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2026 Precision Child and Youth Mental Health Conference Call for Abstracts

IMPORTANT DATES
Abstract Submission Opens: September 17, 2025
Abstract Submission Deadline: November 20, 2025 11:59PM Eastern Time
Notice of Acceptance: January 9, 2026
Registration Launch: January 16, 2026
Conference Dates: May 11 and 12, 2026

 

Dear Colleagues,  

As Chair of the Conference Planning Committee, I invite you to respond to the 2026 Precision Child and Youth Mental Health (PCYMH) International Conference Call for Abstracts. Building on the highly successful 2024 PCYMH International Conference the 2026 in person conference will be hosted by the CHEO RI Precision Child and Youth Mental Health (PCYMH) Collaboratory at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa, ON from Monday May 11 - Tuesday May 12, 2026. 

Your participation will give you multiple opportunities to network with other researchers and providers around the world working on precision mental health or substance use in children and youth. The two days of keynotes, symposia, oral and poster presentations will immerse you in the advancement of the global PCYMH movement, spreading new ideas, experiences, and results between countries and institutions.   

This year's theme is "Collaborative Transformation". Collaboration is the key to the transformative powers of the precision child and youth mental health paradigm, whether it be three-way collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and families, the melding of research databases to deepen our understanding of multiple factors contributing to causes or successful treatment of mental health or substance use disorders, or combining health system data on children and youth from multiple provider sectors to more precisely help them in their care journeys. We will address some of these issues with two Keynotes and three didactic presentations. But most importantly, we will be focusing on these issues and more through your work submitted in the Abstracts.

Below are listed the types of submissions for the 2026 conference. Please note that Poster presentations are as important as Oral ones. The Conference Planning Committee may ask you if you can change the type of abstract submission (poster to oral or vice versa) in the interests of optimal conference program planning.

 

Types of Submissions

1. Research Symposium (75 minutes): Research Symposia present new PCYMH research data on related topics, with an overarching theme that is discussed by a chair. The new research should be described with reference to the relevant literature. 2-3 10-minute paper presentations with submitter-organized theme, accompanied by submitter-organized moderator for discussion of 30 minutes. Approximately one-quarter of the time should be devoted to questions and discussion.  All presenters must be in person.

2. Oral Presentations (10 minutes): Oral presentations should be PCYMH topics presenting new or supporting research on pertinent clinical, educational or advocacy issues. Any other relevant topics would also be considered. The information presented should be scholarly and evidence-based, with reference to the relevant literature. Oral presentations will be grouped with others into a planning-committee base theme. Each presentation will have 10 minutes and all in a group will then be discussed for 30 minutes by an assigned moderator. Approximately one-quarter of that time will be devoted to questions and answers. All presenters must be in person.

3. Poster: Posters are intended for the presentation of new research data or other scholarly work. They allow the presenter(s) the opportunity to describe and discuss their project individually with colleagues during the Poster Session. All presenter must be in person.

4. Workshop (75 minutes): Workshops should be interactive and provide instruction in a set of clinical, research, or educational skills. The information presented should be scholarly and evidence-based, with reference to the relevant literature. Workshops may be led by one or more presenters. All presenters must be in person.

 

Abstract Submission Guidelines

  • For a Research Symposium, the chair of the session must provide an overall session abstract AND an individual presentation abstract for each presenter.
  • For a Poster and Oral presentation or Workshop submission, only a single abstract is submitted.
  • All abstracts must be structured according to the following headings: 
    • Objective
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusions
    • Potential Impact for PCYMH Research or Care. 
  • Two learning objectives and two references are required for each abstract.
  • Each abstract must not exceed 250 words (excluding references and learning objectives)
  • All presenters must attend in person, pay the registration fees and their own travel expenses to present at the conference.

We look forward to meeting or re-connecting with each one of you and hearing about all the great work being done to advance precision research and care for children and youth with mental health and substance use problems. 

Looking forward to seeing you in May!


Chair, Conference Planning Committee

Questions? Please contact Kristen McCoy, Conference Planner, by email at kmccoy@uottawa.ca 

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