29th Belgian Congress of Rheumatology
The Royal Belgian Society of Rheumatology takes great pleasure in announcing the 29th Belgian Congress of Rheumatology, taking place in Antwerpen on 24 – 26 September 2025.
This year’s congress will take place at Hilton Antwerp Old Town.
Hotel Accommodation
A limited number of hotel rooms have been reserved at special group rates. These rates are exclusively available through the reservation links provided by Medicongress upon completion of your conference registration.
You can reserve your hotel room using the reservation links provided in your registration confirmation email, which you will receive after completing the online registration form.
Any requests for hotel accommodation must be accompanied by a valid credit card number, in order to secure the room. Participants will have to pay their room and personal expenses at the reception of the hotel.
In case of late cancellation or no show, the room will be charged on the credit card.
| Hotel | Rates | Cancellation Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Hyllit Hotel**** De Keyserlei 28/30, 2018 Antwerpen | Standard Room: - Single: € 139,00 - Double: € 164,00 incl. breakfast excl. city tax of € 2,97/night pp | Free cancellation until 18:00h prior to the day of arrival |
| Hilton Hotel Old Town**** Groenplaats 32, 2000 Antwerpen | Standard Room: - Single: € 199,00 - Double: € 219,00 Incl. breakfast Excl. city tax of € 2,97/night | Rooms can be cancelled free of charge until 14 days prior to arrival. |
Partners
Platinum Partners
Gold Partner
Silver Partners
Registration
| Registration Fees | EARLY (until 31 Aug) | LATE (as of 1 Sept) |
|---|---|---|
| Member KBVR-SRBR | € 345,00 | € 460,00 |
| Non-Member | € 460,00 | € 575,00 |
| Trainee in Rheumatology* | € 60,00 | € 85,00 |
| Other Trainee* | € 85,00 | € 115,00 |
| Research non-MD* | € 60,00 | € 85,00 |
| Emeritus | € 60,00 | € 85,00 |
| Congress Dinner | € 90,00 | € 90,00 |
| Healthcare Professionals' Meeting on Thursday (25 Sept) | FREE | FREE |
* Registration as a trainee or researcher will only be accepted if accompanied by a copy of your student card or a certificate of your director (proof to be uploaded during the registration process). Without proof the non-member fee will be charged.
The registration fee for BCR participants includes:
- Participation in all scientific sessions
- Participation in the ‘Updates in Therapeutics’ organised by the Industry
- Participation in the Workshops
- Programme and Abstracts
- Access to the exhibition (MDs only)
- Lunches and coffee breaks
- Welcome Reception on Wednesday
The free registration for Healthcare Professionals in the BeHPR meeting on Thursday includes
- Participation in all scientific sessions on Thursday 25 September
- Lunch and coffee breaks on Thursday 25 September
Confirmation
When your registration is completed successfully, you will receive an automatic confirmation. You can also print an invoice when you finalise your online registration.
Payment
All payments are to be made in EURO, net of all bank charges and commissionf for the receiver.
Payment is to be made by:
- Credit Card: Only VISA & MasterCard are accepted
- Bank Wire
Changes/Name Substitutions
You will receive a personal link in your final confirmation email. With this link it will be possible to make changes or transfer your registration to a colleague free of charge.
Cancellations
Participants canceling their registration before 1 September 2025, will receive a full refund, less administration costs (50 € for members and non-members and 25 € for trainees, researchers and emeriti). There will be no refunds for cancellations received after this date. Cancellations must be confirmed in writing to the Organising Secretariat. All refunds will be processed after the Congress.
Accreditation
Belgian accreditation will be requested.
Our terms and conditions
These terms and conditions apply to all payments/registrations made to Medicongress Services. By using the online payment facility on this website you implicitly accept these general terms and conditions.
By entering your credit card information:
You state that you are an authorized user of the credit card and that the associated information entered is accurate. You authorize Medicongress Services to charge the booked amount to your credit card.
Declined/ Refused payments:
We cannot accept liability if the payment is refused or declined by the credit/ debit card supplier (due to the customer quoting incorrect card details or other reasons).
Liability and Insurance
In registering for the 29th Belgian Congress on Rheumatology, participants agree that neither BCR 2025 nor the Organizing Secretariat assume any liability whatsoever. Participants should therefore organize their own health, travel and personal insurances.
Privacy Policy
Medicongress is committed to protecting your personal data. The privacy notice on our website outlines how we collect, share and use your personal data, and how you can exercise your privacy rights involving your data.
Call for abstracts
Deadline 1 June
Authors are invited to submit their abstracts for consideration as either oral or poster presentations. Please note that the Scientific Committee will select a limited number of abstracts for oral presentation during the Young Investigators’ Meeting, abstract sessions, and the Thieves Market (we encourage you to submit your most remarkable clinical cases!). All other accepted abstracts will be presented as posters, following a peer review process (refer to the scoring and evaluation guidelines below).
Furthermore, a €500 prize will be awarded to each of the four best abstracts.
The three most challenging clinical cases submitted for the Thieves Market will be selected by the scientific committee for an oral presentation. This year, a 500 € prize will be awarded to the young clinician who presents the best of these three selected clinical cases. Only trainees or rheumatologists within maximum 3 years of board certification can apply
Submission Guidelines
You can submit several abstracts at the same time and add abstracts later on:
- Click on the link below to start and create a profile.
- Fill out your personal details and go through the submission procedure.
Your abstract(s) is/are only uploaded successfully when you receive an automatic reply confirming your submission(s).
IMPORTANT: The uploaded Word file(s) must contain title, authors & affiliations and the actual abstract.
Click here for step by step guidance through the online submission procedure.
Instructions for Authors
- Abstracts must be written in English not exceeding 450 words (including title, authors, affiliations), and must be submitted as a Word file (xxx.doc) via the online submission form.
- Use font Arial 10 characters per inch (font size 10).
- Use single spacing and type the text unjustified without hyphenating words at line breaks. Use hard returns only to end headings and paragraphs, not to rearrange lines
- Type title in sentence case in bold with no full stop at the end
- Type family name first followed by the initials of the first name of the authors (Rubens P.P., Van Eyck J. etc.)
- Type affiliation underneath the authors: Department, Institution, City, Country (do not mention street addresses, PO boxes or zip codes). When there are multiple affiliations number them as follows and use the semi-colon between the multiple affiliations:
1Dept. A, Hospital A, City, Country; 2Dept. B, Hospital B, City, Country etc. - Organise the abstract in sections as follows:
- Background/Purpose
Background or statement of purpose - Methods
Methods, materials, and analytical procedure used - Results
Summary of the results in sufficient detail to support conclusion - Conclusion
Conclusions reached
- Paragraph headings should by typed in bold with no colon at the end. Do not use the heading ‘Abstract’. Each heading should be in a separate paragraph.
- Max 2 figures or tables are allowed.
- The use of References must be limited to max 3. When you list references, use superscript numbers in both the text and the reference list. Use Arial font size 8 for references
Scoring and evaluation Guidelines
- Abstracts will be scored in a non-blinded manner
- Abstract with scores < 5 will not be accepted to the conference.
- 2 abstract subtypes 1. Original research, 2. Clinical cases.
- The submitting author is asked to indicate whether/not he/she prefers to present at the Young Investigator Meeting Y/N or the Thieves Market (if eligible).
- Guidelines for scoring
10 = outstanding (oral)
9 = excellent (oral)
8 = very good (oral/poster)
7 = good (oral/poster)
6 = good (poster)
5 = fair (poster)
4 = insufficient (reject)
3 = poor (reject)
2 = very poor (reject)
1 = very poor (reject) - Clinical cases: Case reports and the efforts of young colleagues when presenting interesting cases is to be encouraged (as an overarching principle). Applications for the Thieves’ Market must be done as part of the submission process. Only trainees and rheumatologists within 3 years of board certification can apply.
- Abstracts on industry-sponsored trials with no Belgian contributors may be rejected.
- For all abstracts: Scoring instructions: please add ‘Suggested for oral presentation Y/N