Registration for this year’s conference, early career researcher event, and pre-conference dinner is now – https://www.eventsforce.net/hg3/305/home

The main conference will take place from 09.00-17.00 on Friday 29th November at Sophia Gardens, following a pre-conference dinner at 19.00 on Thursday 28th November at The Botanist, Cardiff Central.

The venue for the early career researcher day is to be confirmed but the event will take place on Thursday 28th November from around 13.00-17.00. Full details will be added to the early career researcher event page as they become available.

The provisional ordering of oral presentations is in the tables below. Note that this is subject to change and a finalised timetable will be sent to presenters prior to the conference.

Session 1 – 9.40am

Basil McDonald	How do local public health teams in North Wales consider their role in influencing the obesogenic environment through planning processes? A qualitative study.
Isra Al-Sharabi	Qualitative Research: A framework to guide the commissioning of healthcare services for people seeking asylum in England
Enfys Hâf Preece	“I’m losing faith in everything”: a qualitative study to understand barriers to accessing suitable mental health support for children and young people in Wales
Emma Ross	Risk of suicide following suicidal or self-harm ideation: a population-wide observational cohort study using the Northern Ireland Registry of Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation.
Louise Mc Grath-Lone	How has local authority expenditure on public health services for 0 to 5-year-olds in England changed over time? An analysis of national administrative data from 2016/17 to 2022/23.

Session 2 – 11.40am

Majel McGranahan	Preconception health among migrant women in England: a cross-sectional analysis of maternity services data 2018-2019
Julie Cowie	Enjoy Life LocallY (ELLY): feasibility study of a community co-designed incentive intervention to support healthy weight and wellbeing.
Carolyn Ingram	How do homeless service users view their own health and healthcare? An ethnographic study
Nicola Vousden	Maternal and infant outcomes for women experiencing homelessness, prior to and during pregnancy, in England: A retrospective cohort study.
Dom Higgins	A rapid economic assessment of individual Wildlife Trusts’ ‘Natural Health Services’.

Session 3 – 3.20pm

Sarah Milton	Accumulating inequalities: a qualitative life history examination of how processes of racism and racialisation impact on maternal health among British Somali women in the UK.
Alexandra L Creavin	Public Health Communication and multi-disciplinary NHS Workload relating to Group A Streptococcus: A Retrospective Observational Study
Yekta Saidi	Using Bayesian networks to explore differences in the relationships of factors related to mental health for LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ adolescents in a UK cohort study.
Maxine Radcliffe	Women’s experiences of homelessness in high income contexts: Evidence from a meta-ethnographic systematic review
Marissa J. Smith	Co-production of an advocacy video with adolescents on e-cigarette advertising in Scotland

Some notes on the progress of this year’s conference organisation:

• Final abstract decisions will be disseminated to authors on or before Sept 16th
• Registration will open early September.
• The pre-conference dinner will be held on Thursday 28th Nov. at The Botanist, Cardiff Central . Delegates will be able to register for the dinner during the main conference registration process. Limited places on first come, first served basis.

Key Info

Conference venue: Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (Venue website | Google Maps pin)

Date: Thursday 28th and Friday 29th November 2024 – Note the main conference takes place on the Friday with the early career researcher event and conference dinner taking place on the Thursday afternoon and evening, respectively.

Registration: Available from September. Please join the mailing list to be informed when it is avaialble.

Abstract submission deadline: Monday 20th May 2024 – Detailed abstract guidance can be found here.

Call for abstracts: See The Lancet or this page on the current website.

Poster presentation and oral presentation guidelines to follow.

Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Friday November 29th 2024
Abstract submission deadline: Monday May 20th 2024

We are delighted to invite abstract submissions for UK Public Health Science: A National Conference Dedicated to New Research in UK Public Health that will be held in Cardiff on Friday November 29th, 2024. This annual conference showcases leading innovative public health research from across the UK and Ireland with accepted submissions published online by The Lancet. The conference will bring together researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and experts by experience to share and discuss contemporary issues, perspectives, and challenges in public health science and explore their impacts for practice, policy, health services, and research.

Abstracts are welcomed from people and groups working across all sectors and disciplines on topics related to any aspect of public health in the UK or Ireland. Relevant research is invited from the national health services, local authorities, charities and advocacy services, government bodies, universities, or other research bodies. This cross-sectoral approach makes for a fascinating and valuable event where participants can be inspired by novel world-class research.

Conference themes – Alongside the overall focus on public health science, this year’s conference will explore the connection between healthy neighbourhoods, the built environment, and public health from a multidisciplinary perspective. Cities have a central role in shaping population health. Understanding and optimising the built environment within urban settings is vital for cultivating health-promoting spaces. Submissions are invited* that address evidence-based interventions and policies relating to not only the physical aspects of neighbourhoods, but also to the quality of the air, reduction of noise pollution, and mitigation of other environmental stressors. By highlighting these issues, the conference seeks to stimulate discussions that can inform policies, interventions, and research initiatives dedicated to fostering healthier communities and mitigating the impact of environmental pollutants on population health. 

*Note: Abstracts on all aspects of public health are welcomed and do not have to address this theme. 

Conference structure – The conference will consist of oral paper presentations, chaired poster sessions, and keynote speeches. All abstracts will be considered for oral presentation. Abstracts can be submitted under any of the three core categories: creativity in public health science; new methodological approaches to public health science; or impact and implementation of public health science in policy and practice. Research described in the abstracts may have been undertaken anywhere in the world but must be relevant to public health science, practice, and policy in the UK or Ireland. We particularly encourage submissions that include experts by experience or early career researchers.

The conference will be preceded by an early career researcher event and networking conference dinner on Thursday November 28th, 2024. In line with our ongoing commitment to work towards delivering a net-zero conference, details of the conference carbon reduction plans and carbon offsetting will also be published on the conference website in due course.

Prizes – Prizes for best oral and best poster presentation will be awarded in two categories. The first category is for presentations by an early career researcher. These prizes will be generously provided and awarded by the NIHR School of Public Health Research. This category is open to pre-PhD researchers (eg, MSc student, foundation year trainee, research assistant, public health trainee, or academic clinical fellow), PhD students, postdoctoral trainees (eg, clinical lecturers, clinician scientist fellows, early career post-doctoral, or equivalent posts), and researchers from other pathways that self-identify as being early in their career. 

The second category of prizes recognises that experts with lived and living experience of public health issues have a crucial role in shaping and carrying out impactful research. Abstract submissions for this category are particularly encouraged from, or in collaboration with, experts by experience where the research shows meaningful involvement of people with lived experience. These prizes are kindly sponsored by University College London’s online Master of Public Health programme, which has lived experience involvement as one of its core underpinning values and cross-cutting themes.

Abstract instructions – All abstracts should be 300 words or fewer, written in English, and structured with the following sections: background (which should provide context and briefly outline the research aim); methods; findings; and interpretation. Submissions must not contain references, tables, or figures. Abstracts should include the following: a non-declaratory title that includes a study descriptor (eg, retrospective cohort study, randomised controlled trial, ethnographic study); names, titles, highest degrees, and affiliations of authors; postal and email address for the corresponding author and (if different) the presenting author; whether any of the authors are considered experts by experience; whether the presenting author is an early career researcher; any funding received (please also state if none); and a brief summary of each author’s contributions and competing interests (please also state if none). Abstracts should not have been published elsewhere and must include some results (results of ongoing analyses are acceptable). Reports of randomized controlled trials should follow the CONSORT extension for abstracts. Abstract guidelines are available on The Lancet’s website. Any abstracts that do not follow these formatting requirements will be rejected without peer review.

Abstracts need to be submitted through The Lancet’s online submission system and should be Microsoft Word documents. A covering letter should be included stating the submission is for the UK Public Health Science conference 2024. All submissions will undergo peer review. The deadline for abstract submission is Monday May 20th, 2024. The authors of successful submissions will be informed by Monday September 16th, 2024.

We look forward to receiving your submissions and seeing you all in Cardiff, The Lancet UK Public Health Science conference committee.

The conference will be in London, UK, at 15Hatfields, Chadwick Court, London, SE1 8DJ, https://www.15hatfields.com/ on Friday 24 November 2023. You can book your place at the conference through the Hg3 booking website here. The conference will be preceded by an Early Career Researcher (ECR) event (1-4pm) on Thursday 23 November. You can register for the ECR event at the same time as the conference via the Hg3 booking link:

https://www.eventsforce.net/hg3/269/home

8:30	Registration and coffee
9:00	Welcome and housekeeping – Charlotte Vrinten
9:10	Keynote address: Professor Andrew Steptoe, UCL.
9:30	Keynote address: Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner, Wales.
9:50	Session 1: Creativity and innovation in public health science  Goal setting as part of a holistic intervention to promote independence in older people with mild frailty: A process evaluation alongside a randomised controlled trial –Yolanda Barrado-Martin Workplace bullying and harassment: prevalence, nature and associations with mental health conditions in a cross-sectional probability sample survey of England – Annie Bunce Explaining differential socioeconomic effects in population health interventions: Development and application of a new tool to classify intervention agentic demand – Kate Garrott Engaging the ‘hard to engage’: Lessons from a qualitative evaluation of the Gateway programme, aimed at improving health and life chances for young people committing low-level offences – Inna Walker Association between care experience and mental health hospitalisation among children in Scotland, with a focus on chronic conditions (CHiCS): A population-wide longitudinal study using administrative data – Edit Gedeon  Panel discussion with chairs and presenters
11:00	Tea & coffee break and poster viewing
11:30	Keynote address – Professor Hilary Graham, University of York
12:00	Session 2: New methodological approaches to public health science  Better informing everyday fall risk assessment: Experimental studies with contemporary technologies – Jason Moore Profiles of tobacco smokers and ex-smokers using unsupervised machine learning cluster analysis in a large-scale random sample survey across Wales – Annette Evans A cross-sectional study of peer effects on health-related behaviours of adolescents in Scotland using social network analysis – Srebrenka Letina HEALTHEI Project scoping review: Understanding the use of media analysis in public health research through food tax debates – Rachel Headings  Hospital admissions for physical health and psychosocial adversity among people experiencing homelessness in England: A population-based retrospective cross-sectional study – Serena Luchenski  Panel discussion with chairs and presenters
13:15	Lunch & chaired poster viewing
14:30	Keynote address – Professor Tracy Daszkiewicz, Faculty of Public Health
15:00	Tea & coffee break and poster viewing
15:20	Session 3: Implementing public health science in policy and practice  Social responses to stigma: An ethnographic case study of stigma and discrimination and its homeless and health system contexts in South London – Andy Guise and River Újhadbora Using a participatory approach to encouraging uptake of breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening for Scottish Muslim women – Floor Christie-de Jong Population-level interventions for the primary prevention of dementia: A complex evidence review – Sebastian Walsh  Evaluating the impact of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland: A theory-based synthesis of the evidence – Chris Patterson Using the Doughnut Economics framework to structure whole-systems thinking in socioecological wellbeing with multidisciplinary stakeholders: An applied case study in Glasgow, Scotland – Annika Hjelmskog  Panel discussion with chairs and presenters
16:30	Prize announcements ECR prizes – Professor Ashley Adamson Lived experience prizes – Serena Luchenski, University College London & Stan Burridge Expert Focus
16:45	Closing address – Dr Jessamy Bagenal
17:00	End of conference

Group 1: Covid

1. The Sussex COVID-19 Modelling Cell: the methods and successes of a collaboration between local authorities, NHS hospital trusts, NHS commissioners, and universities – Anjum Memon
2. Infodemiology: untangling the relationship between mental distress, trust in the pandemic response, and COVID-19 health literacy during the COVID-19 infodemic in Ireland – Julie Arnott
3. Gender inequalities in the disruption of long-term life satisfaction trajectories during COVID-19: evidence from a prospective cohort study in the UK – Darío Moreno-Agostino
4. Impact of Long Covid on work: findings from a co-produced survey – Nida Ziauddeen
5. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delayed care of cardiovascular diseases in Europe: a systematic review – Yasmine Khan

Group 2: Substance use and policy

6. E-cigarette attitudes and behaviours among 15 to 30-year-olds in the UK – Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes
7. Associations of social media use with smoking and e-cigarettes: a national longitudinal study – Anthony Laverty
8. Associations between parental smoking and teenage alcohol and drug use -a longitudinal analysis of the Growing Up in Ireland cohort study – Salome Sunday
9. Health, economic and equity consequences of future tobacco control policies in England, a microsimulation study – Vincy Huang
10. Building the case for a coherent policy approach to tobacco, alcohol and foods high in fats, salt or sugar using qualitative methods – Alaa JAwad

Group 3: Physical activity

11. Modelling the health burden of air pollution in the UK using updated exposure-risk relationships – Karn Vohra
12. The Walking In ScHools (WISH) Study, a peer-led walking intervention for adolescent girls: Results of a clustered randomised controlled trial – Maria O’Kane
13. Physical activity in outdoor spaces, sleep quality and general health: a pilot/ feasibility study – Thayse Gomes
14. Prospective analysis of the dose-response of accelerometer-measured physical activity, step count, and cancer risk in the UK Biobank – Alaina Shreves
15. Effectiveness of interventions for improving physical activity level in working-age people (aged 18-60 years) with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Xiaoyan Zhao

Group 4: Digital health and healthcare public health innovation

16. Application of triangulation of qualitative analyses to co-design an intervention to improve the quality of written communication at patient discharge – Ola Markiewicz
17. Comparing patient journey and costs through a Brain Health Clinic with a memory clinic – Lucy Cunningham
18. Understanding ethnic inequalities in the design and implementation of digital health interventions for cardiometabolic disease: a qualitative study – Mel Ramasawmy
19. Nowcasting waiting lists for elective procedures and surgery in England: a modelling study – Dmitri Nepogodiev
20. Medical cyber-crises and biotechnological syndromes: a multi-site clinical simulation study focused on digital health complaints – Isabel Straw

Group 5: Migrant and inclusion health

21. Lessons Learned from Co-Production in Public Health Research: The MAMAH Study Involving Underserved Migrant Mothers in the UK – Kerrie Stevenson
22. Recording and Analysing Ethnicity in Public Health Research: A Bibliographical Review and Focus Group Discussions with young migrants and refugees in the UK – Joseph Lam
23. The Medical Consequences of “Contingency Accommodation” for People Seeking Asylum: Thematic analysis of a survey from professionals working in contingency accommodation – Joanna Dobbin
24. A co-produced qualitative systematic review of the international evidence on lived experiences of trauma during homelessness and impacts on mental health (including substance use) – Emma Adams
25. Interventions to improve access to primary care for inclusion health groups in England: a scoping review – Elspeth Carruters
26. A mixed method study of GP registration for inclusion health groups in England – Ada Humphrey

Group 6: Inequalities and marginalised populations

27. Determinants of lipid clinic referral and attendance in a multi-ethnic adult population in South London: a cross-sectional study – Aya Ayoub
28. Surviving stomach bugs in UK ethnic groups: a qualitative study – Iram Zahair
29. A concept mapping approach to assess factors influencing the delivery of community-based salon interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease and breast cancer among ethnically diverse women in South London – Maham Zaman
30. Interventions to improve oral health and related health behaviours of substance use, smoking and diet in people with severe and multiple disadvantage: a systematic review of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness – Deepti John
31. Exploring substance misuse in prison: A cross-sectional analysis – Benjamin Gray
32. A three-year review of deaths in those under community supervision in Wales: A cross-sectional analysis – Benjamin Gray

Group 7: Ageing and health 

33. Tracing the Temporal Trends of Modifiable Risk Factors in Dementia: Insights from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2004-2019) – Chen Shaquan
34. Factors associated with multimorbidity: An analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing – Yvonne Nartey
35. Attitudes to long-term care in India – A secondary analysis – Sweedal Alberts
36. The heterogeneous impacts of China’s hierarchical medical system reforms on health service utilisation and health outcomes among elderly populations: a longitudinal quasi-experimental study – Chang Cai
37. How does the environment in and around the home impact social care and health outcomes for older people? A national longitudinal dynamic cohort study – William Midgley

Group 8: Healthy ageing interventions

38. Service Evaluation: Dementia Actif: An evaluation of dementia friendly exercise and well-being programme – Ceryl Davies
39. How does Mild Cognitive Impairment in older adults impact the type of goals set and progress towards these goals, in a behaviour change intervention? – a mixed methods review of goals set in an RCT – Tasmin Rookes
40. Enabling health and maintaining independence for older people at home: the ‘HomeHealth’ randomised controlled trial – Rachel Frost
41. Gait retraining to reduce falls: An experimental study toward scalable and personalised use in the home – Conor Wall
42. Arts and cultural group participation and subsequent wellbeing: A longitudinal analysis of older adults in Japan and England using doubly robust estimators – Jessica Bone
43. Characteristics and consequences of participatory research approaches in long-term care facilities for older adults: a meta-ethnography of qualitative studies – Sophie Gaber

Group 9: Food environment and policy

44. “I don’t think it’s just parents”: reflecting on parental insights into healthy lifestyles – Judith Lunn
45. What are the causal effects of later eating rhythm on adiposity in children? Evidence from comparing two cohorts in the UK and China – Mengxuan Zou
46. Food insecurity and diet quality in households accessing food membership clubs in Wessex – Nida Ziauddeen
47. Household food insecurity and child health outcomes: a rapid review of mechanisms and associations – Sarah Abraham
48. Changes in food and drink purchasing behaviour in England during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic: An interrupted time series analysis – Alexandra Kalbus
49. A mixed methods study to identify tax options for high fat, sugar, salt foods for the HEALTHEI Project – Natalie Connor

Group 10: Child and adolescent health

50. Physical health of care-experienced young children in high-income countries: a scoping review – Daniel Bradford
51. Growth-screening in early childhood. A qualitative study of parental and health visitor perceptions – Tahmid Rahman
52. The wider health and wellbeing needs of those accessing paediatric care in England: engaging with the hidden voices of children and young people – Avni Hindocha
53. The odds of gambling among adolescents – Results from a secondary analysis of the cross-sectional ‘European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs’ (ESPAD) – Ciara Reynolds
54. Engaging young people to tackle an emerging public health problem; a cross-sectional study evaluating the effectiveness of interactive workshops to raise awareness about the neurological harms associated with nitrous oxide use – Devan Mair
55. Exploring the cross-sectional association between friendship quality and subjective wellbeing in adolescents –Abdullah Alsarrani

Group 11: Mental health 

56. Adolescent emotional well-being beyond COVID-19: The role of the multiple Index of deprivation in predicting mental health outcomes – Judith Lunn
57. More play and fewer screens – a way to improve preschoolers’ mental health? Cross-sectional findings from the British Preschool-children’s Play Survey – Kathryn Hesketh
58. Social determinants and risk factors of mental health trajectories during mid-life: Evidence from the 1970 British Cohort Study – Christoph Henking
59. A mixed methods study using co-production to explore food insecurity in adults with severe mental illness living in Northern England – Emma Giles
60. The moderating effect of country-level health determinants on the relationship between hobby engagement and mental health: longitudinal models, multi-level models, meta-analyses and meta-regressions involving 93,263 older adults in 16 countries – Daisy Fancourt
61. Trajectories of depressive symptoms 10-year after stroke and associated risk factors: a prospective cohort study –Lu Liu

Group 12: Workplace and workforce

62. Experiences of menopause in the Welsh NHS workplace: A focus group study – Gemma Hobson
63. How can workplace charters reduce health inequalities for employees? A qualitative study of West Yorkshire business leaders – Sulia Celebi
64. ‘Undermined and gaslit’: qualitative semi-structured interviews exploring the experiences of shielding junior doctors and the value of a diverse medical workforce – Amy Martin
65. Public Health Qualifications, Motivation and Experience of Pharmacy Professionals: an exploratory study with Pharmacy and Public Health Professionals – Diane Ashiru-Oredope
66. The protective effect of trade unions on workers’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK – Theocharis Kromydas
67. A rapid realist review of workplace health initiatives: What works, for whom, in what contexts, and how? – Mackenzie Fong

Group 13: Non-communicable diseases

68. TRial to Assess Implementation of New research findings in a primary care Setting (TRAINS Study): A Pragmatic Cluster RCT of a Letter to GP Practices to Promote Asthma Prescription During Summer Holiday in Primary Care – Rami Alyami
69. Autoimmune diseases and adverse pregnancy outcomes: an Umbrella Review – Megha Singh
70. Minority community group uptake of diabetes follow-up checks: A rapid review of the evidence – Llinos Haf Spencer
71. Using the 2021 UK Medical Research Council Guidance to refine the Women’s Wellness with Type 2 Diabetes Programme – Deniz Bozkurt
72. Evaluating the effectiveness of Community Health Worker interventions on glycaemic control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis – Joseph Evans
73. The estimation of HbA1c after weight loss using a beta-regression for an economic evaluation of a behavioural weight management programme – Katharine Pidd

Group 14: Cancer screening and early diagnosis

74. Randomised controlled trial of an SMS and animated video intervention to increase breast cancer screening uptake – Gaby Judah
75. Modelling the impact of risk stratification by polygenic risk and age on breast cancer screening in women aged 40-49 – Catherine Huntley
76. Developing and piloting an intervention to reduce colposcopy non-attendance and corresponding inequalities: A mixed methods study – Allison Cowling
77. Impact of Behavioural Science Informed Messaging on Uptake of Targeted Lung Health Checks: A Service Evaluation – Maira Salman
78. A qualitative study on the impact on early diagnosis behaviours of health communications to raise awareness of the relative risk of age and cancer – Charlotte Ide-Walters
79. Mixed methods cross-sectional evaluation of an early diagnosis mass media campaign, targeting older adults in Northern Ireland – Charlotte Ide-Walters 

Group 15: Public Health in practice 

80. Governments policy measures to address obesity among adults: A scoping review of the global evidence – Fadwa Alrubaian
81. Surge of lower respiratory tract Group A Streptococcus infections in England in Winter 2022: Epidemiology and clinical profile – Neil Bray
82. Mitigation of RSV epidemics by RSVpreF post-COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom: a modeling study – Zhanwei Du
83. Did anonymity in self-administered questionnaires improve disclosure of sensitive information during the 2022 Mpox outbreak in England? – Neil Bray
84. Consideration of factors associated with inequalities in interventions that support healthcare professionals’ interaction with patients to reduce inappropriate antimicrobial use: a systematic review – Abimbola Ayorinde
85. Deaths of Despair in England: An Observational Study of Local Authority Mortality Data – Christine Camacho

This year, the UK Public Health Science Conference Early Career Researcher (ECR) event is on Thursday 23 November, 1-4pm, at the Waterloo Action Centre.

The ECR event provides a platform for Early Career Researchers to connect and exchange knowledge and expertise.

This year’s exciting event is all about career development, both within and beyond academia. We will have a mixture of talks and interactive sessions.

Director of Public Health Alison Challenger will discuss job opportunities in public health, then Dr. Aradhna Kaushal will talk about Developing Skills for Public Engagement in Public Health Research. Dr Steve Joy will then lead an interactive workshop on career development.

After the formal event, there will be options for networking, socialising and dining with other ECRs ahead of the main conference on the Friday.

As a public health community, we are acutely aware of the on-going climate crisis and the impact it has on public health globally.  Therefore, we have committed ourselves to reducing the environmental impact of our annual conference, with the aim of going net zero.  On this page, we would like to describe what we have done so far to reduce the conference’s impact on the climate, and what our plans are to take this aim forward for the 2023 conference and beyond.

1. What are the climate impacts of our conference?

We have convened a low carbon conferencing sub-committee each year since 2020.The first task of this committee was to take stock of the emissions associated with the conference, and come up with ways to reduce them.  For this, we have been drawing on previous work by others, such as The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations 2018 conference, the European Biological Rhythms Society 2019 conference, and commentary in the Lancet Planetary Health.

This showed that the main impacts of the conference were emissions associated with the conference venue itself, including catering, food waste, and energy usage; travel and accommodation of speakers and delegates; hire and transport of the poster boards and AV equipment; the conference and registration websites; publication of the conference abstracts; and the delegate packs.

2. What have we done so far to mitigate these impacts?

To reduce our emissions associated with the venue, we try to book venues with sustainable credentials.  For example, our 2023 conference will be held at 15Hatfields, which is one of the most sustainable venues in London.

About a third of all greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food production and food waste, with meat-based diets one of the biggest offenders.  Since 2019, we have therefore made all catering at the conference vegetarian or vegan.  Our first conference dinner in 2022 was also entirely vegetarian.  We ask our venues to provide tap water for our delegates, to reduce our consumption of bottled water and single-use plastics.

We have also reduced the conference materials we hand out to delegates.  Since 2021, the conference abstracts are no longer printed in a hardcopy abstract booklet, but are only available online.  We no longer give out delegate packs with pens, leaflets, and notepaper.  The programme booklet for the day has been reduced to a pocket size which fits into the delegate badge holders. We ask delegates to return their badge holders and lanyards at the end of the day to be reused.

Despite these important steps to reduce our environmental impact, it is almost inevitable that there will be some emissions associated with the conference.  Each year, we estimate the remaining emissions, such as for the online hosting of our websites and conference abstracts and delegate travel (assuming public transport was used).  We generously round up this number and offset these remaining emissions through the UN Carbon Offset Platform.  Since 2021, we have offset the equivalent of 7 tonnes of CO2 by sponsoring the DelAgua Public Health project in Eastern Africa.

3.  What are our plans for the future?

We have tried to minimise the biggest climate impacts associated with the conference over which we as organisers have direct control.  There is still more that can be done, however.  In 2022, we asked our delegates for the first time how far they had travelled to the conference and what mode of transport they used and we will continue to do this to monitor how delegates travel to our conference.  For 2023, we ask delegates at the point of registering for the conference how they intend to travel to the conference, to raise awareness of the impact of travel.

4. What did not make the cut, and why?

There are a few things that we have considered on our journey to reduce our environmental impact that we have not (yet) adopted:

For the 2022 conference, we considered providing our delegates with vouchers to a shared bicycle scheme to cover the last mile(s) within Glasgow to the venue by bike.  We ended up deciding against this because we expected most delegates would bring an overnight bag or suitcase and/or sensitive equipment such as laptops and would not be able (or want) to cycle with these items.  We were also unsure if the Scottish weather at the end of November would make cycling seem like an appealing option to our delegates.  We also recognised that some people would not feel safe or confident cycling without a helmet or in an unfamiliar city.  We will continue to engage with our delegates to assess their appetite for using shared bicycle schemes to get to and from the conference venue in the future.  In the meantime, we encourage our delegates to use public transport to get to the conference venue, or share taxis where possible.

A lot of our delegates have suggested the possibility of a hybrid conference, and have pointed out that being able to join the conference online would bring both environmental and accessibility benefits.  Environmental benefits because it reduces the need for delegate travel and accommodation.  Accessibility benefits because it would make the conference more accessible to people who are unable to join in person due to ill health, caring responsibilities, or other reasons. Although we absolutely agree with them and have given this suggestion serious consideration, the cost involved in organising a hybrid conference has proven prohibitive.  The increase in delegate fees to cover these additional costs would make the conference less accessible to a lot of other delegates, such as students and trainees.  We have therefore had to decide that at present we cannot offer a hybrid conferencing experience.  We will continue to monitor this for future editions of the conference.

We always welcome new ideas to help us reduce our environmental impact – so if you’d like to share an idea or best practice, please do get in touch! (contact details can be found on the About Us page)