Liverpool hosted the International Academy for Oral Oncology conference in July 2025, welcoming over 1000 delegates from around the world IAOO | International Academy of Oral Oncology. Our research group hosted the pre-congress 15th International Quality of Life in HNC meeting, with presentations from group collaborators Dr Andy Levy ‘Patient and staff behaviour change to support HNC interventions’ and Professor Adrian Midgely ‘Exercise principles and challenges in HNC’. Our strategic board member, Professor Kate Hutcheson presented on ‘Implementation of prehabilitation in HNC’. Dr Gemma Cherry gave a short paper on ‘Exploring the needs fo Adult Carers supporting a family member or friend with HNC who are >75 years’

During the main meeting, there was plenty of sessions focusing on function and QOL to choose from. Our Doctoral Fellows gave some outstanding presentations: Alison Smith ‘Custom-made patient specific nasal devices for speech and swallow rehabilitation in patients with velo-pharyngeal insufficiency’ Taran Malhotra ‘Real-world challenges and solutions in virtual surgical planning’ and Linda Cantwell ‘Optimising holistic care in Dietetics’. Dr Roganie Govender, honorary member of our group, moderated a session on functional outcomes.