Respiratory physicians will again have a busy year on the conference circuit in 2026, with a full calendar of local and international meetings covering lung cancer, airway disease, sleep medicine, infection and chronic respiratory conditions.

Europe’s flagship respiratory meeting, the ERS Congress 2026, will be held in Barcelona from 5-9 September, bringing together clinicians and researchers from around the world. As in previous years, the program is expected to span respiratory medicine across the life course, from early lung development to ageing, alongside advances in clinical care, physiology, infection and thoracic oncology.

Across the Atlantic, the American Thoracic Society’s International Conference 2026 will take place in Orlando from 15-20 May, showcasing new research and clinical insights in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, with a strong focus on translational science and practice-changing data. Key sessions include the ATS Respiratory Innovation Summit which will unite the innovators, investors, clinicians and advocacy groups who are leading the charge to create powerful new treatments for deadly and crippling diseases of the lungs and airways.

Closer to home, TSANZSRS 2026 will be held in Perth from 27–31 March, convening respiratory physicians, scientists and allied health professionals from Australia and New Zealand. This year’s conference theme, “Lungs under the microscope” will explore research ranging from the precision of nanoparticle drug delivery, cutting-edge imaging technologies and fundamental studies of lung structure and function through to clinical application of discoveries that support improved respiratory health.

Lung cancer will remain a central theme across the 2026 calendar, with the European Lung Cancer Congress in Copenhagen in March and the World Congress on Lung Cancer in Seoul in September, alongside updates in screening, precision medicine and survivorship.

Specialist meetings will also feature prominently. The World Bronchiectasis Conference will be held in Hannover in June, while the Forum on Respiratory Tract Infections returns to Glasgow in early March, with a program spanning pneumonia, chronic lung infection and emerging diagnostic and treatment approaches.

Sleep medicine remains a key focus locally, with Sleep DownUnder 2026 scheduled for Brisbane in November, while COPD will again be in the spotlight at the GOLD International COPD Conference, to be held in the United States later in the year.

Also in November, the 30th Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR 2026) will be held in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, with the theme of Reimagining Respiratory Care.

Meanwhile this year will see the launch of the very first Asian-Pacific Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference, taking place in Tokyo, Japan in November.

Finally, Melbourne will host the World Congress of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology 2026 from 3-6 December, 2026.

As always, our journalists based throughout Australia and the UK will provide coverage of the specialty’s key events, alongside our regular news updates and education programming, including the Key advances in paediatric asthma webinar to be held on the third of March.

Details of upcoming events will be shared in our newsletters throughout the year.

2026 calendar

• AAAAI / WAO Joint Congress, Philadelphia – 27 Feb-2 Mar
• Respiratory Tract Infections International Forum, Glasgow – 2-4 Mar
• European Lung Cancer Conference, Copenhagen – 25-28 Mar
• TSANZSRS ASM, Perth – 27-31 Mar
•  American Thoracic Society , Orlando – 15-20 May
•  EAACI, Istanbul 12-15 Jun
• World Bronchiectasis Conference, Hannover – 24-27 Jun
• International Society of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases Congress, Bologna, 25-28 Jun
• British Thoracic Society Summer Meeting, Manchester – 9-10 July
• European Respiratory Society, Barcelona – 5-9 Sep
•  IASLC World Conference on Lung Cancer, Seoul – 12-15 Sep 
• International Tracheostomy Symposium, Melbourne, 1 Oct
• CHEST 2026, Phoenix – 18-21 Oct
• Sleep DownUnder, Brisbane – 11-14 Nov
• Asian-Pacific Bronchiectasis & NTM Conference, Tokyo – 13-15 Nov
• APSR 2026, Malaysia – 19-22 Nov
• British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting, London – 25-27 Nov
• World Congress of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, Melbourne, 3-6 Dec

Have we missed any? Email us: [email protected]