We are happy to inform you that a large number of abstracts, originating from 34 different countries, have already been submitted for the 1^st Joint International Conference of the Association of Institutions for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (AITVM) and the Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine (STVM) which will take place in Berlin from 4 to 8 September 2016. Due to several requests for an extension of the abstract submission deadline, we have decided to extend this deadline and the deadline for all award applications to 31 March 2016.