AOTF Engage Summit 2024 | October 10-11, 2024 | Alexandria, Va.

Join us for Education, Networking, and Fun!

Are you passionate about occupational therapy research that strengthens communities? We invite you to join a groundbreaking initiative designed to elevate your work! 

Join community partners and occupational therapy researchers for the first-ever AOTF Engage Summit to:

• Share high-quality, community-engaged research
• Build capacity to conduct research that makes a difference in people’s lives and communities

The program will provide multiple opportunities for networking and collaboration. Three panels will be conducted in a world cafe style, providing attendees with small group discussion around the panel topics of: the spectrum of community engagement, building robust and sustainable partnerships, and measuring and documenting the process and outcomes of engagement. During breakout sessions, attendees can learn from other successful teams during “Partnership Showcases”, and two poster viewings provide plenty of opportunity for conversation and connection.  

(subject to change)
Sign up for more details as they become available!

Registration

Researcher/Clinician/Faculty Fees: $200 each
Community Partner Fee: $25 each

Closes September 18, 2024- No late registrations will be accepted.

Hotel Information

Hilton Alexandria Old Town
1767 King Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314 
AOTF Room block will end Sept. 18, 2024 or when block fills.
More info on Booking, Transportation, Parking, Dining and Things to Do.

Travel Stipends Available for Community Partners
We value the opportunity to learn together with community partners in the ENGAGE Summit. Community Partners are eligible for a registration and travel stipend to attend the event. Priority will be given to community partners who present an accepted abstract (scientific poster or partnership showcase). During the abstract submission process, Community Partners who are listed as authors/coauthors may indicate they wish to be considered for a travel award.
If Community Partner is not submitting an abstract as an author/co-author, but would like to be considered for a registration and/or travel award, email Lianna Meyreles: lmeyreles@aotf.org. Travel stipend amount up to $1500.
Awardees will be announced August 1, 2024.

Learning Objectives:

• Showcase the depth and breadth of landscape of high-quality community engaged research within occupational therapy.
• Identify and evaluate systematic approaches to CE methodologies to elevate OT-informed community engaged scholarship, include evaluation, measurement, outcomes, and dissemination. 
• Build capacity amongst people with lived experience to actively engage in occupational therapy-informed community-engaged research as full and equal partners.

Panels and "World Cafe"

All panels will be coordinated by our planning committee, with invited presenters. We will ask all panels to address engagement of underrepresented and minoritized communities. We will strategically invite presenters who work with different communities, populations, and in different contexts. We will prioritize inviting OTs leading in this space, but will invite researchers outside of OT when appropriate.

Break Outs: Peer Learning

In this breakout session on day two, attendees will have an opportunity to informally share what they do, pose questions and challenges, and identify areas for innovation. Groups will be facilitated by a member of each peer group, and will have guiding questions /structure to elicit and document information shared.

Future Planning & Follow-up Activity for the Committee

To create a white paper/presenters (OTJR manuscript) to synthesize discussions across world café questions.

Abstracts Scientific Poster Submission: Closed June 21, 2024.

• Research posters will be presented Thursday and Friday, October 10 & 11th, and may feature ongoing or completed studies with or without external funding. 
• Community-engaged research teams are eligible to submit a research poster. There are no restrictions based on career stage
• All posters must include academic/clinical and community collaborator authors
• Posters may feature outcomes/findings of community-engaged research, formative or process evaluations of community-engaged research, or other studies related to community engagement (e.g., measurement studies, systematic literature reviews).

Partnership Showcase Submissions: Closed June 21, 2024.

• Partnership Showcase sessions are designed to allow community-engaged research teams to highlight the processes, innovations, and creative collaborations that they have developed and/or implemented in their research.
• Focused areas may include such topics as approaches to outreach, needs assessment, implementation, dissemination, and/or community programming.
• Partnership Showcase presenters will also have the opportunity to engage with audience members through collaborative and collegial discussion.
• Partnership teams will have 12 minutes to showcase their partnership with time for feedback and discussion with other summit attendees.
• Partnership Showcase proposals that are not well fit to the Partnership Showcase design will be considered for poster presentations.

Thank You to Our Sponsor:

The AOTF Engage Summit is made possible through a philanthropic gift from the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). 

Questions: 

AOTF Conference Inquiries- email Lianna Meyreles: lmeyreles@aotf.org
Abstracts or Registration Inquiries- email Kingsley: kingsley@asia-spinalinjury.org