The proposal submitted by the UNZA Local Organizing Committee (L.O.C.) in 2007 was  adopted in February 2008 by the Executive Committee of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD). The proposal included the following:

African Research Advisory Panel (ARAP)

In order to make the congress truly representative of the diversity of the African continent, and to ensure adequate representation of the priority scientific concerns and professional activities of behavioral science in the various nations of Africa, a regional consortium of about 8-10 leading developmental scientists has been formed to act as an advisory panel for the scientific committee. It includes representativesfrom the following six institutions, which have hosted the African regional workshops of the Society since 1992:

University of Yaounde, Cameroon (1992, 2003)

University of Zambia (1996)

University of Namibia (1998)

Makerere University, Uganda (2000)

University of Witwatersrand, South Africa (2006),

as well as several other developmental scholars bassed on the continent.

The conference is expected to attract about 800 - 1200 participants from abroad, and the UNZA committee will be responsible for all local arrangements.  The contents of the programme is currently under development in consultation with a broadly international scientific committee constituted in 2008.

Workshop programme

In addition to the following standard elements:

• keynote lectures and invited addresses by internationally renowned scientists,
• invited symposia,
• symposia, 
• poster workshops, and 
• individual posters,

We hope to repeat in the 2010 congress the following programme features of the 2008 Wuerzburg Congress:

• A Meet-the-Scientist Event to give young researchers the opportunity to present themselves to outstanding experts in their field and discuss their research as well as their professional plans
• Special funding arrangements to sponsor attendance by a sample of young scientists from economically disadvantaged countries worldwide
• Pre-conference Workshops on selected themes, aimed at providing intense introductions to emerging fields and methods.

Some of these pre-conference workshops might be hosted by other universities represented on the African Research Advisory Panel, in order to give delegates visiting the African continent for the first time an opportunity to sample more than one country. In order to make this affordable, preference would be given to institutions situated at one of the hubs of the international airlines through which flights to Lusaka are available.

Satellite activities

We also propose to offer in the days immediately before and after the congress in Lusaka guided tours of various Zambian sites of interest to developmental scientists, including low-income rural and urban residential neighborhoods, service providing institutions such as health, education and care facilities for children, persons with special needs and the elderly, and research facilities.

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