On February 17^th, 2023, osteopathic students from all over the world gathered for the Virtual International Student Day (VISD) 2023, an event that aimed to connect students and provide them with valuable insights into the field of osteopathy. OsEAN organises the event once a year and this was the 3^rd VISD organised so far, the first one was in 2021.  The Virtual International Student Day gives a platform for students to network with each other and learn from international teachers.

This year’s VISD was the first in a series of three which focus on the philosophy and identity of the osteopath, and how these have evolved over time. The topic was concentrating on the history - “Osteopathic Identities in a Changing World: History”. The following two events will concentrate on philosophy and principles in 2024 and on Identity in 2025.
The Virtual International Student Day 2023 was a resounding success, with 350 participants from various countries, in Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the rest of the world: Argentina, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates, United States. Some participants marked the cities there were in at that moment and this is how the map below was created.

The topic of OsEAN’s eight “Open Forum for Osteopathic Education” conference which was held on 29^th & 30^th September 2022 in Antwerp, Belgium was “Teaching Clinical Competencies”.
The clinic is an important part in osteopathic education and clinical competencies are a core part of osteopathic training, according to the CEN-Standard for Osteopathy (CENTC414-N0086). Teaching clinical competencies includes the application of all osteopathic skills to real patients.

The lectures, workshops and poster presentations were very well received by the seventy present participants from Europe. The conference continued one and a half days offering keynote speeches from Prof. Eyal Lederman on “Process Approach in Osteopathy.” (read abstract / view presentation) and Stephen Vogel on „Conceptualising and teaching the risk of serious vascular adverse events associated with manual therapy when treating the neck: An overview of a recent International Framework.” (read abstract / view presentation)

During OsEAN's annual General Meeting Catherine Clair from ESO (UK) was elected as a board member. We are very happy to welcome her on board.

Catherine graduated from the European School of Osteopathy (ESO) in 2005 from the CIDO - ESO pathway and has since been actively involved in various roles at the ESO for both undergraduate and international departments as well as practicing in two clinics in Kent.
Following her diploma in Osteopathy, Catherine has obtained a Masters degree in Osteopathy from the ESO as well as a Postgraduate certificate in Higher Education from the University of Greenwich and is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Education.

The second annual All Members Meeting as well as the General Meeting took place in Antwerp on 28^th September 2022. The meeting was only one day long because it was on the day before OsEAN's 8^th Open Forum Conference dedicated to the topic of Clinical Competencies. The meetings topics were different. then last time. The members talked about the news from their schools and countries, about the upcoming Open Forum and decided on the topic of the Open Forum Conference in 2024. The exact title needs to be formulated but we can tell you already now that it would be on research and its implementation in the classroom. Further Marco Giardino from AIMO and Marco Sbarbaro from SSOI presented Fondazione PSP - Promozione della Salute e della Prevenzione (promotion of Health and prevention) how it works and what its goals are.

This was OsEAN’s first in person meeting after the pandemic. The meeting took place in Vienna, Austria on the 23^rd & 24^th May 2022. Host was the WSO (Vienna School of Osteopathy). Main topics of this meeting were succession and leadership, two topics our members were highly interested in. Often osteopathic schools are reigned by one person alone which wears many heads in the structure of the school and in these cases, it is important to realise that the time will come for the principal to retire and there needs to be a plan of action in place on how to do the change smoothly. It is important to realise that when a school is led by one person only if anything happens to the principal, the school needs to continue working without major problems. Here is also important to acknowledge the role a good leader plays in the organisation of an educational institution. This led to the decision that workshops on these topics are needed. The workshop “Succession in osteopathic schools” a workshop led by Raimund Engel (WSO, Austria) and the workshop “Perspectives on leadership as principal for an osteopathy school” was led by Daniel Heed (SKOHS, Sweden).

The idea for OsEAN’s Teachers’ Working Groups was born 2021 by Sandra Rinne (Metropolia, Finland) and Sandra Lois (FBEO, Spain) and presented to the other members during the All Members Live Meeting in May 2021 after an evaluation of our meetings where the principals/representatives shared that they enjoy meeting each other mostly because of the exchange of new ideas, best practices and the motivation and positive energy that comes with the exchange. OsEAN is a network, and this is why, we want to offer this opportunity also to the teachers of our members schools. The groups are there to benefit the teacher and participation is free of charge.

The topic of OsEAN’s seventh “Open Forum for Osteopathic Education” conference which was held on 23^rd & 24^th September 2021 ONLINE was “Teaching the Working Principles of Osteopathy” (Historical, physiological, mechanical, philosophical, scientific ways of view). Even thou the workings principles of osteopathy are a central part of our osteopathic education many schools are still struggling to get a grip on the ‘how, why & what’ questions in explaining osteopathy. The lectures, workshops and poster presentations did their best to help with this well know issue. Sixty-five participants from Europe and Australia participated in the virtual conference. The conference continued one and a half days offering keynote speeches from Prof. Paul Vaucher on “Active communication and shared decision in osteopathic education.” (read abstract / view presentation) and Assoc. Prof. Gary Fryer on „Teaching the principles of Osteopathy in Modern Context.“ (read abstract / view presentation)
Next Open Forum Conference will be held in Antwerp, Belgium in person on 29^th and 30^th September 2022. The topic of the next conference is “Teaching Clinical Competencies”.

Hello to all,

my name is Robert Muts, principal of the College of Osteopathy Sutherland in Amsterdam. Proudly re-elected as president of OsEAN, for the coming years.
I am looking forward to continue the work on cooperation between schools in Europe. Specially in the field of education, research, curriculum and delivering the best osteopaths. We already achieved a lot in the past years, such as students-exchange, International Students Day, teachers-working-groups, Open Forum, etc.

In Amsterdam I work as the principal of College of Osteopathie, Academy of Mesology (Naturopathy) and director of the Integral Medical Centre. In this centre are about 30 therapist in complementary Medicine working together with patients. It is also the home for the clinical part of our education. To stay in contact with the working field, I still practice with patients in this centre, with expertise on chronic visceral diseases.