ERS Congress 2026

The European Respiratory Society (ERS) has announced the theme of its 2026 Congress in Barcelona, Spain (5–9 September) as United for better breathing: partnership between patients, clinicians and researchers​.

Each year at its Congress, ERS provides an opportunity to highlight an overarching theme that is relevant to – but does not dominate – its extensive programme. The programme consistently covers the full breadth of respiratory specialties and topics.

In line with its theme, the 2026 ERS Congress will see greater patient presence in the programme than ever before and will spotlight the crucial relationship between respiratory professionals and patients – focusing on three key areas:

• Co-creating care: patients as equal partners (empowering patients to actively shape their care through shared decision-making and mutual respect);
• Listening first: identifying and acting on unmet needs (prioritising patient voices to uncover real-world challenges and guide meaningful change);
• Discovering together: advancing science through collaborative research (uniting patients, clinicians, and researchers to promote a pipeline of research from discovery to improved health).

The programme has been co-developed in partnership with the European Lung Foundation (ELF), ensuring that patient involvement, priorities and topics are embedded from the earliest stages of planning. This is supported through structured input from patient representatives and European patient organisations, including direct contributions to abstract review, session selection and theme-related content.

This will be reflected across both scientific and educational sessions, as well as through patient-led studio sessions, the return of the community space in the World Village, and the annual ELF Patient Organisation Networking Day.

Registration is open for the ERS Congress 2026, which will take place at Fira Gran Via (Halls 1 to 3) in Barcelona, Spain from 5–9 September.