Wladzia Czuber-Dochan © ECCO

The 6^th N-ECCO Research Forum was attended by 52 nurses active and/or interested in research. The Research Forum is arranged every second year and this year was opened by Wladzia Czuber-Dochan (United Kingdom), who also presented the winners of the N-ECCO Research Grant 2020: Simona Fourie (UK) and Katarina Pihl Lesnovska (Sweden).

Susanna Jäghult  © ECCO

The 14^th N-ECCO Network Meeting was opened by Susanna Jäghult (Sweden), N-ECCO Chair. In total, 255 nurses from across the world attended the meeting.

The first session focussed on presentations regarding “The IBD Nurse Education Programme”, which was performed and completed in Italy during 2018–2019. Palle Bager (Denmark) and Karen Kemp (United Kingdom) reported on the development of the programme and how it was conducted in Italy. Then, Simona Radice and Gionata Fiorino, both from Italy, described the country perspective on the programme. This aroused great interest among the audience and the second cycle is now in the pipeline.

Ana Ibarra  © ECCO

On the evening of Wednesday, February 12, 16 nurses from 11 countries across Europe participated in our yearly N-ECCO National Representatives Meeting.

As the N-ECCO Committee Member responsible for the National Representatives, I welcomed the attendees, and this was followed by a short round of introductions. An exchange of nurses every 2–3 years is greatly encouraged by N-ECCO, but many countries nevertheless retain the same National Representatives for more than 3 years. New people tend to mean new ideas, although some countries have different service setups and getting new representatives is sometimes difficult.

Eytan Wine  © ECCO

D-ECCO, the Dietitians of ECCO, held its 5^th Workshop as part of the 15^th ECCO Congress in Vienna in February 2020. I will describe some of the highlights and main messages of the Workshop, which was attended by 104 registered delegates.

Yves Panis © ECCO

The 9^th S-ECCO Masterclass (held in collaboration with the European Association of Coloproctology, ESCP) was organised during the 15^th Congress of ECCO in Vienna. Thankfully, just before the coronavirus crisis!

As in previous years, it was a full-day masterclass, and once again it attracted a large number of participants, 149. This meant that in terms of attendance the S-ECCO Masterclass was second among all masterclasses and symposia, just after the N-ECCO Network Meeting.

Roger Feakins © ECCO

The Histopathology Committee of ECCO (H-ECCO) is now more than 5 years old, having started as a new working group. It is an enthusiastic group that supports various activities and interacts well with other ECCO Committees. The most identifiable and consistent activity is the H-ECCO IBD Masterclass, a successful event attracting more than 70 delegates annually from Europe and further afield.

Bram Verstockt © ECCO

Dear Y-ECCO Friends,

Bringing basic science from the bench to the bed, and back, can be challenging for both scientists and clinicians.  In order to encourage young scientists and clinicians to collaborate and to approach similar scientific questions from a different – but joint – perspective, the Y-ECCO Basic Science Workshop was founded years ago. Every year, the Y-ECCO Committee invites outstanding senior experts to give a state of the art overview on hot topics in the field. Furthermore, these top-notch speakers not only moderate the discussions following abstract presentations but also inspire and stimulate full-time researchers and young clinicians to do basic science at the start of their careers.

© Tillotts

The satellite symposium sponsored by Tillotts Pharma was introduced by the Chair, Brian Feagan, Robarts Research Institute, Canada. The topics discussed were of unknown territory in areas where little research has been conducted up until now.

Michael Scharl © ECCO

Marc Ferrante © ECCO

Sebastian Zeissig © ECCO

Similarities and differences in the pathogenesis of immune-mediated inflammatory disorders 

This year’s SciCom Workshop focussed on common and distinct pathways in immune-mediated disorders and the application of this knowledge for early disease recognition and interception as well as for the treatment of established disease.