We have a lot to share about the experiences of our team members who attended the EACD/IAACD conference this year!
Researchers from our team who attended include Christine Imms, Nicole Merrick, Stacey Cleary, and Kerry Britt, as well as Bridget O’Connor, who presented online.
From delightful meals with friends to sharing and learning from presenters at the conference, here are the highlights of the trip.

The conference was held from July 24 to 28 in the charming city of Heidelberg, Germany.

Organised by the European Academy of Childhood-onset Disability (EACD) and The International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disability (IAACD), it gathered over 2000 researchers, clinicians, and experts in the field to share the results of their research and experiences with disability over the course of three days.

Although the highlight of the team’s trip to Heidelberg was the conference, there was no shortage of spectacular views and historical sites to take in, and our visiting team members got to experience some world-class hospitality.

The conference was hosted in the Heidelberg Congress Center, nestled in the southwest of the city, within the Bahnstadt campus.

Here are just a few of the presentations given by team members:

Nicole Merrick, presenting “Implementation of Disability Identification in Electronic Medical Records (EMR)”.

Kerry Britt, presenting “ENVISAGE-Service Providers: Creating opportunities to change how service providers think, talk about, and approach childhood disability. A qualitative exploration”.

Bridget O’Connor presenting “ENVISAGE-Service Providers ” remotely via Zoom.

Stacey Cleary, presenting “Participation experiences of young people with CP “.

Our director, Christine Imms, delivered a speech in the opening and closing ceremonies, receiving a standing ovation for her handover as the new President of the IAACD.

Christine was also interviewed over the course of the conference by a representative of ResearchWorks Academy, Dr Dayna Pool, which you can watch here.