located, and with a developing economy and a young, vibrant population.

Abstract submission and registration are open now. The deadline for abstract submission is March 16, 2012 (with notification of acceptance by April 1, 2012); the early registration deadline is May 21, 2012.

On behalf of the Program Committee and the Local Organizing Committee, we invite you to join us in Istanbul for this exciting event. With your participation, the 2012 World Congress will be a memorable meeting.

Elvan Ceyhan and Mine Çaglar, Co-chairs of the Local Organizing Committee, and Arnoldo Frigessi, Chair of the Program Committee