Triennial and ICOSET Conference 2025

As Chair of the ICOSET/Triennial Steering Group, it gave me enormous pleasure to welcome all the delegates to the college for the ICOSET/Triennial Conference. We were delighted to link the Triennial with ICOSET for the third time, bringing a diverse, international programme.

The Triennial Conference is the highlight of the College calendar and takes place towards the end of every president’s term of office. This flagship event is a time to celebrate the College and its membership in an environment of learning, collaboration and friendliness.

This year’s theme, ‘A World of Innovation’, was aimed at driving surgical education, training and clinical care into the 21st century, reflecting the College’s commitment to advancing both educational excellence and clinical outcomes.

The buzz around the College campus during the meeting was tremendous. Community, friendship and learning from and supporting each other are the foundations that underpin the whole ethos of the College. So it was particularly special to be able to welcome everyone to Edinburgh to renew old friendships, forge new ones and expand the College family.

The success of any conference comes from the delegates and every one of them made the three days truly special. It was a pleasure to meet attendees from more than 30 countries and six continents. I was grateful to everyone for their camaraderie, interest and contributions to discussions, as well as for embracing the social programme, in particular the ceilidh, with such enthusiasm!

My heartfelt thanks goes to all our session chairs, speakers and workshop convenors. We had some amazing, inspirational and thought-provoking talks. I learned a lot and left the conference with a great deal more wisdom than I had before.

I am also very grateful to the team at the College for all their hard work in drawing the conference together and for ensuring that everything ran so smoothly over the three days. This event would not have been possible without all their efforts.

I look forward to welcoming all the delegates back to the College in future.