2025 ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF MEMBERS 

1. Minutes of the last meeting (held at the RAI, Amsterdam, the Netherlands on Tuesday 9 July 2024 and published in Focus on Reproduction). 

The General Assembly approved the minutes of the Assembly held on Tuesday 9 July 2024 and published in Focus on Reproduction.

2. Matters arising

There were no matters arising. 

3. Society Membership

Membership of the Society (as June 2025) stood at 10678. European members account for more than half (59.5%) the total. The top European membership countries are UK (748 members), Spain (465 members), The Netherlands (439 members), Italy (432 members), and Germany (406 members).  The top non-European membership countries are India (690 members), USA (375 members), and Australia (282 members).

4. Society activities

The different activities of the societies and their outcomes were briefly presented. The report entailed the annual meeting, campus workshops & E-learning, studies and data collection, guidelines and recommendations, accreditation and certification, research grants, exchanges with other societies, policy making, advocacy and European affairs, and the strategic exercise 2023-2027. The information is available in the slide presentation, as an annex to these minutes, as well as in the Annual Report of 2024. 

5. Human Reproduction journals 

Kirstine Kirkegaard, co-editor-in-chief of Human Reproduction, reported on the Human Reproduction journals. The information is available in the slide presentation, as an annex to these minutes, as well as in the Annual Report of 2024. Kirstine Kirkegaard highlighted the high number of submissions to HR, and the high number of submissions of original articles to HROpen. She reported on the Impact Factor trend for the 4 ESHRE journals.

6. Financial report

Bruno Van Den Eede, ESHRE’s managing director, presented the balance sheet (income and expenditure) for 2024 and the budget for 2025.The actual income for 2024 was 11.106.621,44 euro. The expenditures were 11.368.544,05 euro. For 2024, there was an exceptional financial income of 4.526,79 euro, linked to ESHREs investment portfolio. The income and expenditures for 2024, including the exceptional financial income, resulted in a negative balance for 2024 of -261.922,61 euro. The negative balance was explained by invoices being delayed in payment and hence they were not included in the expenditures of 2023.  

The budget devised for 2025 projected an income of 10.371.956,00 euro, an expenditure of 10.342.496,56 euro and a positive balance of 29.459,44 euro, not accounting for any exceptional financial income or loss.

Total capital at the close of 2024 stood at 20,543,360.15 euro, allocated to various funds, leading to the conclusion that ‘ESHRE is in very good financial shape’. 

The General Assembly approved the 2024 accounts and 2025 budgets.

7. Voting for the discharge of liability of the members of the Executive Committee.

The General Assembly voted in favour of discharging the members of the Executive Committee from liability for their activities during the past term. The discharge is hereby granted, and no further claims will be pursued by the association in relation to this period.

Upon voting, there was a question to receive the results of the voting. With a technical adaptation, the results of the voting were visible to the members.

8. Ratification of the new Executive Committee (2025 – 2027)

The following changes to the Executive Committee were presented:

• Retirement of the current Chair – Karen Sermon (Belgium) – and installation of Anis Feki (Switzerland) as the new Chair.
• Retirement of Carlos Calhaz-Jorge (Portugal), as the current Immediate Past Chair.
• Borut Kovacic (Slovenia) to be appointed as the new Chair-Elect.
• Aisling Ahlstrom (Sweden), Giovanni Coticchio (Italy), Verena Nordhoff (Germany), Nikolaos P. Polyzos (Spain), Kirsten Tryde Macklon (Denmark) to step down as members having served two terms of office.
• Gurkan Bozdag (Turkey), Hilde Cotton (Norway), Lucy Frith (United Kingdom), Dinka Pavicic Baldani (Croatia), Andrea Romano (the Netherlands), Stéphane Viville (France) to be re-appointed for a second, two-year term as members. 
• Gemma Arroyo (Spain), Samuel Dos Santos-Ribeiro (Portugal), Sirpa Mäkinen (Finland), Gueorgui Nikolov (Bulgaria), Paola Vigano (Italy), as new members of the Committee.
• Carlos Plancha (Portugal) to step down as ex officio member and Chair of the SIG Committee and to be succeeded by Maribel Acien (Spain) as the new Chair of the SIG Committee. Stéphane Viville (France) to be appointed as the Chair-elect of the SIG Committee. 

The General Assembly ratified the proposed composition of the new Executive Committee for the 2025-2027 term., including Borut Kovacic as Chair-Elect of the Executive Committee. The newly ratified Executive Committee is thereby confirmed and authorized to assume its responsibilities for the duration of the term.

9. Election of the Honorary Members for 2026.

Francoise Shenfield and Guido Pennings were nominated as Honorary Members for 2026.

The General Assembly endorsed the nomination of the two proposed Honorary Members for 2026. The nominees, Francoise Shenfield and Guido Pennings, are hereby granted Honorary Membership in recognition of their contributions to the field. They will be awarded at the opening ceremony in London in 2026, a fitting opportunity for everyone to celebrate their awards. 

10. Any other business

Two comments were raised regarding the content of the scientific programme. Hans Evers noted that there are rumours suggesting not all research presented at the annual meeting is based on solid studies. Karen S requested concrete details and information to enable further investigation of the issue.

Cristina Magli reported on a session where two consecutive presentations were given by commercial companies, during which they promoted their booth. Karen S considered this an invasive problem. The solution is not straightforward, and the matter of booth promotion will need to be investigated and addressed.

Anis F thanked the members for their engagement in the organisation, with special mention of Karen Sermon and Carlos Calhaz-Jorge for their mentorship and support.

11. Date of the next Annual General Assembly

The next Annual General Assembly will be on Tuesday 7 July 2026 at 18.00 at the Annual Meeting in London.