6
Academic Venues
No horsing around
International Symposium on Equine Reproduction
returns to Cambridge after 44 years
Background
The International Symposium on
Equine Reproduction (ISER) is a
global organisation of reproductive
equine scientists, which meets every
four years in a different location
around the world.
Forty-four years ago, the first
meeting was held in Cambridge and
it returned in 2018, organised by a
local committee of 12-15 volunteers
which included David Dugdale, a
practising veterinary surgeon working
in Newmarket and Louise Holder as
honorary secretary.
Brief
Holder said: “As an organisation we
have charitable status and our aim
with our symposia is to break even
financially and if we do make a profit,
it goes back to the Trust. We try to
keep registration fees as low as
possible so that young people
working in the scientific community
can attend and in order to do this, we
have to attract sponsorship.
“Thanks to David’s excellent
connections in the Cambridge area,
we were able to bring in more than
£150,000 which enabled us to keep
the cost as low as possible. Being in
Cambridge also meant we were able
to use university-type
accommodation rather than hotels
which helped.
“The scientific sessions are always
at the heart of our meetings and
Client:
International
Symposium on
Equine
Reproduction
Type of event:
Residential
conference
Group size:
275 (up to 300 for
Conference Dinner)
Venues:
Churchill College;
King’s College;
Newmarket
www.conference-news.co.uk
choosing to return to Cambridge,
enabled us to tap into the
world-leading practitioners located
here. We were also blessed by having
Newmarket just down the road so we
could access equine expertise and
connections.”
Event
Dugdale continues: “In terms of
finding a venue to accommodate our
delegates, we experienced some
challenges in Cambridge. The
committee took the decision to cap
attendance at 275 this year to
include 150 presenting delegates, as
well as scientists and sponsors, with
a maximum of 300 for the
conference dinner.