Water, food, energy, climate change, financial systems and urbanisation are all sources of substantial global challenges. Statistics is central to the understanding of these challenges and to the development of productive responses to them. The biennial meeting of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) is unique in bringing together statisticians and probabilists from across the disciplinary spectrum  official statistics, surveying and sampling, computational & mathematical statistics, probability and stochastic modelling and education. Moreover, it brings together statisticians from developing nations and from developed nations to share experiences, expertise and challenges. The 2011 meeting is an opportunity for this broad community to demonstrate its relevance to addressing global challenges and the directions and quality of its research. It will include presentations on recent research and applications, training for statisticians on key topics and a forum to discuss opportunities for work on important topics. It will also be an opportunity for statisticians and probabilists to identify new research topics and possible new collaborators. An innovation in 2011 meeting will be a special Theme Day, during which all papers will address, from various statistical perspectives, Water, quality and quantity. Components of the Scientific Programme The key components of the Programme will be Invited Paper Meetings, (IPMs), Contributed Paper Meetings and Training Courses. In addition, a number of Satellite Meetings will be organised by ISI Sections and Committees. Invited Paper Meetings (IPMs) IPMs are critical for the success of each ISI biennial Conference. Each IPM consists of 3 papers plus discussion. An aim of each IPM is to attract a diverse group of statisticians and to promote communication among them. Ideally, each IPM will be of interest to members of more than one Section and will link developers and users of statistical methodology. While the majority of IPMs will relate to the interests of the Sections of ISI, there will be two special sub-groups of IPMs. Water, Quality and Quantity One day of the ISI Conference will be devoted to papers on this special Theme where statistics has a key role to play and each Section and Committee of ISI has a potential contribution. In selecting topics for IPMs, special emphasis will be given to this Theme and up to 20% of the IPMs will relate directly to it. General Topic Meetings These IPMs are for presentations on topics relevant to ISI but not clearly covered by the Sections. These are mostly (but not entirely) topics covered by ISI Committees, including life sciences, women in statistics, ethics, risk analysis, history of statistics, sports statistics and tourism statistics. A full list is available at http://isi.cbs.nl/committees.htm. Contributed Papers ISI 2011 will provide attendees with the opportunity to contribute papers to the proceedings and present them at the Conference. More information will be provided later. Training and Courses A number of training and learning activities will be held as part of the ISI meeting in Dublin. Activities are expected to include: 1. Training courses aimed principally at early career statisticians and statisticians from countries where access to advanced training may be difficult to arrange. 2. Tutorials and workshops aimed principally at people wishing to learn about a particular topic in greater depth. This will usually be a topic where research is advancing quickly. Satellite Meetings A number of Satellite Meetings, to be held before or after the main meeting, will be organised by Sections of the ISI.