Welcome to the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of New Zealand
Freephone PWS Helpline: 0800 4PWS HELP | 0800 4797 4357

Conferences

PWSA(NZ) has been involved with Asia-Pacific PWS Conferences alongside PWS Australia since the 1st Asia-Pacific conference was held in Wellington, New Zealand, in 2008. APPWS conferences are usually held every three years, and since 2021, the PWS Associations of Australia and New Zealand have joined with the PWS Associations of Malaysia and Thailand to achieve greater connectivity within our Asia Pacific region. An exciting development is the Prader-Willi Research Foundation Australia joining the Asia-Pacific collaboration in 2024.
The International PWS Organisation (IPWSO) also holds a large conference every 3 years hosted by a different member nation, plus a 3 yearly Professional Providers and Caregivers Conference.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES

12th International PWS Conference

12th International PWS Conference

Conferences

IPWSO is partnering with Prader-Willi Syndrome Association USA (PWSA | USA) and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR) to host United in Hope – an International PWS Conference to be held June 24-28, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona.The conference theme, “United in Hope”, reflects a first-of-its-kind, unique collaboration, which is anticipated to serve…

read more

PAST CONFERENCES

6th Asia Pacific PWS Conference 2024 – Sydney

APPWS2024 was held August 30-31st in Sydney. Further information can be found at the conference website: www.appws.org or via our event page. Recordings of presentations will be available soon. Click here to read our conference summary report.

5th Asia Pacific PWS Conference 2021 – Kuala Lumpur

The 5th Asia Pacific conference was held virtually in October 2021, hosted by the PWS Association of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, and co-organised by the PWS Associations of Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand. The 2021 presentations and slides are now freely available to view here.

10th IPWSO Conference 2019 – Havana

This conference was held in Cuba in November 2019. It was attended by Dane and Julia Fuller (parents from New Zealand) who interviewed esteemed endocrinologist and PWS expert, Dr. Jennifer Miller. In their interview recording, Dr Miller provides answers to some key questions and offers very useful information for families. Christina Ford, a New Zealand behaviour specialist with Community Connections, gave a presentation at the conference, reflecting on the practice tools and techniques she uses to have conversations in behaviour support and education sessions with a person with PWS when there is a requirement to discuss difficult subject matter. Hayley Arnott, another parent who attended from NZ, has also forwarded the following conference report.

4th Asia-Pacific PWS Conference 2018 – Brisbane

The 4th Asia-Pacific PWS Conference was held in Brisbane, Australia, in October 2018.
Live-stream videos can now be viewed via one of our YouTube playlists.

3rd Asia-Pacific PWS Conference 2015 – Melbourne

The 3rd Asia-Pacific PWS Conference was held in Melbourne, Australia, in April 2015.
Click here to view all the video recordings of the presentations.

PWSA Ireland Conference 2014

Click here to view some of the video recordings from this conference. Dr Hubert Soyer and Dr Suzanne Blichfeldt both discuss healthcare and care services for adults with PWS; Dr Suzanne Cassidy discusses healthcare for children with PWS, and Georgina Loughnan presents on physical therapy.