We are delighted to invite abstract submissions for Public Health Science: A National Conference Dedicated to New Research in UK Public Health, to be held in London, UK, on Nov 24, 2023. This annual conference showcases the quality and impact of public health research in the UK and Ireland by bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to discuss important public health issues, perspectives, methodologies, findings, and implications for public health practice, policy, health services, and research.
We welcome abstracts on all topics and disciplines that affect public health. We encourage perspectives from those working across all sectors and disciplines, including, but not limited to, the National Health Service (NHS), local authorities and commissioned services, charities and advocacy organisations, universities, and government bodies.
For this year’s conference we encourage multidisciplinary submissions that focus on public health for an ageing population. Increasing life expectancy within the UK and worldwide brings major public health challenges through increased frailty, more prevalent disability and burden of disease, and greater requirement for health and social care monitoring and intervention in the population. The UK’s ageing population therefore places huge pressure on our entire national healthcare infrastructure. Maximising the health and wellbeing of the older population is important, and so too is the challenge of nurturing and protecting the longterm wellbeing of our younger populations, who collectively face uncertain futures posed by austerity, conflict, climate change, enduring and pervasive inequalities, and the lasting effects of the COVID19 pandemic. This year we therefore particularly invite discussions related to intergenerational justice—namely, how to ensure fair policies and outcomes across all generations. How, for example, are current public health interventions and policies adapting to an ageing population, and how might these changes impact wider lifecourse interventions in public health intended to improve the health of younger generations, now and in the future?
The conference will consist of oral paper presentations, chaired poster sessions, and keynote speeches. Submissions are now open for oral and poster presentations. 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 and Ireland. We welcome submissions from individuals in the early stages of their careers.
Abstracts should be a maximum of 300 words, be written in English, and contain no references, tables, or figures. Submissions should include the following sections: background (including context and aim); methods; findings; and interpretation. Please also include a nondeclaratory title (including a study descriptor— eg, retrospective cohort study, randomised controlled trial); names, titles, highest degrees, and affiliations of authors; postal and email address for the corresponding author and (if different) the presenting author; 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. Abstracts should not have been previously published elsewhere and must include some results (results of ongoing analyses are acceptable). Reports of randomised controlled trials should follow the CONSORT extension for abstracts guidance. Abstract guidelines are available on The Lancet’s websiteand guidance on how to submit is available here. Any abstracts that are not correctly formatted will be rejected without peer review.
Submit your abstract as a Microsoft Word document through The Lancet’s online submission system, stating in your covering letter that the submission is for the UK Public Health Science Conference 2023. All abstracts will be considered for oral and poster presentations. The deadline for abstract submission is May 15, 2023. After The Lancet’s peer review process, successful applicants will be informed of acceptance of their abstract for oral or poster presentation by Sept 15, 2023. Abstracts accepted after peer review will be published online by The Lancet.
In recognition of the contribution that early career researchers make to public health, we will again be awarding prizes for the best oral and poster presentations by early career researchers. These prizes are sponsored by the NIHR School for Public Health Research. If you wish to be entered into this competition, please indicate in your submitted manuscript whether the presenting author is a prePhD researcher (eg, MSc student, foundation year trainee, research assistant, public health trainee, or academic clinical fellow), PhD student, or postdoctoral trainee (eg, clinical lecturer, clinician scientist fellow, early career postdoc, or equivalent posts). In addition, an event for early career researchers will be organised on the day before the conference.
Does your research involve people with lived experience? At this year’s Public Health Science: A National Conference, UCL’s new Online Master of Public Health are awarding £200 each to one oral presentation and to one poster presentation which have most effectively and equitably involved people with lived experience in their work. All abstracts that clearly include lived experience in their methods and results will be considered for this prize. These new prizes have been created to reflect a core and underpinning value of the newly launched Master of Public Health programme, which is the importance of involving people with lived experience in public health research, service, policy, and education. Through harnessing the expertise of public health academics, leaders, practitioners, and people with lived experience, this MPH degree, launched in 2022, blends classical population health sciences with an innovative interdisciplinary approach to enable graduates to bring world-class learning to their future employment and the field of public health science. Find out more about the UCL Online Master of Public Health by watching this video or by visiting our websites: MPH Prospectus and the UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences.
In line with our ongoing commitment to work towards delivering a netzero conference, details of the conference carbon reduction plans and carbon offsetting will be published on the website in due course. The conference will be preceded by an early career researcher event and by a networking conference dinner on Nov 23, 2023.