RCOG World Congress is an opportunity for individuals across all career stages in O&G to share their latest research and ideas, supporting our mission to improve women’s healthcare globally. Congratulations to all our abstract winners.

Best in session ePoster presentations:

Jan Deprest - AI-Assistance Improves External Anal Sphincter Defect Detection and Workflow Efficiency

Chethana Krishna Rao & Sangavi Satkunarajah - Decoding Dysmenorrhea: Divergent Perspectives in Pain Management

Naomi Harvey - Same-day discharge after laparoscopic hysterectomy: The way forward for UK gynaecology

Diane Francoeur - Advancing gender equity in women's health: Thoughts from Canadian healthcare providers

Therese McGee - Implementing a comprehensive cervical screening in antenatal care quality improvement programme

 Isobel Pugh - Optimising birth initiative; Birth outcomes audit in Hutt Valley Hospital, New Zealand

Kathryn Hage - Development and delivery of a multi-professional women’s health hub

 Rebecca Martin - A study investigating the feasibility of a 'Time-to-Transition Caesarean Birth'

 Katarzyna Galka - Breath carbon monoxide levels versus self-reported smoking in predicting adverse pregnancy outcomes

 Linta Nasim - Inequalities in access to obstetric analgesia in the UK: A systematic review

Agnieszka Glazewska-Hallin - Length of labour, emergency caesarean damage and preterm birth risk

Charlotte Colley - Ultrasound training package assessing the cervix and caesarean section scar in pregnancy

Victoria Wallis - Rising troponin postpartum in a patient with severe pre-eclampsia: a clinical conundrum

Therese McGee - Pregnancy and perinatal outcomes after sleeve gastrectomy versus a matched control group

Tommy Harty - Headache in pregnancy: Just hormones or a red flag waving?

Lucienne Cooper - Down syndrome in maternity care – maternal experiences of mental health support

Sadia Malick - Successful outcomes of maternal and new-born health with partnership with community midwives

Mayank Madhra - Endometriosis of the spleen presenting with massive haemoperitoneum immediately post-partum

Jade Rennie - The potential to weaponise accusations of female genital cutting/mutilation in children

Elhem Loukily - The Role of Ethnicity in Clinical Outcomes for Women Undergoing IVF

Best overall ePoster presentation 

3^rd prize

Victoria Wallis - Rising troponin postpartum in a patient with severe pre-eclampsia: a clinical conundrum

2^nd prize

Therese McGee - Pregnancy and Perinatal Outcomes after Sleeve Gastrectomy versus a Matched Control Group

1^st prize

Sadia Malick - Successful Outcomes of Maternal and New-born Health with Partnership with Community Midwives

Professor Geoffrey Chamberlain Award – South Asia - Best oral presentation

3^rd prize 

Nighat Shah -Upscaling Family Planning Practices, Tertiary Care Hospitals in Sindh Province, Pakistan 

2^nd prize

Madhura Mandlik - Maternal and foetal outcome of impacted foetal head during caesarean delivery

1^st prize 

Parvathi T - Mifepristone Versus Transcervical Foley Catheter for Pre-induction Cervical Ripening – Randomised Controlled Trial

Best in session oral presentations:

 Victoria Van Loo - Multimorbidity & obstetric outcomes: a retrospective cohort study of USA hospital deliveries 2016-2021

Fatimah Al Zahrani - Cesarean Scar Defects: Impact on IVF Success and Embryo Implantation Outcomes

Sughashini Murugesu - Using Radiomics and Machine Learning Predict Miscarriage in Early Pregnancy

 Sofia Mastrodima-Polychroniou - Prenatal Spina Bifida repair outcomes at NHS England Commissioned Centres

Grazyna Stanczuk - Highly relevant HPV-PCR cycle-threshold (HR-CT) values are better triage compare to LBC

Fabio Barra - PEA-Enriched Topical Formulation for Vulvar Lichen Sclerosus: A Randomized Double-Blind Maintenance Study

Pauline Maki -Predictors of Symptom Clusters in Menopausal Women: Analysis of Data from SWAN

 Danielle Mazza - Evaluation of a national LARC and medication abortion community of practice

 Michalina Drejza - Menstrual self-care among Polish adolescents – results from POLKA 18 youth-led cross-sectional study

 Olushola Ariyo - Cost comparison of vNOTES vs conventional laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy for ovarian dermoids

 Roberta Schiemer - Vibrational Biospectroscopy of Blood Plasma for Rapid Endometrial Cancer Detection

 Jonathan Morris - The preclinical development of a continuous fetal scalp lactate biosensor

 Louise Wake & Joanna Francis - Improving health equity analysis in maternal death investigations

 Sissela Sylvan - An RCT of Sexual Function After Lateral Episiotomy in Vacuum Extraction Delivery

 Lucy Dwyer - Five year efficacy of urethral bulking agents for stress urinary incontinence

 Katherine Barton - Maternity skills training in rural Cambodia

 Best overall oral presentation 

3^rd prize

Katherine Barton - Maternity skills training in rural Cambodia

 2^nd prize

Michalina Drejza- Menstrual self-care among Polish adolescents – results from POLKA 18 youth-led cross-sectional study

1^st prize

Louise Wake & Joanna Francis - Improving health equity analysis in maternal death investigations

 Best oral presentation by a trainee or student 

Sofia Mastrodima-Polychroniou -Prenatal Spina Bifida repair outcomes at NHS England Commissioned Centres

Professor Geoffrey Chamberlain Award – South Asia - Best oral presentation

3rd prize 

Rana Mondal - Hysteroscopic Findings in Subfertile Women with Histopathologically Confirmed Tuberculosis

2nd prize

Navin Panchal - AI-Driven Personalized Treatment for Menopause Integrating Wearable data and Symptom Feedback

 1st prize (tie) 

Sidrah Nausheen - Early detection & treatment of Postpartum hemorrhage using E-MOTIVE bundle Implementation in Pakistan

Simantini Bose - Metformin in Obese/Overweight PCOS Women Post-Lifestyle Intervention: A Randomized Trial

Our final plenary of RCOG World Congress 2025 comes from Professor Ahmed Ahmed. He is Professor of Gynaecological Oncology at the University of Oxford.

He graduated from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt and completed a PhD and gynaecological oncology surgical training at the University of Cambridge. His research aim is to improve clinical outcomes for ovarian cancer patients through understanding the biology of ovarian cancer initiation, progression and resistance to treatment.

Honoured to speak and chair at RCOG World Congress in London #RCOG2025 3,000+ delegates • 98 countries • endless...

This afternoon's diverse sessions are starting and include fetal medicine, gynaeconcology and RCOG education, training and exams. There is also a stream celebrating esteemed RCOG Fellows and sessions on a systems approach to patient safety.

RCOG Vice President for Education Ian Scudamore is chairing the stream on RCOG education, training and exams with Kat Barton, Chair of the National Trainees’ Committee.

Clinical fellows Naomi Harvey and Hannah Pierce are presenting on the RCOG project to improve surgical skills training in O&G. This three-year initiative aims to tackle issues impacting current training provision and shape the future of surgical training. The ambition is to ensure surgical training and standards support the O&G workforce to provide high-quality, evidence-based care now and in the future.

Earlier this year, we published an interim report which provides a comprehensive assessment of the current state of surgical training and highlights five focus areas for improvement as the project moves into its second phase. You can read the report, view the infographic and listen to project podcast episodes here.

Dr Judith Moore also led a session on O&G Curriculum 2024, reflecting on where we are now since launching last summer.

On our website, you will find the new Curriculum resources along with guidance for both trainees and trainees.

Celebrating RCOG Fellows

We were pleased to hear from Dr Yaser Faden, the Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education at King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Recently awarded a honoroary fellowship from the RCOG, he discussed the current evidence in vaccination in pregnancy.

Other speakers included Dr Amanda Noovao Hill who is a Pacific-based obstetrician and gynaecologist currently serving as Head of Secretariat for the Pacific Society for Reproductive Health (PSRH). She talked to the audience about cultural barriers, stigma, and limited access to healthcare.

Fetal medicine

In the fetal medicine stream, Dr Lisa Story, a Senior Lecturer at King's College London and Honorary Consultant in Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine at St Thomas' Hospital talked about the evolution of fetal MRI.

Dr Srividhya Sankaran, Consultant In Maternal-fetal Medicine & Obstetrics at Guy's & St. Thomas' Nhs Foundation Trust discussed fetal renal agenesis and genital tract abnormalities in female fetuses.

And to conclude, Mr Ramesh Ganapathy, Consultant at Epsom and St. Helier NHS Trust reflected on the implementation of APSRE screening in the NHS three years on.

During the lunch break, we were pleased to host the Edwards and Steptoe Memorial lecture - a fascinating presentation by Professor Alan Handyside on the future of IVF.

It's lunch here on the final day of RCOG World Congress 2025.

You can find out more about the College's recent achievements in our new impact report - all made possible by the support of our members, volunteers and partners.

After the break we continue with our varied clinical programme. Sessions include supporting our doctors, trainees' perspectives on global women’s health and achieving equitable global access to postnatal contraception.

Supporting our doctors

In the 'Supporting our doctors' stream speakers are covering issues including civility in the workplace, the RCOG's race equity project and post-traumatic stress.

Supporting the O&G workforce and ensuring doctors are equipped and supported to deliver the highest levels of care to women and girls is a key strategic priority for the RCOG. As part of our work in this area, we have created multiple resources for O&G professionals, including our Workplace Behaviour Toolkit, wellbeing resources hub and other useful guidance. Find out more here.

Dr Ganga Verma - Consultant in fetal and maternal medicine

"It's the subtle things that we're talking about as well, rolling your eyes, whispering behind somebody's back, ignoring them, not saying good morning or any of those things can be deemed as being uncivil."

"The really important thing here is not what the behaviour was and whether that behaviour in itself was meant to be bad or not meant to be bad, but it has to do with how that's received. And it‘s when the person on the other side of our behaviour is left feeling upset by it in any way or affected by it in any way, then we have to acknowledge that."

As delegates head for a morning break, there are poster presentations taking place in the mini theatre, covering topics from early pregnancy complications to global health and health policy.

Want to see the kind of research that was submitted for #RCOG2025? The top 500 abstracts are available in this year's special BJOG supplement.

Women's health matters: communication, consent, and clinical excellence

This session has been organised by the RCOG's Women's Network. The Women’s Network is a strategic RCOG committee comprised of 14 core lay members and 4 clinicians from across the UK. All lay members have personal experience of obstetrics or gynaecological services.

They inform the College about issues affecting women during pregnancy, labour and birth, around fertility and gynaecological conditions through to the menopause and women’s health in later life. The RCOG Women’s Network aims to make sure that women are at the heart of everything the College does.

We were delighted to hear from RCOG Women's Network co-chairs Emma Crookes and Freya El Baz, as well as consultant obstetrician Dr Mariya Kalgo. Topics covered included:

Empowering choices: The importance of informed consent in women's health

The power of words: Language in women's health

Enhancing women's health through collaborative care and patient and public involvement

Sustainability and climate change

A key priority for the RCOG is sustainability and climate change. In this morning's stream on this increasingly important topic, President Ranee Thakar talked about the RCOG's role in sustainable practice and how we can drive change in the specialty.

You can find out more about the College's ambition for sustainability here.

RCOG Clinical Fellow for Sustainability and Climate Change, Maddie de Vicq, presented on the College’s collaborative project to deliver low carbon, equitable maternity care and the Green Maternity Challenge.

"We launched the Green maternity Challenge where we recruited and supported nine multi-disciplinary teams across the UK to pilot and measure carbon reducing initiatives in their services"

“We have drawn out 8 recommendations to support the RCOG membership to introduce carbon reducing initiatives in their services."

‘The climate crisis is a gendered issue. We need to act now to protect the future for women and girls of tomorrow."

"Think about one thing you can do to make an improvement in your practice. Please do get involved and seek out opportunities to make a positive impact."

Chaired by Professor Catherine Williamson, Today's first plenary session features presentations from four global experts on the immune, microbial and genetic drivers of early labour.

Our expert speakers:

Dr Lynne Sykes - Associate Professor at Imperial College London

Dr Jane Currie - Consultant in Obstetrics And Fetal Medicine, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston

Dr Pol Solé Navais - Research Group Leader, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Dr Shivaprasad Goudar - Professor of Physiology & Principal Investigator, Women's and Children's Health Research Unit, KLE Academy of Higher Education and Research, J N Medical College, Belgaum, Karnataka, India

We've just heard from RCOG Vice Presidents Professor Hassan Shehata and Dr Laura Hipple, RCOG CEO Kate Lancaster and Mr Dudley Robinson about their highlights to look out for on day three.

Laura Hipple is looking forward to clinical improvement and ABC with Professor Tim Draycott, the Women's Network and chairing the Supporting our Doctors session.

This morning we were delighted to host a range of clinical sessions from our IRC colleagues from India, Malaysia, UAE and Sri Lanka.

RCOG International Representative Committees (IRCs) support the global work of the RCOG by developing a strong local network in country for RCOG Fellows, Members and Associates.

Welcome to the final day of RCOG World Congress 2025

As the Congress draws to a close, there’s still a full day of insightful sessions ahead. Today’s programme brings together global experts to explore key topics including:

• Challenging assumptions around birth for women with complex medical conditions
• Enhancing surgical training in O&G
• Innovations in technology and global women’s health

In the day two wrap-up Dr Alastair Campbell, Mr Andrew Sizer, Dr Sophie Bracke and Professor Asma Khalil shared the sessions they’re most looking forward to today. Don't miss out on:

• Panels on supporting doctors and trainees’ perspectives on global women’s health
• A session on the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit
• A thought-provoking plenary on preterm birth