This year the annual scientific meeting of the ECVO was held in Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands, one of Europe’s most popular cities, known for its historical attractions, iconic cultural scenes, and beautiful canals. As in previous years, the ECVO conference was conducted as a hybrid meeting. Participants could join in person, participate virtually or a combination of both. This year’s topic of the Continuing Education Day and Masterclass was ‘Exotic Animal Ophthalmology’.

On the Continuing Education Day on Thursday, Rüdiger Korbel, Bret Moore, Claudia Hartley, Leandro Teixeira, Joanna Hedley, and Sara Thomasy gave great lectures focused on anatomy, physiology, and histology of exotic animals as well as ophthalmic examination and handling techniques of exotic and lab animals. During the afternoon the AGM took place. The ECVO warmly welcomed 14 new diplomates: Alberto Palella Gómez, Josie Parker, Ioannis Tzouganakis, Aleksandra Rawicka, Anja Suter, Vim Kumaratunga, Rachel Lockhart, Kevin Arteaga, Joy Ioannides, Minna Mustikka, Lena Ström, Sarah Coall, Franziska vom Hagen, and Eline Vercruysse.

The continuing education day was followed by the ECVO scientific meeting on Friday and Saturday, where high-quality scientific presentations were given. During the breaks a total of 124 posters were exhibited. Because of this high number of posters, two sessions of poster presentations were held, one on Friday and one on Saturday.

An ECVO-record number of 445 attendees from all over the world came together for the ECVO scientific meeting, next to 119 virtual participants.

The hereditary eye disease session on Friday afternoon was given by Marianne Richter, with great attention to the online system of the ECVO forms. This was followed by the Kahoot session nicely presented by Frans Stades and Roswitha van de Sandt of the Dutch eye panel.

This year’s State of the Art Lecture was given by Dan-Eric Nilsson, professor of functional zoology at the Lund University in Sweden. His fascinating lecture titled ‘The evolution of eyes and vision’ provided a remarkable insight into the diversity of animal eyes.

Just like the continuing education day, the masterclass focused on exotic ophthalmology. Lectures were about clinical cases in exotic ophthalmology, histopathology, imaging, husbandry, anesthesia, and photography. These excellent lectures were given by Bret Moore, Rüdiger Korbel, Rick Sanchez, Claudia Hartley, Jonna Hedley, and Leandro Teixeira.

The welcome reception on Thursday evening took place at the conference hotel. The gala dinner on Friday night was held at the Lowlander Botanical Bar & Restaurant and was fully booked with 250 participants. The location of the restaurant next to the IJ River offered a breathtaking view over the river and its (cruising) boats. The dinner was followed by the opportunity to dance.

Generous prizes were awarded to:

Best and second best oral resident presentation
1. David Kayes: Gene expression profiling of feline diffuse iris melanoma (FDIM) identifies novel differentially expressed genes and biological pathways that may result in increased invasive and metastatic potential.
2. Ruby Shorrock: The use of systemic antibiotics for prophylaxis in veterinary ophthalmic surgery – a practitioner survey of current protocols.

Best oral presentation
Malvina Kowalska: Photoactivated Chromophore for Keratitis-Corneal Cross-Linking (PACK-CXL) pre-clinical research: towards translational success.

Best and second best poster presentation
1. Jade Gasco: Bilateral enucleation in horses: assessing owner perceptions and satisfaction.
2. J. Corinna Eule: Diagnostic value of iris biopsies for the assessment of iris pigment changes and diffuse iris melanoma (DIM) in cats: A comparative pathohistologic study.

The president, Christine Watté, closed the meeting by announcing the 2025 congress to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland.