The idea of trying to organize a joined conference between ESDAR, EVSSAR and ECAR has been on our minds for quite a while. As everybody knows: good ideas are like wine and cheese: they take time to mature. We wish to acknowledge our predecessor presidents and boards who paved the way.

There are plenty of good reasons for organizing the conferences of our three Entities together: 

• Transversality: we are all the European Repro family! Whatever our subspecialty, preferred species to work with or whether we are practitioners, scientists, students, residents, or from academia, there is one common theme and interest we all share: Reproduction with a big “R”! That very same “R” that can be found in the acronym of all three Entities: together we can share knowledge, learn from each other and form new connections for future collaborations
• Congeniality: this will be a great opportunity to see colleagues and friends we do not always get a chance to spend time with, because we did not attend the same congress that year
• Science: together we can build up a wider and better scientific program, one with cross-species talks and a wide panel of parallel sessions to satisfy all interests
• Education: research students and residents can seek out networking opportunities and mentors within the broad field of reproduction. This is crucial for your personal and professional development, and there is a lot of catching up to do after the pandemic years with low conference activity and impersonal digital seminars!
• Environment: are you among those attending more than one of the big European conferences? How about flying to one destination only? Together we can reduce our impact on the planet
• Economics: For those attending, this will mean one single flight ticket to buy, and one stay to pay for only; and for the Entites it will allow scale savings on the organization of the conference, sharing of the heavy workload for the board of each entity, better visibility of the bigger event, a more attractive arena for sponsors

And for those of us who only attend part of conference dedicated to one of the three entities? Well, we won’t be saving money or the planet this year, but we still will have the same quality conference we are used to, with all the extras of this joined venture!

As you can see, this idea is like good wine (or cheese)! We are convinced that the 1^st ESAR will be the first of, hopefully, many more to come and we are thrilled at the opportunity of seeing you all in September in Nantes to share it with you!

Located in Nantes, close to the main pig, cattle and horse breeding basins, the most recent of the 4 French National Veterinary Schools will celebrate the diplomas of its 40^th class of students in 2023. The DNA of teaching and clinical training in the reproduction of domestic mammals in Nantes has always rested and still relies on a transversal approach of compared physio-pathology between the different species: ruminants, pigs, horses, canines and felines.

Being, like many colleagues, each year torn as to the choice of the European congress in which we are going to participate (ESDAR or EVSSAR or ECAR annual congress?), it quickly made sense for us to have only one congress allowing us to benefit as much as possible from this transversal vision of animal reproduction. Vision that each in our favorite species allows us to progress even faster.

The veterinarians/the colleagues who work in the animal reproduction field know how important is the multi-species approach: comparative reproduction between species is a key-point not only for Academics, but also for practitioners.

The wish of the first European Symposium on Animal Reproduction (ESAR) became concrete for the first time in 2018. Covid-19 pandemic slowed down the organization process so the dream of 1^st ESAR will become real after 5 years of intense exchanges and work.

The local organizing committee, which I have the immense pleasure of chairing, agreed to follow me with enthusiasm when I proposed that this 1^st joint congress take place in Nantes.

In the past, only the 3^rd edition of the ESDAR congress took place in France not very far from Nantes at the Haras National du Lion d’Angers in 1999, the same year in Lyon was organized one of the first congresses of the EVSSAR, a second edition took place in Paris in 2016. The National Veterinary School of Nantes hosted 2 sessions of the ECAR exam in 2014 and 2015.

The scientific committee, made up of members from each of the 3 boards, has done a fantastic job of offering you a high-level program combining the multi-species approach and more specific subjects while keeping an open mind towards young research colleagues and residents, without neglecting a practical clinical approach.

I hope that all of you, practitioners and clinicians, academics and researchers experienced but also more beginners, will appreciate the general organization and the facilities offered by the congress Centre.

Our partners asked to ensure the sponsorship of this event have welcomed this project of a common congress and we thank them for their essential financial assistance. A big thank you to the local congress management company “AS connect” for having assembled and greased all the cogs so that this big machine that is the ESAR runs smoothly

A huge thank you to all our speakers who came to share their expertise with us and who agreed to take part in a multi-species transversal approach.

Early congratulations to all delegates who submit abstracts, and prepare posters and short communications, as well as to the young researchers and residents selected for the competitions that are open to them. I send my respectful greetings to the colleagues reviewers who carry out in the shadows a difficult and somewhat thankless work but totally indispensable to ensure the quality of the sessions.

Finally, as this joint congress is a kind of marriage between ECAR, ESDAR and EVSSAR, we invite you on Friday to a gala evening which is a bit like a French wedding reception in a nice private castle, “le chateau de la Pigossière”.

I can only encourage you in advance to plan a time before and/or after the congress to discover and appreciate the tourist, gastronomic and cultural riches of our beautiful historic city of Nantes (which with its port has always been turned towards the world) and of the pleasant and dynamic Pays de La Loire region.