Invitation to Submit
We invite you to submit an abstract for consideration for the 2026 CAA Congress being held from 12 – 14 August 2026 in National Convention Centre, Canberra.
The conference is the region’s premier meeting bringing together academics, researchers, experts, professionals, and early career researchers to share their knowledge, insights, and innovations. The conference offers meaningful exchanges, discussions, and networking with professionals across our region and internationally. This conference is a crucial platform for advancing knowledge, fostering collaboration, and promoting excellence in our diverse scientific community.
We encourage you to take this opportunity to present your research, innovative programs, and significant findings to an engaged audience of professionals in the community. Presentations at the conference enrich the discussions and contribute to the growth of knowledge in our field.
We offer various presentation formats, including oral presentations, impact presentations, posters, research presentations, case studies, industry updates and workshops, to ensure a diverse and engaging program.
We encourage submissions from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professionals, students, researchers, educators, and community workers, and from early-career professionals and researchers.
Presentations are encouraged to be focused on original research, case studies, frameworks, or practical applications. Submissions will be reviewed by our program committee to ensure the selection of high-quality contributions for presentation.
To submit your abstract, please visit our submission portal on this website and follow the instructions provided. Please don’t hesitate to contact our conference managers, at mail@conferencedesign.com.au, if you have any questions.
We look forward to receiving your abstract and having you join us for an inspiring and stimulating conference.
Kind regards,
Mojca Bizjak-Mikic
Chief Executive
Submit an Abstract
Important Dates
Call for Abstracts Open
09 February 2026
Call for Abstracts Close
10 April 2026 – EXTENDED
Presenter Registration Closes
12 June 2026
Conference Starts
12 August 2026
Abstract Submission Instructions
All abstracts are submitted online via the portal above.
1. Prepare your Abstract
- Title: Use a descriptive title of up to fifteen words that indicates the content of the abstract. Titles are printed in uppercase.
- Authors: Include the given name and family name of every contributing author, separated by a comma.
- Affiliations: Include each author’s organisation, suburb, state, and email address (optional). The presenter will be indicated in the program, not the abstract.
- Abstract: Prepare a 250-word abstract for all presentation types including:
- The purpose of the presentation
- The nature and scope of the topic
- The issue or problem under consideration
- The outcome of the conclusion reached.
- Abstract: Prepare a 250-word abstract for all presentation types including the following headings and sections:
- Aims
- Methods
- Results
- Conclusions
2. Corresponding Author
Open the submission portal and enter the contact details of the corresponding author.
3. Abstract Submission Details
You will need to enter the following details for each abstract you submit:
- Presentation title (15 words)
- Abstract (250 words)
- Preferred presentation format
- Preferred topic
- Names of authors
- Affiliations of authors
- Indicate the presenter.
- Short biography of the presenter (100 words)
Abstract Guidelines
- Abstracts must be original and unpublished.
- You must declare a potential conflict of interest.
- Ensure that your abstract is grammatically correct and free of other errors.
- Use single spacing for all text.
- Do not use abbreviations in the title of the abstract
- When using abbreviations in the abstract, spell them out in full at the first mention
- Capitalise the first letter in trade names.
- Abstracts should NOT contain references, tables, or figures.
- Accepted abstracts will appear exactly as submitted.
- Industry representatives are welcome to submit an abstract for consideration, however, submissions that are commercially or sales-focused will not be considered
Presenter Registration
Oral and Lightning presenters will receive a complimentary registration for the day of their presentation.
Poster presenters must register for the conference and pay the appropriate registration fee. All presenters also need to meet their own travel and accommodation costs.
Presentation Topic Details
Select one of the following topic options when submitting your abstracts.
- The Changing Role of Ambulance
The evolving role of ambulance services within the health and emergency care system.
This stream explores how ambulance services are moving beyond traditional emergency response into broader system roles, including primary care, urgent care, community-based models and multidisciplinary teams. It will examine how these changes impact workforce design, clinical governance and professional identity, and how services can adapt while maintaining core emergency response capability. - Demand, Emergency Management & System Resilience
Managing increasing demand, emergency response and system resilience in a complex operating environment.
This stream focuses on the drivers of demand growth and how ambulance services prepare for, respond to and recover from major incidents and sustained system pressure. It will examine emergency management, interagency coordination, workforce surge and fatigue, and leadership in crisis settings, with an emphasis on practical lessons and system-level solutions. - Clinical Practice, Models of Care & Patient Safety
Evolving clinical practice, patient safety and innovative models of care.
This stream examines how clinical practice and models of care are adapting to meet changing patient needs and complexity. It will focus on patient safety, quality improvement, mental health care, expanded scopes of practice and evidence-informed innovation, highlighting how services deliver safe, high-quality care in high-demand environments. - Workforce Design & Flexible Work
Designing a sustainable, modern ambulance workforce through flexible work and contemporary employment models.
This stream explores how ambulance services are redesigning workforce models to support attraction, retention and career sustainability. It will focus on flexible work arrangements in operational environments, workforce diversity, career pathways across life stages, and retaining experience within the system. Flexible work is positioned as a core workforce strategy rather than an exception. - Leadership & the Profession
Leadership capability, professional identity and the future of the ambulance profession.
This stream examines leadership in a changing profession, including gender parity of the workforce, evolving expectations of leaders and the professionalisation of ambulance services. It will explore leadership models, capability development, succession planning, and what it means to lead in a modern, multidisciplinary emergency service. - Technology, Data & Digital Enablement
Technology and data as enablers of workforce, care and system performance.
This stream explores how digital tools, data and emerging technologies are supporting modern ambulance services. It will focus on practical applications that improve workforce planning, demand management, clinical decision-making and patient safety, while addressing governance, ethics and trust in a digital health environment.
Presentation Formats
You are asked to note a preferred presentation format when submitting as there are limited places, particularly for oral presentations, the committee may request that you consider an alternative format. Authors will be advised and asked to confirm if they wish to present in the new format.
Oral Presentations
Oral presentations will be allocated 20 minutes, including 5 minutes for question time. Oral presentations will be grouped into 60 or 90-minute sessions on a common topic.
- A 20-minute presentation, with 5 minutes for questions.
Lightning Presentations
Lightning presentations are short, focused oral talks that allow presenters to quickly share a concise overview of their research or a specific aspect of their work. Lightning talks will be part of a session featuring multiple presenters.
- A 10-minute presentation, no question time allocated.
Display Posters
Display posters allow for direct interactions with other attendees and facilitate detailed discussions. Posters can present research in progress, projects, clinical topics, quality improvement initiatives, and case studies.
- An A0-size portrait poster displayed for the duration of the conference.
- The abstract and a PDF of each poster will be included in the conference app for delegates to view on their smart devices.
- Presenters will also be asked to attend their poster during a poster viewing session to discuss the poster with other delegates.
Display Poster Dimensions
AO Poster Dimensions
- AO Portrait
- 841 mm wide x 1189 mm high
- 33.1 inches wide x 46.8 inches high
PDF Poster Measurements for the Conference App
- A4 Portrait
- 210 wide x 297 mm high
Review & Selection Process
Open Peer-Review
The Program Committee will peer review all submitted abstracts in open collaboration.
Selection Process
The Program Committee will allocate presentations to the program considering the score of the abstract, recommendations from reviewers, the author’s preference for presentation format, and the balance of the program.
Abstract authors will be notified of acceptance, rejection or change of format via email at the date specified above. Presenters are then required to confirm their acceptance and their participation in the conference. Unsuccessful abstracts submitted for oral presentation will be offered a poster presentation if the selection criteria are met. No correspondence will be entered into as to why individual abstracts did not receive an oral presentation.
Scoring
All submissions will be reviewed against set criteria to ensure consistency and fairness in the review process.
- Relevance: The extent to which the abstract aligns with the conference topic or topics of interest.
- Originality: The novelty and uniqueness of the research or ideas presented in the abstract.
- Clarity: The clarity and coherence of the abstract in terms of organisation, structure, and language usage.
- Significance: The significance and potential impact of the research or ideas presented in the abstract.
- Methodology or Approach: The appropriateness and rigour of the research methodology or approach described in the abstract.
- Results or Findings: The clarity and relevance of the reported results or findings in the abstract.
- Conclusions or Implications: The clarity and logical connections between the results or findings and the conclusions or implications drawn in the abstract.
- Contribution to the Field: The extent to which the abstract contributes to advancing knowledge or practice in the field.
- Overall Quality: An assessment of the overall quality of the abstract, including its readability, coherence, and adherence to formatting guidelines.
Submission & Presentation Information
Authors’ Permission
By submitting an abstract all authors are deemed to have agreed to release the content to the conference organisers and give permission to publish the abstract and presentation in all conference publications including on the website, in the app and printed material.
Presenter Guidelines
A set of guidelines to assist presenters will be made available before the conference.
Cancellations or Change of Presenter
Please avoid late cancellations or changing the presenter as material will be pre-printed with the speaker’s name and organisation and cannot be changed at a later date. If you need to cancel or change the presenter, please advise Conference Design at mail@conferencedesign.com.au as early as possible.
Prizes and Awards
See the Awards page for the presentation awards offered.
Disclosure Of Interest Statement
We recognise the considerable contribution that industry partners make to professional and research activities. We also recognise the need for transparency and the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest by acknowledging these relationships in publications and presentations. Where relevant, all authors must include a disclosure of interest statement in their abstract and if accepted in their presentation. For example, The Melon Institute and Metabolism Corp are funded by the University of Oxbridge, UK. No pharmaceutical grants were received in the development of this study.
Medical Technology Association of Australia Code of Practice
If your presentation refers to medical devices, your abstract and presentation must comply with the Medical Technology Association of Australia Code of Practice.
Speaker Biography
A brief biography of the presenter is to be provided when you submit your abstract. Biographies may include the presenter’s position, career details and major work achievements. Biographies should be written in the third person. If your abstract is accepted, your biography will be used when introducing you as a speaker at the conference.
Uploading Your Presentations and Posters
You will be sent links to upload your PowerPoint slides and posters via Drobox.
Permission for Material Presented
Please ensure you have documented permission to use any images, music or other content in your abstract and presentation. Do not include any images copied from the internet. Getty Images and other image agencies crawl the internet looking for images that have been copied without the appropriate licenses. You are liable for all copyright infringements that arise from your presentation.
Copyright and Ownership of Material
All materials, including but not limited to presentations, slides, posters, abstracts, papers, and any other written or visual content presented at the event, are the intellectual property of us or the respective authors and presenters. The authors or presenters retain ownership rights to their materials.
Will People be Able to Record or Download My Presentation?
During the registration process, attendees agree to the conference Terms & Conditions, which include rules on unauthorised photography and recording of conference material. We cannot enforce this rule completely, so presenters should assume a participant may take unauthorised photographs, screenshots, audio, or video recordings. You may wish to adjust the content of your presentation accordingly.
Audio Visual Equipment Available
Each session room will be equipped with the following equipment:
- A presentation laptop running Windows 10 or 11
- Data projector
- Screen
- Lectern
- Microphone, including sound for your presentation
- A clicker to progress your slides
- A laser pointer or mouse for pointing
All slides will be run from the presentation computer.
If you have a complex presentation, which includes multiple media files, we suggest you bring your laptop as a backup in case of difficulties loading your presentation.
If you use a Mac, have a complex presentation or require a specific or uncommon program, we suggest you bring your laptop as a backup in case of difficulties loading your presentation. You will need to arrange this in advance with the AV technicians. Please provide any specific audio-visual requirements to the Conference Secretariat at mail@conferencedesign.com.au.
PowerPoint Presentation Tips
- All presentations should be in PowerPoint.
- PowerPoint should be in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
- Video and audio clips should be embedded in your slides rather than linked to external files.
- There should be no more than 5 x 1-line bullet points per slide.
- The optimum title text is 45 – 55 points and no smaller than 36 points.
- Body text should be at least 26 points.
- Avoid UPPERCASE letters as they are hard to read.
- Please keep to the time limit of your presentation
Speaker Preparation Room
Please bring your presentation to the conference on a USB stick as a backup. Go to Speaker’s Preparation room at least 4 hours before or the day before your presentation. A technician will be available to load and check your presentation and to discuss any audio-visual queries you may have. If you are not providing slides for your presentation, please advise the AV technician in the Speaker’s Preparation room 4 hours before your session.
Writing an Abstract
An abstract is a short document that captures the interest of potential attendees of your session. Your abstract should engage the reader by telling them what your presentation is about. The title of the proposed presentation is also important; short attention-catching titles are the most effective, however, it is also important to ensure that the title describes the subject.
These are questions to consider when writing your abstract.
- Does the title succinctly describe the topic?
- Does the abstract clearly state the topic of the presentation?
- Does the abstract say how the research or project was or is being undertaken?
- Does the abstract give a concise summary of the findings?
- Does the abstract indicate the value of the findings and whom the findings will benefit?
- Does the abstract engage the reader by telling them why they should attend the presentation?
- Is the abstract well written in terms of conciseness, language, and grammar?
- Does the abstract conform to the structure outlined and the word limit?
While the format of your abstract will vary with the topic and type of information you are presenting, most abstracts will include the following:
- Background of the project or initiative,
- Method of research or project implementation,
- Results of the project or research
- Discussion of the outcomes and implications.
Finally, your abstract should not include diagrams or images; references are not required in the abstract.