Abstract submission is now officially closed.
The organising committee of the 4th International Participation conference would like to thank all the participants who have submitted their abstracts.
Participation Conferences began in 2017 and have been held in Australia, Sweden, and Norway. In November 2024, the conference will be held in Singapore. The goal of each conference is to bring together international expertise on the topic of ‘participation’, building evidence, and changing practices and community outcomes for all children, adolescents and young adults who grow up with disability and their families. Our vision is a world in which attending and being involved in valued and meaningful life situations across the community is a given, regardless of disability or diversity.
Photo courtesy of the speaker panel at the Participation conference in Norway – Capturing the Magic Participation for All (CAPA) September 2022.
We want to extend our knowledge and approaches by sharing and discussing the perspectives and lessons already learned – for practice, policy, organisational structures, and future research. Consistent with our past approaches, the conference will include keynote presentations, short papers, and time for smaller group discussions to provide opportunity for learning, networking, and future planning. While we will be sharing some of the keynote presentations after the event, this is predominantly an in-person conference.
Conference Themes & Subthemes
There are four main themes for the conference, and five subthemes that can be aligned to any of the four themes for consideration. The themes and example subthemes are listed below.
- Co-producing participation approaches and solutions for equity (public health to individual approaches)
Capacity Building: Enhancing the capacity of stakeholders to co-produce participation approaches that promote equity. Building expertise in using implementation science methods.
Context and Environment: Examining how the context and environment influence the implementation of a participation-focused approach.
- Understanding and building the experience of ‘involvement’: how can it be measured, developed, and enhanced?
Co-Production: Exploring methods for measuring, developing, and enhancing participation through collaborative efforts.
- Participation in education: what is needed for authentic inclusion to support learning and belonging, and preparation for adult roles.
Capacity Building: Strengthening the capacity of educational institutions, families, and communities to foster inclusive environments.
Collaborating across service sectors: Emphasising the collaboration between the education sector and other sectors to ensure lifelong inclusive education
- Low-resource – high-resource knowledge exchange: applying and tailoring knowledge across low and high resource settings
Capacity Building: Learning from each other and equipping individuals and organisations to effectively exchange knowledge.
Collaborating across sectors and regions: Encouraging cross – sector and regional/global collaboration to facilitate exchange of knowledge, skills and resources.
We embrace the notion that co-production of knowledge is no longer just an aspiration but an expected standard. We encourage all prospective contributors to reflect upon and highlight the inclusion of lived experience experts in their research teams and presentations, as this perspective enriches and broadens our understanding of 'Participation – Inclusion in action.'
There will be a place in the abstract submission for prospective presenters to indicate the role of lived experience in their work.