International Congress on Soldiers’ Physical Performance 2017 (ICSPP2017) Special Issue

This special issue of the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport originates from the 4th International Congress of Soldiers’ Physical Performance (ICSPP2017) which was hosted by the Defence Science and Technology Group in Melbourne, Australia from 28 November to 1 December 2017. The ICSPP is the most important international conference in applied military human performance research and therefore attracts experts from all over the world. ICSPP2017 had a record attendance of 502 delegates from 32 countries (Fig. 1). ICSPP2017 included 8 invited keynote lectures (Table 1), 23 featured science session, 17 oral free communication sessions, 9 thematic oral poster sessions, and 3 poster free communication sessions. In addition, an interactive case study on dismounted soldier performance assessment and a roundtable on resilience for military readiness and preparedness was conducted. Overall, the topics covered were comprehensive and included physical training programs and adaptations, occupational and physical performance testing and assessment, injury prevention, public health practices, nutritional considerations, human factors, ergonomics, equipment design, biomechanics, load carriage, gender integration issues, environmental issues, health promotion and wellness, deployment concerns, pedagogy, psychological, and cognitive factors, leadership, and social factors. Accepted congress abstracts were made available through an online Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport supplement.1