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BEVA Awards take place at Congress
Recipients were able to celebrate in-person this year, as BEVA Congress returned to its face-to-face format.

The live awards ceremony celebrated excellence in the profession. 

On Monday 6 September, the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) held a live awards ceremony at the BEVA Congress event.

Three veterinary professionals were honoured with awards at a ceremony in the main auditorium of the event, for brilliance within the equine veterinary profession.

The awards were as follows;

The BEVA Equine Welfare Award, sponsored by the Blue Cross
This award was presented to Lode E A De Smet MRCVS for his dedication to improving equine welfare. Lode has been a partner at Llanelli's Gibson and Jones veterinary surgeons for 20 years, and takes on the RSPCA equine welfare work in South Wales. 

Having dealt with over 500 cases, Lode not only cares for each one, but also willingly takes them home to provide further rehabilitation if they are unfit to travel. 

Lode's colleagues have said that his case work is often long, hard, cold and stressful, but he never complains, and consider him an incredibly deserving recipient of the award. 

The BEVA Richard Hartley Clinical Award
Gemma Pearson was awarded the BEVA Richard Hartley Clinical Award for the paper 'Difficult horses - prevalence, approaches to management of and understanding of how they develop by equine veterinarians', first published in EVE in July 2020.

The Peter Rossdale Equine Veterinary Journal (ECJ) Open Award
This award was presented to Amie Wilson for the paper 'Equine influenza vaccination in the UK: Current practices may leave horses with suboptimal immunity', first published in EVJ in October 2020. 

Sam Hignett Award

All Clinical Research presentations from general equine practice are considered eligible for the Sam Hignett Award. Throughout the Clinical Research Sessions at Congress, there will be a continuous assessment process to decide the winner of this award, who will be announced after Congress on the BEVA website and newsletter. 

More information on the BEVA awards can be accessed here. 

 

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VMD invites students to apply for EMS placement

News Story 1
 The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is inviting applications from veterinary students to attend a one-week extramural studies (EMS) placement in July 2026.

Students in their clinical years of study have until 28 February to apply for the placement, which takes place at the VMD's offices in Addlestone, Surrey, from 6-10 July 2026.

Through a mixture of lectures and workshops, the placement will explore how veterinary medicines are authorised, non-clinical career opportunities, and other important aspects of the VMD's work.  

Click here for more...
News Shorts
RCVS members invited to question Council candidates

RCVS members have been invited to submit questions to candidates for this year's RCVS Council election.

With 15 candidates standing for three available positions, vets have been invited to submit a question of their choosing before voting starts. These questions will be collated, with each candidate answering one question of their choice.

It is recommended that members read the candidates' biographies and statements before submitting questions. One question per member can be submitted to vetvote26@rcvs.org.uk before Wednesday, 25 February 2026.

The RCVS Council election is due to start in March.

With only two candidates for two positions on the VN Council, there will be no VN Council elections this year. Meghan Conroy RVN and Lauren Hargrave RVN will begin their three year terms at RCVS' AGM in July.