National Research Conference - Career Development Institute

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National Research Conference for Careers Practitioners

Wednesday 5 March 2025, 10 am – 4 pm, online
This event is delivered in partnership by the CDI, iCeGS, AGCAS and NICEC

Overview

The National Research Conference for Careers Practitioners is an annual event, brought to you in partnership by the CDI, iCeGS, AGCAS and NICEC. This year’s theme is Practice and research: Building community and connections.

We are pleased to announce that Dr Gill Frigerio will give the first keynote speech at the Conference.

Many people see research as something undertaken by academics however, we want to inspire all career development practitioners to develop their confidence, undertake research and develop the evidence base. We want you to celebrate your research and to talk about how this has informed your own and others’ practice.

There are three sub-themes for the Conference to help us to structure the programme. These are:

Connecting research to practice
Building and developing your research community
Stories from career-related research

We encourage all members to attend. You do not have to currently be a researcher to enjoy and learn from this event, and we welcome a range of perspectives and experiences.

Further information on booking will be available soon - we will email members in due course.

2025 programme

Our programme is intended to be largely presented by practitioners, for practitioners and aims to encourage those who have an interest in and enthusiasm to undertake research but perhaps lack the confidence. The Conference is held online, and we invite international colleagues to join us.

The online programme includes:
• Two keynote presentations on research relevant to career development
• Two panels of practitioner researchers – representing research from the UK and internationally
• A range of seminars aligned to the conference themes: Connecting research to practice; Building and developing your research community; Stories from career-related research
• An online poster session*

Schedule

9.15 – 9.55 Helpdesk, networking and viewing posters

10.00 – 10.10 Welcome

10.10 – 10.30 Keynote 1: Gill Frigerio

10.40 – 11.30 International panel chaired by Nuala Whelan

Michael Healy
Alexander Manners
Miika Kekki

11.30 – 11.45 Poster viewing

11.45 – 12.35 Parallel seminars (1)

12.45 – 13.30 Lunch break

13.30 – 14.20 Parallel seminars (2)

14.30 – 15.20 National panel chaired by Tania Lyden

Will Donald
Priscilla Koinange
Emma Lennox
Belinda Nuttall

15.30 – 15.50 Keynote 2: Kim Allen

15.50 – 16.10 Poster winner and closing remarks

Open call for seminars for 2025

This year we are inviting submissions for seminars. There will be two, 50-minute seminar sessions at the conference (40 minutes for presentations/10 minutes for Q&A). These will take place at:

11.45 am –12.35 pm

1.30 pm – 2.20 pm

Seminars should meet one of the three themes for the event:

Connecting research to practice
Building and developing your research community
Stories from career-related research

When making your Seminar proposal, please remember the target audience for this event is practitioners and not academics.

Deadline for submitting the proposal is: Friday 10th January. You can submit your workshop proposal here.

Poster Competition

We will contact members shortly regarding the details and deadline for our poster competition for the 2025 Conference.

Career practitioners and students engaged in research of any type are invited to present a poster at this conference; the posters should, where possible, aim to link to the conference sub-themes. There are many benefits for a researcher in doing this:

Tell people about your research
Gain interest and feedback
Engage in useful discussion and maybe collaboration
Share your findings and prepare for wider dissemination

You can be at any stage of the research process, so your poster might cover anything from early plans for the methodology or literature review, right through to findings and analysis of a near-complete research project. The aim is to inform and inspire other potential practitioner researchers.

How to produce a research poster

Further information on producing a poster and presenting at the Conference
How to produce a research poster
How to create an accompanying video recording

If you would like a conversation with someone to help you to develop your poster, please contact Claire Toogood at [email protected]. Deadline for submitting the poster is: Monday 3rd February 2025 to [email protected].

Prize

The award winner will be announced during the closing session of the Conference and will receive all of the following: a free place at a CDI Expert Training Session, AGCAS training session, NICEC event and from iCeGS a copy of a book relating to the career development sector.

*The poster session at the conference is a space for dialogue: for practitioner researchers to present a summary of their work, and for conference delegates to gain an overview of the variety of current or recent research projects.

Why attend?

Many people see research as something undertaken by academics, however, we want to inspire all career development practitioners to develop their confidence, undertake research, develop the evidence base and contribute to the professionalisation of the sector. We want you to celebrate your research and to talk about how this has informed your own and others' practice.

Audience

Career development practitioners working with young people and adults, including careers advisers, career consultants and coaches, careers leaders, and researchers.