20 Mar 2026
Association says it has “clear plans and projects”, but is also running membership survey to help inform its future.
Chris Simpson
Job Title
BSAVA officials ruled out a potential revival of its congress as they laid out plans for the association’s future.
Typically held in March, the congress was retired after 68 years in an announcement last June.
The BSAVA is running a membership survey to gather feedback that will inform its future plans.
Interim chief executive Stacy Woodman said the survey allows the BSAVA to be “self-critical” about its offerings, adding: “While we have very clear plans and projects and initiatives and insights… if the profession tells us otherwise, we are ready to adapt.
“Our whole strategy is built on agility. Our whole strategy is about the ability to flex with the needs of the profession and our ability to deliver against that in a sensible timeline.”
But asked if calls for congress to return could see it revived in some form, she said: “Honestly, no.”
She added: “Congress played a defining role in the history of the BSAVA, its contributions [are] recognised, the emotional connection is heard loud and clear. However, we have to evolve and learn from what we’re being told regarding what it is that people want to hear, rather than just the format they want it in… the spirit of congress needs to live on in some of the things that we do, rather than as a traditional event.”
President Julian Hoad added: “Nostalgia is not the same thing as a business plan. We all mourn things that are gone, but actually, if those things weren’t utilised by the broader membership, then it doesn’t matter how many people like the idea of it.”
Ms Woodman said retiring congress has “freed up” the BSAVA to focus on “things that we may have wanted to do that we didn’t have any bandwidth, time or capacity to do”.
Going forward, Dr Hoad said BSAVA wants to “retain what congress actually represented… the higher quality education, the professional connections, networking and also the sense of community”.
The association is set to launch a flexible new CPD platform this summer, Lumos, offering personalised on-demand “bite-sized” content, described as a “significant investment”.
Ms Woodman said: “It offers more immersive formats, evidence-based/case-based learning opportunities, and really it’s designed for people to be able to – in the fast-paced world that the vets and nurses are working in – pick up CPD when they need it, on the topics they need it most on, in a format that is available to them at any time.”
BSAVA is also redesigning its mobile app to improve user experience and offer more “integrated and seamless” access to other services.
In October, it launched Rover, an AI-powered search tool that draws exclusively from the association’s library.
In terms of in-person offerings, Ms Woodman said the BSAVA will be “remaining visible in different ways” at key sector events while focusing on smaller gatherings such as Vets Cymru and BSAVA Alba, with community building forming “a very key part of the strategy”.
She said: “We know that the solution isn’t just to put everything online.
“There is a requirement to be able to offer that in-person connection, that more localised support that our members may need.”
She added: “How we do that, the exact mix of activity, that is still evolving… to be able to adapt the way that we work and the events that we offer and engagement that we offer in a model that is more fit for the future, and that doesn’t live in the shadow of leveraging a single annual event.”