The first WiM conference was held virtually in 2021 with the overall goal of highlighting the outstanding contributions of female scientists in the field of malaria. It aimed to provide equal opportunities of participation to WiM from the early stages of their scientific career, and guarantee the inclusiveness of scientists from various countries.

With this conference, WiM wanted to take the lead on what future conferences can look like, given recent discussions on the impact of travel for work-life balance, on researchers from low resource countries, and climate change. To facilitate these goals, the WiM conference was accompanied with workshops on peer-mentoring, leadership and shaping the future of WiM.

A recap of the conference can be found in the following publication:

Women in Malaria 2021: A Conference Premier (2021). Trends in Parasitology, doi:10.1016/j.pt.2021.04.001.

 The 1st WiM Conference organisers were Dr. Elena Gómez-Díaz and Professor Sarah Reece.