Regulation, education and the health and care workforce 2027

PSA Research conference 2027 | Call for Proposals

Wednesday 24 February 2027 | 10.00am–4.00pm
Coin Street Conference Centre, 108 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NH

The Professional Standards Authority is holding its 11th annual Research Conference, in partnership with Professor Ann Gallagher, Brunel University, and Professor Robert Jago, Royal Holloway, University of London. This year's theme is regulation, education and the health and care workforce.

The conference will bring together researchers, policy professionals, regulators, Accredited Registers, educators, health and social care leaders, public and professional representative bodies, and others interested in improving regulation and registration for public safety, protection and confidence.

The event will explore how research can produce actionable knowledge and contribute to positive change in regulatory and policy practice. It will provide an opportunity to share insights, strengthen collaboration, improve regulatory practice and help shape future research priorities, particularly where regulation can contribute to safer care. 

Call for abstracts and speaking proposals

We are inviting abstracts and proposals for presentations and discussion relating to the conference theme.

We are particularly interested in research exploring:

• innovations in the education of health and care professionals, including cross-profession approaches, and how regulatory standards can keep pace with a rapidly changing world
• changing approaches to regulators' quality assurance of higher education courses, including areas of innovation and development
• the evolution and integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies in higher education, and the implications for regulators
• how prevention of harm can be effectively embedded throughout the training and practice of health and care professionals
• how health and care students can be prepared to contribute to positive, safe working cultures and for the realities of the workplace
• how learning from complaints, concerns and fitness to practise can be used to shape professional education
• current trends, challenges and opportunities in student selection, recruitment and retention, and their implications for regulators
• regulatory perspectives on enhanced and advanced educational provision and specialist preparation
• the relationship between regulators and issues of workforce supply and demand
• how Right-touch regulation can be applied to these issues. 

These themes are deliberately broad, and we welcome other proposals relevant to regulation, education and the health and care workforce.

Proposals can focus on completed research, work in progress, or research that you believe should be undertaken to address gaps in knowledge. We are particularly interested in contributions that demonstrate how research insights have been, or could be, translated into positive change in regulatory practice.

We also welcome collaborative proposals and thematically linked contributions from a single organisation or from groups of organisations or stakeholders.

How to submit a proposal

Please send your abstract or proposal to engagement@professionalstandards.org.uk by 10.00 am on Thursday 3 December 2026. Submissions should be no more than 500 words, with up to five additional references, and should include, where appropriate:

• your name
• role
• employer or affiliation
• proposed presentation title
• who would deliver the presentation
• aim
• background
• methods
• findings
• conclusion. 

Please adapt this format where appropriate, for example if your research is still in progress or you are proposing an area where you believe future research is needed.

Our preference is for one speaker per presentation, unless there is a particular reason for more than one speaker, such as bringing together different perspectives from researchers and those commissioning or funding the research.

Interested in attending?

If you would like to attend the conference but are not submitting a proposal, you can also register your interest by emailing engagement@professionalstandards.org.uk 

Those who register their interest in advance will be the first to hear when registration opens on Eventbrite. We aim to open registration and publish the conference programme before Christmas.

We look forward to hearing from you.