2018 proved to be a hugely successful year for ESCP, typified by our biggest ever annual meeting in Nice. We look forward to welcoming more surgeons from across Europe to share best practice and make new connections at our 14th annual meeting in the stunning setting of Vienna in September. The call for abstract submissions will open on 1 March, with registration for the event, being held at the Austria Centre, opening in April.
Our educational programme continues to go from strength to strength, with Regional Masterclasses taking place across Europe with a host of experts sharing knowledge and skills with surgeons throughout the year. Our Rome and Stockholm Masterclasses were two examples of this and we look forward to sharing more insights in 2019 with a number of key educational events planned. Registration for our 7th Regional Masterclass on Reoperative Colorectal Surgery in Antalya, Turkey (13 April) is now open. Our European School Of Coloproctology delivered its first two events last year and we look forward to continuing and developing this programme. Stay tuned to our social media and website for details of the next classes.
The ESCP Fellowship programme was reinvented for 2018, allowing all applications for Fellowships to be made via a new online application form. Opportunities for Fellowships across Europe, Japan and Korea will continue this year, as ESCP continues to support trainees to observe, learn and implement variations in clinical practises in coloproctology. You can read about one of our 2018 Fellows’ experience in Korea here.
Following their launch in 2017, our innovative ESCP App and International Trials Map continue to be a vital source of information for our members globally. The app continues to grow in popularity, with members enjoying instant access to updates and news of latest developments directly to their phone, as well as mobile access to our expansive resource library. The interactive trials map will continue to encourage participation in research and to inspire best practice through collaborative working around the world. If you’re working on multi-centre international trial, we would welcome your input through our submissions form.
We also strive to continually improve our own output and interaction across our social media channels, including our popular Twitter account. From here you can keep up to date with anything and everything that ESCP gets involved with, and it provides a key platform for us to share our monthly online topic initiative and our Research Committee’s paper of the month.
Per Nilsson, ESCP President, is looking forward to the year ahead. He commented,
“We had a fantastic turnout at and response to our annual meeting in Nice in September and hope to build on its success for Vienna in 2019. There are many areas of ESCP that are thriving, and our education and research programs are busier and more popular than ever, with exciting plans in place to grow these even further.”
With 2019 looking to be one of our most exciting and busiest years to date, joining ESCP has never made more sense. Here’s to a prosperous 2019!