How do we bring loneliness professionals together?

Jenny Manchester from the Campaign to End Loneliness invites members of the Tackling Loneliness Hub to get involved in the Loneliness Beyond Covid-19 conference, an international conference in partnership with the Astra Foundation, the Jo Cox Foundation and Manchester University.

On November 18, we are inviting anyone who is working on loneliness – in the UK and beyond –  to our international conference Loneliness Beyond Covid-19. Working with partners, the Astra Foundation, the Jo Cox Foundation and Manchester University, we want to use this event to take forward the work that is being done in this Hub and other places and bring people together across the world – whatever their discipline –  who work on loneliness for one day. We have held a number of online events this year on a variety of issues from bereavement to conversations during Covid and a common theme has been(from the feedback forms)  has been about the value people have had from getting together in groups and sharing their work, and discussing aspects of the field of loneliness.

We often talk about the value of sharing work, but one of the many challenges  about working on loneliness is the variety of organisations and  professional disciplines involved in this area. Because our conference is international, it is also online, but we wanted to provide opportunities for people to see other professionals’ work.

So what’s different about this Conference?

We want to use this event to properly share people’s work on loneliness so that people can see, hear and understand more about some of the innovation that is going within the loneliness field – from research to new effective ways of supporting some of the world’s loneliness people.  So to do this, we have organised a virtual poster competition.  

Tell me about this poster competition!

Our competition is going to be slightly different and inclusive – while we really welcome entries from researchers, we also want to hear from practitioners, policymakers and employers about their work on loneliness. 

This competition is for you if you are:  

• A practitioner on the frontline working on programmes which support lonely people 

• An employer who has created a programme to support staff who may be experiencing loneliness 

• A researcher currently finding new insights from their research 

Is the entry form long and arduous to complete?  When’s the deadline?  

No. 

You just need to complete 5 slides (maximum!) summary of your project on ideally google slides  which you want to share with your peers.  

Deadline for entries is 7 November.  

What happens next?

A panel of judges will review submissions.  If you are shortlisted you will be asked to submit your presentation and any other materials for your own ‘booth’ in our virtual exhibition hall or you might be asked to present in our lunchtime parallel session on 18 November. 

Will there be a prize?

Yes, those asked to present will receive a small Amazon (or similar) voucher.    

How do I find out more?  

You can find out more about our poster competition or at our Conference website where you can also register.   

Still have questions? 

Contact Jenny Manchester through the Hub.