EBMA 2026 Annual European Conference on Assessment in Medical Education

EBMA 2026: Redefining Assessment for a New Era will take place in Lancaster, England, UK on 1-3 December 2026. The European Board of Medical Assessors is pleased to announce their annual European conference on assessment in medical education. EBMA 2026: Redefining Assessment for a New Era, will take place in Lancaster, United Kingdom on 1-3 December 2026. This is one of the best opportunities for professionals involved in assessment in health professions education to join together to learn from, and with, each other, sharing the latest innovations in assessment, as well as for networking and professional development. Redefining assessment for a new era calls medical educators to rethink how we judge competence in a healthcare system that is more complex, team‑based, and technologically mediated than ever before. As expectations of clinicians’ competence evolves, so too must the ways we assess readiness and safety for practice. Our conference theme invites us to interrogate long‑standing assumptions, challenge over‑reliance on high‑stakes testing, and embrace approaches that foreground expert judgement, meaningful feedback, and authentic performance in real clinical environments. It encourages us to explore how programmatic assessment, entrustment decisions, simulation, and emerging AI‑enabled tools can work together to create systems that are fair, inclusive, and genuinely developmental. For those shaping assessment in medical education, this is an opportunity to reimagine not just the methods we use, but the values that underpin them—ensuring our assessments cultivate reflective, capable, compassionate, patient centric clinicians prepared for the demands of modern practice. Lancaster is a small city in the North West of England, that offers a unique blend of history, culture and natural beauty. There are a number of historic sites, including Lancaster Castle and the Ashton Memorial. Sitting aside the bustle of Lancaster city centre you will find green parks to explore, canal towpaths and the banks of the river Lune to walk. Lancaster is easily accessible by public transport with the closest airport, Manchester, an hour away. The conference venue ‘County South Event Space’ is situated on the Bailrigg campus, located just South of the city, close to Junction 33 of the M6 motorway or a short bus ride from Lancaster Railway Station. This is an in-person event, we are unable to facilitate hybrid attendance. Registration Includes: • Access to all scientific sessions • Welcome reception on 1st December • Lunch on 2nd and 3rd December • Coffee-breaks during the event • Identification Badge • Digital CPD Certificate Optional Extras: • Pre-conference Workshops on 1st December (see conference web page for workshop information) • Conference Dinner at Lancaster House Hotel (evening of 2nd December) Promotions • Early bird registration rates have now been extended to 5:00pm (UK) on 23 October. • EBMA Individual or Institutional discounted rates are available, please use the code you received to purchase member registration (contact the office if you did not receive the code. • Student registration is for full time undergraduate students only. • Special fee reduction of 30% is available for delegates working in Low and Low-Middle Income countries. Please contact the office prior to registering. • Group bookings of 3 or more delegates from the same organisation will receive 10% discount on registration fee. Please contact the office prior to registering. Refund Policy Cancellations must be received in writing to the EBMA office by email. The following policy will be applied: • Before 5pm (UK) 1 November 2026: Full refund, minus £45 administrative fee • After 5pm (UK) 1 November 2026: No refund will be given • All refunds will be issued after the conference.