BIRD 2026 Fifth Annual Congress

In 2026 we will return to the BMCC in Bruges for the 5th edition of our annual Congress.  The BIRD Congress will offer high-profile key lectures, live Q&A sessions, plus workshops, interspersed with delicious food.

In 2026, we continue to expand the program to bring a more diverse and customizable experience.  On Friday morning, we bring back the crash course in good clinical practice (GCP).  This course will focus on the new ICH-GCP E6(R3), allowing you to to update your certificate in accordance with the latest guidelines. Later in the morning, we will offer a choice of 4 educational training sessions, open to all healthcare professionals and to the sponsors of the educational training program.  A small fee of €25 will be asked for each participant to ensure access to these sessions.  On Saturday morning we have expanded the offering to include 6 interactive workshops, of which healthcare professionals participating in the Congress may choose two sessions to attend.

We have built some time into the Friday program from 5:30pm - 7:00pm to enable you to digest the lectures and to have some free time before the conference dinner on Friday evening. 

The Conference Dinner will take place at the Crown Plaza, with the reception to start at 7:00pm.  After dinner, the party will continue a few hundred meters away at the Bruges Beer Experience.  To reserve your seat for the Conference Dinner (and party), a fee will be asked of both healthcare professionals and industry representatives.  See below for more information on pricing.  

Registration for the BIRD 2026 Fiffh Annual Congress is open to general gastroenterologists, trainees in gastroenterology and internal medicine, IBD scientists, IBD ideologists, nurses interested in IBD, dieticians, psychologists, study coordinators and other IBD-related professionals. The program will be geared towards this broad spectrum of IBD health professionals, with Educational Trainings and Workshops dedicated to both experienced and novice IBD practitioners, maximizing the interaction between the various players that work with IBD patients.

Note: BIRD Members save money on their registration fee. Become a BIRD member now!  After registering to become a member, please allow up to 5 working days before registering as a BIRD Member for the Congress.

Registration to become a BIRD member to benefit from the reduced member fee is only possible until November 19.

Registration is free for trainees who are BIRD members!  

Registration fees

Please note that the following fees DO NOT include 21% VAT

*Allied Health Professionals include professionals without a medical degree such as nurses, nutritionist, dieticians, psychologists, pharmacists, scientists (including PhD students) and study coordinators.

**A no show policy is in place: if you are no longer able to attend the Congress, we respectfully ask you to let us know by September 15. If no notice is received, an invoice of €200 will be sent to you to cover the costs of the catering at the congress.

Registration fees include:

• Admittance to the BIRD/BINAstoria congress plenary sessions
• Participation in workshops on Saturday morning for Physicians, Nurses/Trainees/Study Coordinators/HCPs only
• Welcome coffee(s), coffee breaks, and lunch on Saturday
• Admittance to the exhibition area
• Certificate of attendance
• BIRD Congress bags

A supplementary fee will be asked for:

• GCP course on Friday morning
• Educational Training session on Friday morning
• Conference Dinner on Friday evening

Cancellation Policy

We will reimburse the registration fee, less 30% administrative costs, upon written cancellation before 15 September.  After that date no refund will be made.

Accreditation & Certificate of attendance

Following the Congress, certificates of attendance wlll be available for download.

A RIZIV/INAMI accreditation for both the BIRD 2026 Fifth Annual Congress and the Educational Training will be requested.

! Alert ! We have received word that some faculty members have received an email from the sender Global Travel via accommodations(at)gtravelhosting.com.  Please note that this is spam and we advise anyone receiving these emails to ignore and block the sender.  Any communications regarding the Congress itself, accommodation or travel will come directly from our office.

Virtual Viewing

Registration is only for the live event.

Register