2025 Annual consortium in Kinshasa

On 1 and 2 December 2025, the PregInPoxVac consortium convened in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, for its second Annual Meeting since the launch of the project. The meeting brought together key partners and stakeholders to review progress during the first operational year and to align priorities for the period ahead.

Participants of the annual meeting included representatives from CEPI, the project’s funder; the University of Antwerp, as consortium lead and trial sponsor; the University of Kinshasa, as principal investigator; and ACE, the clinical research organisation supporting the trial. The social science research partner Penta joined the meeting online. Hosting the meeting in Kinshasa reinforced the consortium’s commitment to strong collaboration with local partners and to grounding project implementation within the DRC context.

Across the two-day meeting, a wide range of scientific, operational and strategic topics were discussed. These included progress of the clinical trial in both the maternal and infant study arms; developments related to ancillary care (i.e., care given to address participants’ non-trial-related health issues); ongoing social science research and community engagement activities and financial and budgetary updates. In addition, sessions covered data management, study pharmacy management, capacity-building efforts, and cross-cutting operational aspects of the project. Attention was also given to timelines, upcoming milestones and shared expectations for the coming project period.

The program combined plenary presentations with more focused break-out sessions, allowing for both consortium-wide updates and in-depth, topic-specific discussions. A dedicated session with the project’s PhD students and their supervisors provided space to reflect on research progress, planned publications, their training needs and future academic pathways.

Overall, the Annual Consortium Meeting marked an important milestone for the PregInPoxVac project. The in-person format enabled meaningful exchange, strengthened collaboration and trust across partners, and supported alignment on upcoming milestones and continued collaboration as the project moves into its next phase.

The annual meeting was followed by the three-day State-of-the-Art Mpox Symposium 2025 held at a nearby venue. Several members of the PregInPoxVac project took part in the event, with some also presenting during the symposium (read more on the event here).