ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
2025
Saturday 26th April 2025
STAFFORDshire
TICKETS FOR OUR CONFERENCE ARE ON SALE FROM MONDAY 27TH JANUARY 2025!
Click here to book your tickets!
The UK’s biggest surrogacy conference returns, at a brand new venue in Staffordshire!
We invite anyone with an interest in surrogacy to attend and find out more information – whether you’re already a SurrogacyUK member, a potential surrogate or known egg donor, or someone looking to complete your family through surrogacy – this one day event is packed full of information about altruistic surrogacy in the UK.
In addition to a wider variety of workshops than ever before, this year’s programme will take place across three themed stages:
Our Experience Stage will feature themed panels with a wide variety of participants from across SurrogacyUK and the wider surrogacy community;
Our Professionals Stage will play host to a range of external speakers including professionals in assisted conception, midwifery and surrogacy law;
And our Wellbeing Stage will feature sessions focussing on health and wellbeing during a surrogacy journey.
Our Expo Area will be occupied by a range of exhibitors including representatives from a variety of leading law firms and fertility clinics. Following positive feedback after our most recent conference, our dedicated Networking Space will also return to provide attendees with the opportunity to meet others in a relaxed setting.
Conference tickets include all workshops and seminars, access to our Expo Area and Networking Space, refreshments and buffet lunch, plus admission to our evening function with entertainment. Tickets for surrogates and known egg donors (and their partners) attending their first conference are free, and we offer subsidised children’s tickets inclusive of childcare, so the grown-ups are free to participate.
Details of the conference venue will be shared in your booking confirmation email. Please note that wristbands will be issued upon arrival at this year’s conference – all attendees must have purchased the appropriate ticket in order to attend this event, and anyone attending without a ticket will be asked to leave.
Could you or someone you know participate in one of our themed panels?
We’re seeking people with lived experience of surrogacy to participate in several themed panels – we’d love to hear from:
Partners and parents of surrogates / known egg donors and friends and family of parents through surrogacy, to share their experience of supporting loved ones through a surrogacy journey;
Intended parents and surrogates who experienced a longer trying-to-conceive journey, to share their experience of navigating this as a team;
And surrogate-born individuals, to share their experience and feelings in relation to their origin story.
If you or someone you know would be interested in participating, please email events@surrogacyuk.org for more information. Thank you!
Already booked your tickets? Here's what to do next!
Book your hotel room!
Attendees of the SurrogacyUK Conference are able to access a guaranteed rate for guest rooms for both Friday 25th and Saturday 26th April – the rates are £125 per night single occupancy and £135 per night double (or family) occupancy, including breakfast.
The promo code for these rooms will be provided in your booking confirmation email – rooms at the guaranteed rate are subject to availability and available on a first-come-first-served basis.
**Due to the dynamic nature of hotel pricing, we encourage attendees to check that cheaper rates aren’t available elsewhere before booking.**
Alternatively there are several other hotels in the local area, at various price points.
Make plans for dinner!
The hotel’s restaurant is likely to be very busy on Saturday evening – we highly recommend making a reservation. There are many alternative restaurants in the local area including Nandos, Pizza Hut and Toby Carvery.
Get involved with fundraising!
At this year’s conference we will be fundraising for our sister charity, the SurrogacyUK Foundation. The Foundation would welcome donations of baked goods for the cake stall and prizes for the raffle (no baby or children’s items, please).
Volunteering on a fundraising stall is a great way to contribute to our community and to meet other conference attendees – we’re looking for volunteers to staff the cake stall and the raffle stall throughout the day. Please contact enquiries@surrogacyukfoundation.org to offer your support!
What's On
Please note that this Agenda is subject to change.
Friday 25th April
Hotel Reception / Bar
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
5:00pm – 8:00pm | Registrations | Attendees who are arriving at the hotel on Friday are invited to register and obtain their wristbands and conference materials in advance, to save time on Saturday morning. |
7:00pm onwards | Networking (self-led) | Many attendees choose to arrive at the hotel the night before the conference – the hotel bar is a great place to meet others in our community in a relaxed setting. |
Saturday 26th April
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
08:00am – 9:00am | Registrations and Arrival Refreshments | All attendees must register with our team upon arrival, when wristbands and conference materials will be issued. |
Experience Stage
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
9:00am – 9:20am | Welcome | |
9:30am – 10:15am | Panel – Intended Parents Family and Friends | This panel will feature friends and family of intended parents, discussing their experience of the surrogacy journey and the roles they played. |
10:45am – 11:35am | LBGTQIA+ Parenting | This closed session is open only to LGBTQIA+ intended parents or LGBTQIA+ parents through surrogacy. |
11:45am – 12:15pm | Panel – Surrogate Born Individuals | This panel will feature individuals who were born through surrogacy sharing their thoughts and experiences. |
1:30pm – 1:50pm | Law Reform Update | This short presentation will provide an update on the Law Reform and will detail action attendees can take to support progress on this. |
2:00pm – 2:40pm | Panel – Surrogacy Teams with Longer Trying to Conceive Journeys | This panel will explore how intended parents and surrogates / known egg donors have navigated a longer post-agreement journey. |
2:50pm – 3:30pm | Panel – Surrogate / Known Egg Donor Partners & Parents | This panel will feature loved ones of surrogates and known egg donors sharing their concerns, feelings and experiences in relation to the surrogacy journey. |
4:00pm – 4:40pm | Panel – Ask Us Anything | This panel assembles professionals who have spoken throughout the day and invites attendees to submit questions on all things UK surrogacy. |
4:50pm – 5:30pm | It Worked! and Wrap Up | This popular session features teams sharing their successful surrogacy journeys in their own words. |
Professionals Stage
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
09:30am – 10:15am | Workshop – First Time Attendee Intended Parents | This closed workshop is for intended parents who are attending their first SurrogacyUK Conference. |
10:45am – 11:35am | Workshop – Intended Mothers | This closed workshop is for intended mothers and mothers through surrogacy only. |
11:45am – 12:30pm | Speaker – Legal Session | In this session, a solicitor specialising in adoption, surrogacy and fertility law will examine the law related to UK surrogacy (including the parental order process). |
2:00pm – 2:40pm | Speaker – The IVF pathway in surrogacy: from embryo creation to transfer | Dr Carole Gilling-Smith of The Agora Clinic will provide a complete overview of the IVF process in relation to surrogacy. |
2:50pm – 3:30pm | Speaker – Surrogacy Agreements (pregnancy testing / conditions / decisions) | This session will explore in detail the vital medical decisions that teams must discuss and come to agreement on before entering into a surrogacy agreement. |
4:00pm – 4:40pm | Speaker – The Breastfeeding Doctor | Dr Sharon Silberstein will share information and resources around induced lactation for intended parents and parents through surrogacy. |
Wellbeing Stage
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
09:30am – 10:15am | Surrogate and Known Egg Donor Peer Networking (facilitated session) | This closed session is for surrogates and known egg donors only. |
10:45am – 11:35am | Workshop – Surrogate and Known Egg Donors | This closed workshop is for surrogates and known egg donors only. |
11:45am – 12:30pm | Speaker – Surrogate Mental Health During Pregnancy | SurrogacyUK’s Head of Counselling and Wellbeing David Pexton is an Integrative Psychotherapist specialising in surrogacy and fertility – during this session he will explore surrogate mental health during pregnancy. This closed session is for surrogates and known egg donors only. |
2:00pm – 2:40pm | Speaker – Health in Pregnancy | This session will explore health during pregnancy for the benefit of both surrogates and their partners, and intended parents. |
2:50pm – 3:30pm | Speaker – Understanding Risks of Egg Donation and IVF | Dr Carole Gilling-Smith of The Agora Clinic will explore the risks associated with IVF, embryo creation and transfer (including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome – OHSS). |
4:00pm – 4:40pm | Speaker – British Infertility Counselling Association |
Conference Room
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
09:30am – 10:15am | Workshop – Active Surrogacy Teams | This closed workshop is for active surrogacy teams only (i.e. teams who are beyond agreement stage and may be trying to conceive or pregnant). |
10:45am – 11:35am | Workshop – Intended Fathers | This closed workshop is open only to intended fathers who are navigating a surrogacy journey whilst in a relationship with an intended mother, and to similar fathers through surrogacy. |
Conference Room
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
09:30am – 10:15am | Workshop – Surrogate and Known Egg Donor Partners | This closed workshop is open only to partners of surrogates and known egg donors. |
Networking Space
Times | Session | Summary |
---|---|---|
10:45am – 11:35am | Single Intended Parent Peer Networking (self-led) Surrogate and Known Egg Donor Partners Peer Networking (self-led) | This time is suggested as an opportunity for single intended parents and surrogate / known egg donor partners to identify and network with peers in our Networking Space. |
11:35am – 5:30pm | Open Networking | During this time our Networking Space will be open to all attendees. |
Expo Area
Times | |
---|---|
8:00am – 6:00pm | We’ll be joined by a range of exhibitors in our Expo Area, with professionals in assisted conception and surrogacy law exhibiting alongside representatives from Donor Conceived UK, the British Infertility Counselling Association and the SurrogacyUK Foundation. |
Support Team Drop-In
Times | |
---|---|
12:30pm – 4:30pm | SurrogacyUK’s Support Team will be running a drop-in which is available to all attendees. Whatever point you’re at in your journey, we know how emotionally exhausting it can be – if you’re a non-member, this space can provide some quiet and some time for reflection. SurrogacyUK members will also be able to arrange an appointment with a member of our Support Team. |
Breaks/Lunch
Times | |
---|---|
10:15am – 10:45am | Morning Break |
12:15pm – 1:30pm / 12:30pm – 1:30pm | Staggered Lunch |
3:30pm – 4:00pm | Afternoon Break |
Evening Function
Times | |
---|---|
7:30pm onwards |