The Centre for Human Reproductive Science at the University of Birmingham
We at the Centre for Human Reproductive Science at the (ChRS) would like to welcome you all to Birmingham for this prestigious international meeting.
ChRS was established in 2006 to further develop research and innovation in fertility diagnosis and treatment, working in partnership as the academic and research wing of the Birmingham Women's Fertility Centre (Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust) and the University of Birmingham Medical School.
The ChRS motto is "Future Generations". This encompasses our focus as a team who are passionate about scientifically understanding fertility problems and engaging with patients and public in informed debate about reproduction. Our research team spans many disciplines, with interests that unite to discover incisive answers in our field.
We are the forefront of international understanding of the sperm tail and our work improves the support and information given to individuals, couples, offspring and donors.
A big part of what we do aims to ensure the health of not just our children, but understanding the impact on their children too - enabling and protecting our future generations.
Birmingham and the University of Birmingham in particular, has a rich and notable history of reproduction research.
We are lucky to count in our history:
Past
Dr. Dame Hilda Lloyd (1891 - 1982)
The first woman to be electedto the GMC and President of the RCOG. Hilda was significant for her concern for the ‘urban poor’, STIs, illegal abortions, and the flying squads she pioneered to help save the lives of mothers and babies.
Baron Solly Zuckerman (1904 - 1993)
Published the paper in 1951 describing the arguments for and against postnatal oogenesis.
Professor Jack Cohen (1933 - 2019)
Wrote textbooks such as Living Embryos (1967), Reproduction (1977), and who in 1967 published his initial theories on sperm redundancy.
Professor John Blake (1947 - 2016)
Used mathematical models and fluid dynamics to study sperm motility.
Recent
Dr. Richard Palmer
PhD work served as the foundation for IVF treatment, revolutionising reproductive medicine worldwide, enabling thousands of healthy births through IVF and other assisted reproductive methods. His groundbreaking research on ovarian function in the 1960s underpins present-day fertility treatments designed to induce ovulation.
Dr. Lars Björndahl
Associate Professor in Andrology. Specialised in standardization, training and quality control concerning human ejaculate examination since 1994.
Dr. David Mortimer
President
and co-owner of Oozoa
Biomedical and has many years of experience in the design and establishment of
successful assisted conception laboratories around the world.
He was responsible for developing
diagnostic andrology services, one of the largest sperm banks in Canada and,
from 1988, the IVF Programme. He transformed IVF in Sydney, Australia.
Now
Prof. Jackson Kirkman-Brown MBE
Jackson is internationally recognised for his work in fertility and sperm (Andrology). He strongly believes that research into diagnostic and therapies in the area can have a rapid and direct impact not only on care, and therefore birth of the next generation, but also quality of life for the patients and children involved. As Director of the Centre for Human Reproductive Science he leads an interdisciplinary team with clinical trials and basic science collaborations across the UK and globe.
Dr. Meurig Gallagher
As Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Healthcare Science Meurig integrates mathematical modelling and software with experimental methods to create new diagnostics and treatments for infertility. A key focus of Meurig's research revolves around understanding more about the sperm flagellum via the creation and development of the package FAST (Flagellar Analysis and Sperm Tracking), a tool that enables rapid, affordable analysis of the moving flagellum of the sperm.
As part of the organisation of this conference, the University of Birmingham is collecting income via registration fees and sponsorships on behalf of the Spermatology 2026 organising committee.