The British Psycho-Oncology Society (BPOS) recently held its annual conference in Manchester, which served as a slightly delayed 40th Anniversary Celebration. One of our best-attended recent BPOS conferences, we attracted 78 delegates including researchers, practitioners from a range of disciplines including psychology, nursing, counselling, and radiography.

We heard inspiring keynote presentations from Steve Bland, a former journalist and current podcast producer who eloquently gave a personal account of the impact of cancer on his own family, and Dr Ricky Frazer (Velindre University NHS Trust) who presented about exciting innovations and advancements in immunotherapy.  Oral presentations and flash talks from our delegates ranged from sessions on cancer caregiving, adolescent and young adult cancer, PROMs and PREMs, psychological interventions, through to inequalities and understudied cancers. Forty-six posters were showcased along with opportunities for networking and mentoring support for students and early career researchers.

Congratulations to our prize winners:

• James Rathbone – Best Oral Presentation
• Deborah Critoph – Best Flash Talk
• Grant Punnett – Best Poster
• Lana Cook – Delegate’s Choice Best Poster

The conference also included our Annual General Meeting at which the Committee talked our plans to launch our new Special Interest Groups which will focus initially on ‘Personalised Care’ and ‘Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer’. We are grateful to North West Cancer Research, the Ruth Strauss Foundation, and Wiley for sponsoring the event. Our next conference will be held in Bristol in March 2026.