Workshops, oral and poster presentations

***PLEASE NOTE: The deadline for abstracts / poster submissions for the Global Empathy in Healthcare Network Symposium 2025 is now CLOSED***

The Global Empathy in Healthcare Network invited abstract submissions for workshops, oral presentations, and posters at the Rehumanising Healthcare in a Divided World symposium. Submissions were related – but not limited – to:

• Empathy in clinical practice and medical education

• Innovative approaches to teaching and assessing empathy

• The role of empathy in reducing health inequalities

• Supporting healthcare professionals’ well-being through empathy

• Patient perspectives on empathy and compassionate care

• Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives on humanising healthcare

• Technology and its impact on empathic healthcare

Individuals submitting abstracts were invited to choose which themes below applied to their abstract. They were invited to submit a maximum of three abstracts.

• Teaching

  1. Teaching and Facilitating Learning

     • Includes creative and innovative approaches to teaching empathy in healthcare.

  2. Curriculum and Faculty Development

     • Curriculum design for empathy-centred education.

     • Faculty development for teaching empathy.

  3. Assessment and Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

     • Assessment methods for empathy and professionalism.

     • CPD strategies to sustain empathic practice.

  4. Patient Involvement in Healthcare Education

     • Role of patients as educators.

     • Impact of patient stories on learning empathy.

• Research

  1. Development and Evaluation of Measurement Tools

     • Tools to assess empathy in healthcare professionals and outcomes in patient care.

  2. Impact of Empathic Cultures and Systems

     • Research on how organisational cultures affect empathic practices.

  3. Disparity in Global Healthcare and Empathy

     • Exploring how global disparities impact empathy in healthcare delivery.

• Policy

  1. System Interventions

     • Policies to build and sustain empathic cultures in healthcare systems.

  2. Funding for Empathy-Centred Initiatives

     • Strategies to secure financial support for empathic healthcare practices.

  3. Improving Patient Satisfaction and Safety

     • Interventions to enhance patient experiences and safety through empathy.

  4. Empathy and Practitioner Wellbeing

     • Policy-driven approaches to address burnout and promote wellbeing among healthcare professionals.

  5. Defining the Good Healthcare Professional

     • Exploring policy implications of empathy in defining healthcare professionalism.

• Integrated themes spanning Teaching, Research, and Policy

  1. Empathy, artificial intelligence (AI), and technology

     • On the interplay between empathy, AI, and technology: In what ways is empathy enhanced (or inhibited by) AI and technology?

  2. Empathy and Practitioner Burnout

     • Interventions across education, research, and systems to address burnout and foster resilience.

  3. Creative Approaches to Empathic Healthcare

     • Innovations in teaching, practice, and policy to make empathy integral to healthcare.

Oral and poster presentation guidelines

When completing the submission form, you can choose to have your work considered for:

1. Either an oral or poster presentation, or

2. A poster presentation only.

Submissions must focus on empathic healthcare and may include the following categories:

• Teaching: Innovations in curricula, teaching methods, assessment strategies, or instructional materials for healthcare professional education.

• Research: Projects focused on research activities.

• Policy: Initiatives related to policy, implementation strategies, guideline creation etc.

• Integrated themes: Spanning teaching, research and policy

Note: Abstracts with preliminary data can be submitted, but the absence of results may impact reviewers' ability to fully assess the work's significance. Submissions under Teaching and Policy categories should include evaluation data, if available, to demonstrate the intervention's effectiveness.

Presentation requirements

• Oral presentations: Accepted oral presenters will deliver a 9-minute talk followed by a 4-minute discussion.

• Poster presentations: Accepted poster presenters must prepare and print an A1 size poster (landscape or portrait) for display at the symposium.

• Works in progress (WIP): Submissions in this category allow students, trainees, and early-career researchers to present ongoing projects without finalised results. WIP presenters are required to deliver a 7-minute talk followed by 8 minutes of discussion for feedback. Those opting for WIP presentations must include specific questions for feedback in their submission.

Abstract submission guidance for Oral and Poster presentations

Abstract structure:

All submissions should follow the structured format below: Background, Methods, Findings, and Discussion. Abstracts should not exceed 300 words and should clearly address one of the conference themes (Teaching, Research, Policy, or Integrated).

• For Teaching submissions

  This category highlights innovations and strategies in empathy-centred healthcare education.

  • Background: Explain the relevance of your work, institutional context, and specific educational objectives.

  • Methods: Detail the developmental approach, instructional strategies, curriculum design, or assessment methods used.

  • Findings: Summarise key evaluation data to demonstrate effectiveness (avoid stating "data will be discussed").

  • Discussion: Discuss potential innovations, scalability, and implications for enhancing empathy in healthcare education.

  Example topics:

  • Innovative simulation or role-playing approaches.

  • Empathy-centred curriculum design and faculty development.

  • Strategies for patient involvement in teaching and assessment.

• For Research submissions

  This category focuses on advancing understanding and evidence related to empathy in healthcare.

  • Background: Highlight the relevance, objectives, and key research questions, aims, or hypotheses.

  • Methods: Describe the study design, participant demographics, data collection, and analytical approaches.

  • Findings: Provide key results supported by data (avoid stating "results will be discussed").

  • Discussion: Reflect on how your findings contribute to the field, including innovative aspects and implications for empathic healthcare.

  Example topics:

  • Validation of new empathy measurement tools.

  • Research on empathy’s impact on patient outcomes and professional wellbeing.

  • The role of organisational culture in fostering or hindering empathic practice.

• For Policy submissions

  This category emphasises systemic interventions, policy innovations, and practical applications to promote empathy in healthcare.

  • Background: Describe the context, relevance, and objectives of the policy innovation.

  • Methods: Provide details of the innovation, including implementation strategies, stakeholder involvement, or guideline development.

  • Findings: Present evaluation data or real-world outcomes where available (avoid stating "data will be discussed").

  • Discussion: Explore potential contributions, broader implications, and lessons learned for empathic healthcare systems.

  Example topics:

  • Policies to address burnout and promote practitioner wellbeing.

  • Financial strategies for empathy-centred healthcare initiatives.

  • Systemic approaches to improve patient satisfaction and safety through empathy.

• For Integrated submissions (spanning Teaching, Research, and Policy)

  This category covers interdisciplinary approaches that bridge teaching, research, and policy to address empathy in healthcare.

  • Background: Define the overarching issue and the interdisciplinary nature of your work.

  • Methods: Detail how teaching, research, and policy intersect in your approach, including frameworks or strategies used.

  • Findings: Highlight outcomes achieved across multiple domains with supporting data.

  • Discussion: Reflect on the broader impact of integrating these domains, including challenges, synergies, and implications for empathic healthcare.

  Example topics:

  • AI and technology’s role in fostering empathy across education, practice, and policy.

  • Addressing practitioner burnout through integrated interventions.

  • Creative approaches uniting education, research, and policy to embed empathy in healthcare.

Review criteria

All submissions will be evaluated based on the following:

1. Relevance and significance: How well does the submission align with the themes of empathic healthcare?

2. Innovation: Does the work demonstrate novel approaches in teaching, research, or policy/practice?

3. Clarity of objectives: Are the objectives of the submission clearly articulated?

4. Methods: Are the methods appropriate and of high quality?

5. Findings: Are the findings clearly presented and supported by evidence?

6. Discussion: Does the discussion provide meaningful insights and implications for empathic healthcare?

7. Overall quality: Is the abstract well-written, coherent, and easy to understand?

Workshop guidelines

Workshops are designed as interactive educational sessions that emphasise participant engagement on topics related to empathic healthcare. To be accepted, workshops must prioritise experiential learning.

Traditional lecture-style content should be kept to a minimum, as the focus is on actively involving participants in meaningful activities.

Workshops should provide opportunities for attendees to practice skills, apply concepts, receive feedback, and interact with peers.

These sessions may cover topics such as research methods, teaching techniques, policy and practice issues, or other areas requiring skill development.

Workshops should equip participants with tools and strategies they can implement within their own institutions.

The audience is likely to include educators, researchers, clinicians, and policymakers in empathic healthcare, so workshop content must cater to their professional needs. Workshop sessions are 90 minutes in length.

Workshop submissions will be assessed based on the following:

• Relevance and significance in advancing empathic healthcare.

• Innovation in research, teaching, assessment, or policy / practice.

• Promotion of experiential learning.

• Creativity and originality.

• Potential impact on the field.

• Overall clarity and quality of the abstract.