Dates, venue and leadership
The 2026 World Laureates Forum will run from October 30 to November 1 at the Lingang Center in Shanghai, its permanent venue. Wan Gang, former president of the China Association for Science and Technology, will serve as Chinese chair, and Randy W. Schekman, a recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, as international chair, according to a Yicai Global report. The China Association for Science and Technology hosts the event and the Parkland Foundation and the HongShan Charity Foundation co-host it, with 25 international and domestic scientific organizations, universities and laboratories organizing or supporting the programme.
Who is attending
Thirty-three recipients of leading international awards, among them the Nobel Prize, the Turing Award, the Wolf Prize and the Fields Medal, have confirmed attendance, including seven Nobel laureates and three Turing Award laureates; seven of the 33 are taking part for the first time. The report said they will be joined by 139 senior scientists and 81 young scientists, and that participation by high-level Chinese scholars and by members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering will rise significantly this year.
Structure and parallel forums
The programme follows a "1+6+4+1" format: a combined opening ceremony, award ceremony and main forum; six parallel forums; four themed events; and a closing ceremony, alongside side activities that include science and technology tours. The parallel forums address future semiconductors, biomedicine, aerospace information, artificial intelligence, future energy and quantum science, organized respectively by Shanghai University, Lingang Laboratory, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, East China Normal University, Fudan University and Tongji University.
Prizes and closing session
The opening ceremony will present the 2026 WLF Prize in Computer Science or Mathematics, the 2026 WLF Prize in Life Science or Medicine and, for the first time, the WLF Prize for Young Scientists. At the closing ceremony the organizers will set out the forum's key outcomes, launch the global call for nominations for the 2027 prize and formally propose establishing an international organization, ahead of the forum's 10th anniversary next year.