Abstract submission

This year's conference will focus on a series of key themes (briefly described below). We are also interested in receiving submissions related more broadly to innovations in child and adolescent mental health.

Submissions for individual abstracts as well as symposia are welcomed using the form.

Abstract submissions now close on 30 September 2025.

Submit an abstract

Key themes for this year's conference

Creative Approaches in Schools and Communities

Schools and communities are central to mental health promotion and prevention efforts. Interventions based in schools, as well as community settings, can present a scalable and cost-effective strategy to reach large populations of children and adolescents. This theme will aim to highlight key gaps and promising approaches to better coverage and implementation globally.

Scaling Up Evidence-Based Approaches and Services

This theme will explore mechanisms for delivering evidence-based mental health interventions and services at scale. It will also explore broader questions from implementation science in taking evidence to scale effectively – considering key questions of efficacy, fidelity, quality, and adaptation as interventions are reshaped and reimagined for new populations and across diverse global settings.

Mental Health in the Context of Humanitarian Crises

An estimated 47 million children under the age of 18 have been forcibly displaced due to conflict and violence as of 2023, with important mental health implications. This theme will explore ongoing efforts to reach children and adolescents in high-risk settings, particularly those experiencing conflict, displacement, or other humanitarian crises.

Generating Responsible Data for Children and Adolescents

Generating data on child and adolescent mental health, including prevalence and service access data, can help tailor better intervention. This theme will delve into questions about measures and validation, cultural adaptation, and data collection methods, while also addressing key ethical considerations and challenges in mental health research, programming, and policy focused on children and adolescents.

Meaningful Youth Engagement in Research and Program Design

For children and adolescents to be empowered in the process of participation, best practices for engaging youth in program design, content development, and planning, need to be shared, alongside key challenges. This theme will be youth-led, and will explore how children and adolescents can be equitably and critically engaged, and ways that such participation can both enhance program quality as well as individuals’ own mental health and wellbeing.

Emerging innovations and progress for child and adolescent mental health

We invite additional submissions in areas not covered by these key themes.

Submission guidelines

Are you passionate about child and adolescent mental health? We'd love to receive your submission. Please familiarise yourself with the following guidelines prior to submitting an abstract:

All abstracts should be submitted in English and have a limit of 350 words.
Abstracts should have the following information: Title, Body text (including Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions), and Lay summary
All authors and co-authors should be listed with the Presenting Author first. Requested details for each author include first name, surname, email, affiliation/institution, and city/country.
Please indicate the keywords for your contribution.
A maximum of 2 abstracts per person can be submitted for the conference.
You can indicate if you are interested in an oral presentation or a poster presentation.
Abstracts can also be submitted as part of a symposium. In this case, individual abstracts will need to be submitted, but we ask you to indicate on the form that you are interested in having the abstract considered as part of a symposium with other submissions. We will specifically ask for your symposium concept and the names of your co-presenters. We anticipate presentation sessions will be approximately 75 minutes.

Submission procedure and deadlines

All abstracts should be submitted on the online portal by 30 September 2025.
Notifications of acceptance/rejection will be sent by late November 2025. After this date, presenting authors will be invited to register and make registration payments to the conference.
Travel stipends will be limited to a small number of authors who will be notified at the time of acceptance.

For any questions, please contact us at: boldideas@sun.ac.za

Submit an abstract