Established in 1956, the Societas Ophthalmologica Europaea (SOE) was brought together by representatives from 19 different European countries and was first held in Athens in 1960. The Congress has continued to flourish since then with meetings being held across Europe to promote education and collaboration with specialty societies and organisations. This year, the SOE was held in Lisbon, the beautiful capital city of Portugal.
As always, the SOE produces a varied subspecialist programme, covering extensive areas of ophthalmology. The congress was opened by Wagih Aclimandos, the current president (Figure 1), who went on to hand over the chain of office to his successor, Professor Tero Kivela, Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Helsinki University, Finland.
Figure 1: Wagih Aclimandos opening the congress.
This year, the invited keynote speakers included Sir Peng Khaw and Gordon Plant from the UK along with Filomena Ribeira from Portugal, the host country. The congress provided a wonderful opportunity for the many ophthalmic subspecialist societies to have their own dedicated sessions for presentation and networking (Figure 2). There was also ample opportunity for delegates to present specialist projects through the free paper session and poster sessions.
The SOE prides itself in also offering a comprehensive programme for young ophthalmologists to promote education and broad-based learning, dedicated to supporting the next generation of ophthalmologists – these efforts are facilitated by its own Young Ophthalmologist Committee, with its own president. The society also produces its own official journal: the European Journal of Ophthalmology (EJO): http://www.eur-j-ophthalmol.com/
The SOE meets every two years, with the next meeting returning to Athens once more from18–20 June 2027.
Figure 2: The ECLSO subspecialist symposium speakers at SOE 2025.
