It’s been an inspiring first day at RCOG World Congress 2025, with speakers from across the world presenting the latest innovations and best practice in women’s healthcare.

To wrap things up this evening, RCOG Vice Presidents Ian Scudamore and Geeta Kumar joined Dudley Robinson and Ovia Dagulendram from the organising committee to share their highlights from day one including:

• Plenary: Uterine transplantation - A UK and international perspective | Professor J Richard Smith, Miss Isabel Quiroga and Mr Benjamin Jones
• Stream: Hot topics in menopause care

With many more highlights on their list, Dudley Robinson reminds delegates that content will be available to catch up on for six months post event.

Sessions they are looking forward to tomorrow include:

• Women's health strategy | Dame Lesley Regan, Professor Ranee Thakar, Baroness Gillian Merron, Dr Sue Mann and Ms Jane Plumb
• Plenary: When healthcare collapses | Dr Deborah Harrington

As well as sessions on maternity safety, genomics and stump the RCOG Officers.

Join us tomorrow for updates on day two!

Hear from some of our #RCOG2025 delegates about their day one highlights

Day one's scientific content concludes with a fascinating plenary session on uterine transplantation, with Professor J Richard Smith, Miss Isabel Quiroga and Mr Benjamin Jones exploring the topic from a UK and international perspective.

We asked our delegates: What is one word to describe your #RCOG2025 experience?

An important part of RCOG World Congress is the wealth of abstracts, submitted by doctors across all career stages.

This afternoon, there are presentations spanning the entire specialty: from maternal medicine and high risk pregnancy, to menopause and adolescent gynaecology.

Today, the top 500 abstracts from work presented at the Congress were published in a special RCOG World Congress 2025 online supplement of BJOG. Explore the work here.

June marks Pride Month and we are pleased to have our LGBTQ+ stream running this afternoon.

Mr Noah Bliss is head of maternity and gynaecology quality and safety at Darent Valley Hospital and will explore trans men's experience of maternity care, sharing his expertise and advocating for positive change in the healthcare system.

ST6 O&G trainee Dr Jen Davies is passionate about narrowing the cervical screening health inequity gap both in the UK and globally, with a particular interest in minority groups including the LGBTQ+ and ethnically diverse communities. Her session covers self-sampling for cervical screening in the LGBTQ+ community - a fitting topic for Cervical Screening Awareness Week.

Finally, consultant gynaecologist Dr Leila Frodsham will lead a session on queer menopause, discussing how to improve the management of healthcare for LGBTQ+ groups in an empathetic way, with practical tips on improving inclusivity for menopause support and prescribing.

Find out more in her blog written ahead of #RCOG 2025.

In another stream we are hearing about the latest innovations in gynaecology from Miss Nahid Gul, Dr Nidhi Shandil Singh, Mr Jeffrey Ahmed and Dr Vimee Bindra.

Dr Nidhi Shandil Singh, consultant gynaecologist at Milton Keynes University Hospital, NHS Trust is discussing the impact robotics can have on health services. “There are bottlenecks affecting gynaecology waiting lists like theatre time and recovery bed shortages. This is what we’re trying to improve by using robotics in surgery.”

In this afternoon's global health stream, a panel of expert speakers is exploring the ways to strengthen alliances and build movements to end female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)

We are now hearing from Mrs Hoda M Ali who is a pioneering safeguarding consultant. She embodies hope and resilience as an award-winning human rights activist, compassionate educator dedicated to ending FGM/C, and co-founder of The Vavengers charity.

The College is committed to supporting an end to all forms of FGM/C worldwide. As well as amplifying the global movement of survivors and civil society groups, we aim to combat FGM/C and its rising medicalisation through our research, advocacy and training.

In Egypt, our Combatting FGM/C: A Workshop for Healthcare Professionals has already trained 150 healthcare providers to recognise the harms of FGM and speak out against medicalised FGM/C. Building on this success, we’ve expanded and enhanced the training to include vital advocacy and communication skills. Launching in the coming months, the new course aims to build a strong network of anti-FGM/C champions within the healthcare system. By working closely with local NGOs and empowering healthcare professionals with the knowledge, tools, and support they need, we are driving forward the movement to end medicalised FGM/C in Egypt.

Find out more about our work towards ending FGM/C here.

The first plenary session of the afternoon is led by Professor Tony Young, exploring how innovation can transform healthcare. Tony is an NHS consultant urological surgeon and associate medical director at Mid and South Essex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, national clinical lead for innovation at Innovation NHS England, director of medical innovation and entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University and the founder of four medtech start-ups.

Tony explained that he wanted to transform care through innovation and entrepreneurship to make a positive difference to as many patients as possible — not just those in his care.

Around 10 years ago, he helped create the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme — a workforce development initiative to teach clinicians commercial skills, knowledge and experience from the startup and entrepreneurial world.

Tony explained how this programme has built around 8% of the UK life science industry from scratch in just eight years. It has also raised more than £1.1 billion in funding and benefited over 200 million patients through different innovations.

With the programme underway, it’s been great to hear what our delegates have been enjoying. Don’t forget to use the #RCOG2025 hashtag!

After a busy morning, our delegates and speakers are now taking a break for lunch

If you are in London, don’t forget to visit the exhibition, ePoster presentations or lunchtime symposiums. You can also visit the RCOG stand to find out more about the College and how we can support your professional development.

Meanwhile, in the tackling inequalities in healthcare stream, Dr Farah Siddiqui is discussing racism in the O&G workforce

Dr Siddiqui is a consultant in fetal and maternal medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and head of school for O&G in the East Midlands. She has a strong interest in tackling healthcare inequalities and promoting equity within the medical workforce.

Over the past 18 months, she has supported the College's work towards racial equity within O&G, focusing on reducing racism in the workplace. Her leadership combines clinical expertise with a deep commitment to inclusive practice and systemic change in women's health.

Find out more about the College's ambition for race equality here.

The morning sessions are now underway here in London, with talks covering the whole spectrum of O&G – from the pyramid of pregnancy care to heavy menstrual bleeding.

Professor Kypros Nicolaides discussed his methods of early screening for chromosomal abnormalities through the measurement of nuchal translucency. He highlighted the importance of proper methods to predict and prevent lethal maternal and fetal conditions.

Following Ranee's presidential address at 9am, Rt Hon Wes Streeting, Health and Social Care Secretary announced comprehensive plans to improve UK maternity care.

The RCOG supports the Health and Social Care Secretary’s commitment to bring women and families, maternity staff and local NHS leaders together to set the path towards lasting improvements. By acknowledging where things have gone wrong, and learning from this, we can re-build a compassionate maternity system that provides world-class care.

The Secretary emphasised that it is essential for the Government and maternity professionals to work closely together to drive change and improve maternity services. You can read our full response to the announcement here.

Day one kicked off with the presidential address from Professor Ranee Thakar

The RCOG President provided an update on the College’s recent achievements, current priorities and future plans as we drive forward our mission to improve women’s health.

During the address, Ranee discussed her own upbringing, and how her experiences shaped her understanding and passion for equitable care.

She also shared progress in key College projects and priorities, including:

• Publishing more clinical guidance for health professionals around the world
• Creating more resources for our members across the globe, including a hub for International Medical Graduates (IMGs)
• Progress in our commitment to race equity in O&G, for the workforce and those accessing care
• The launch of O&G Curriculum 2024
• Work to listen to our members on the ground, in the UK and internationally.

You can read about the College's recent achievements with the support of our members, volunteers and partners in our new impact report below.

Towards the end of the address, Ranee reminded our delegates that shaping the future of women's health involves the entire College and our community of volunteers and partners.

Finally, after thanking our members for their hard work and support and looking forward to the last six months of her presidency, Ranee received a standing ovation.

Delegates are starting to arrive at the ExCeL for day one of #RCOG2025!

Welcome to RCOG World Congress 2025!

Over the next three days, we will be sharing highlights from our flagship global event, taking place in London, UK

Here on our live Congress blog, we will keep you up to date with ground-breaking talks, thought-provoking debates and innovation in research. We recommend having this blog open as a separate tab in your browser and refreshing the page throughout the day to receive the latest updates.

Don't forget to share your highlights from Congress on social media using #RCOG2025!

Yesterday, some of our delegates joined us at a series of pre-Congress workshops

Led by global experts including RCOG President Ranee Thakar, these covered topics across the specialty including abdominopelvic surgery, management of the second of stage of labour and ultrasound imaging.