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MEX ConneXion Event 2026

June 23-25, 2026 - Ghent Belgium

Programme

On-farm workshop
June 23, 2026

  • Udder health  360: Data. Diagnostics. Decisions.

Scientific programma
June 24, 2026

  • Keynote presentations covering latest updates
  • Messages from partners

Science into Practice
June 25, 2026

  • Practical case studies on mastitis and milk quality

Social programme
June 24, 2026

  • Get-together casual dinner

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All the information concerning Visa applications for Belgium is available on the website of the Foreigners Department of the FPS Home Affairs, which is the competent Belgian authority for access to the territory, stay, residence, and removal of foreigners in Belgium.

Travel to Belgium
Visa for Belgium

For information about the Schengen Visa, please visit: www.schengenvisainfo.com/belgium-visa

Invitation letters

Participants coming from countries in need of a Visa can apply for an invitation letter from us through a simple request. To receive this invitation letter, please contact our office at: Support@mexcellence.eu

You will have to enclose in your e-mail following personal information:

  • Last name
  • First name(s)
  • Home address
  • Place of birth
  • Birth date
  • Identity card number
  • Passport number

Attention: we are unable to issue any invitation letter unless we have received your online registration and payment of the registration fee. Please note: invitation letters will not be sent by courrier.

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Yvette de Haas

Yvette de Haas is a senior scientist specializing in Precision Phenotyping in the Department of Animal Breeding and Genomics at Wageningen Livestock Research in the Netherlands. Her work focusses on improving livestock through genetic selection, with a focus on adding novel traits or better phenotypes to the breeding goals, in particular for dairy cattle. As an example, during her PhD (1999-2003) she investigated a better phenotype for pathogen-specific clinical mastitis, by using somatic cell count patterns instead of lactation-average cell counts. Her work involved the use of high-dimensional longitudinal sensor data and time-series analyses to retrieve new information for a better phenotype. A recent example of a novel trait is the new breeding value for enteric methane emissions of individual dairy cattle in the Netherlands (introduced in 2025). Her work then also involved to set up a new national data recording in order to collect the required data longitudinally on a large scale.

Piepers

Dr. Sofie Piepers

Sofie Piepers graduated as a vet in 2005 and since that time she has been a member of M-team UGent. After graduation, Sofie immediately started working on her PhD on heifer mastitis at the Department of Internal Medicine, Reproduction and Population Medicine. In 2010, she obtained her degree of Doctor in Veterinary Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Ghent University (Belgium). She is currently managing director of MEX™ (www.mexcellence.eu), a spin-off of Ghent University that is specialized in the development of trainings and tools to make mastitis management easy for vets and other dairy advisors. Since 2019, she is also appointed as visiting professor at Ghent University. She is passionate about mastitis and milk quality. As a veterinarian and researcher, Sofie uses her expertise to coach and train vets in mastitis management and encourages them to become the best udder health experts they can be. She loves networking, collecting new information at scientific conferences, and later turning that knowledge into practice. In 2014, she was co-organizer of the first National Mastitis Council Regional Meeting outside the US and Canada. As well, she is co-editor-in-chief of M²-magazine (www.m2-magazine.org).  

Sarne De Vliegher_2

Dr. Sarne De Vliegher

Sarne De Vliegher graduated as a veterinarian from Ghent University in 1998. He defended his PhD-thesis on heifer mastitis in 2004 in Ghent after having worked at the Atlantic Veterinary College of the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada for some months. In that same year he finished an MSc in Veterinary Epidemiology and Animal Health Economics at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, and obtained a degree as a judicial expert from Ghent University. In 2006 he became a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health. In the meantime, he worked in the bovine veterinary practice of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for 7 years. He is a full professor teaching veterinary law, professional ethics and practice management at the Department of Internal Medicine, Reproduction and Population Health (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine). He is heading M-teamUGent and is co-founder of and partner in MEXTM. He was president of the US-based National Mastitis Council in 2020 after having served 10 years as a board member. He is co-editor-in-chief of M²-magazine and published a handbook on bovine udder health together with Dr. Theo Lam. In 2018 he received the Westagro award from the American Dairy Science Association. Between 2013 and 2016 Sarne served as the president of the Flemish Regional Council of the Belgian Board of Veterinarians and as vice-president of the Belgian Council of Veterinarians after having been a board member of both organisations between 2010 and 2013, illustrating his keen interest in the different aspects of the veterinary profession. In 2023 he resumed as board member of the Belgian Council. In 2020 he established the Institute for Law and Ethics in Veterinay Medicine and is a co-promoter of the Research Chair on Animal Law, Ethics and Welfare, in close cooperation with the University of Leuven. Since 2023 he is heading the effort to establish a B2C animal welfare label in Belgium.