The first International Wheat Genetics Symposium took place August 11-15, 1958 in Winnipeg, Canada.
International Wheat Genetics Symposia followed in 5 years intervals:
- 2nd IWGS: August 19-24, 1963, Lund, Sweden
- 3rd IWGS: August 5-9, 1968, Canberra, Australia
- 4th IWGS: August 6-11, 1973, Columbia, Missouri, USA
- 5th IWGS: February 23-28, 1978, New-Delhi, India
- 6th IWGS: November 28- December 3, 1983, Kyoto, Japan
- 7th IWGS: July 13-19, 1988, Cambridge, England
- 8th IWGS: July 20-25, 1993, Beijing, China
- 9th IWGS: August 2-7, 1998, Saskatoon, Canada
- 10th IWGS: September 1-6, 2003, Paestum, Italy
- 11th IWGS: August 24-29, 2008, Brisbane, Australia
- 12th IWGS: September 8-14, 2013, Yokohama, Japan
The participants of the 12th IWGS decided that the 13th should take place in 2017 in Austria.
At the same time the 13th IWGS in Tulln, Austria will be the last symposium of the series of International Wheat Genetics Symposia. A new era of wheat symposia will begin, with the International Wheat Conference (IWC) joining with the IWGS to organize joint meetings in 2 year intervals in the future.