Abstract submissions

The Conference Organising Committee invites you to submit abstracts, on topics related to the upper limb and which complement the conference theme Changing Tides: Patient-focused care in a rapidly changing world.

Presenters have the following presentation options:

  1. Workshop/Concurrent sessions
  2. Panel Presentations (up to 10 people)
  3. Free Papers/Oral Presentations
  4. Posters

Abstracts may be:

  1. Scientific papers: these include research studies related to the reporting of clinical investigations, designed to answer a research question relevant to the practice of hand therapy, e.g. clinical trials, prospective/retrospective case-series, case studies, systematic or scoping reviews. 
  2. Clinical/Quality: these include quality assurance/improvement projects that explore new clinical innovations or hand and upper limb practice procedures implemented at a local (clinical) level, e.g. changes to clinical pathways, service delivery, resource development.

Abstracts must be submitted via the online submission portal.

Workshops / concurrent sessions

Workshops will be allocated between 70 and 90 minutes presentation time and can be hands-on practical skills or theory based masterclass.

Panel presentations

Panel presentations will be allocated between 30 and 45 minutes presentation time, exact time allocation will be confirmed upon acceptance. 

Free Papers/Oral Presentations

Free papers/oral presentations will be allocated a total of 15-20 minutes presentation time including questions, exact time allocation will be confirmed upon acceptance. Those abstracts not selected for oral presentation may be offered a poster presentation.

Posters

Posters will be exhibited in the area where morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be served. Posters can be used to present clinical or scientific research projects as well as other projects of interest to hand therapy practitioners.  Presenters are asked to erect their posters by morning tea on the first day of the Conference and can also choose to participate in the poster presentation lightning session, where you can outline your project and findings with a 2 min + 3 slide PPT presentation. As this is a hybrid event, poster presenters will also be asked to submit a digital copy of their poster for the online platform. Further details will be provided with acceptance of your abstract. Poster specifications will be provided with confirmation of acceptance.

Preparing your abstract

Abstract submissions should be clearly identified as either a scientific or clinical/quality paper and must be less than 300 words. The purpose of the abstract is to capture the interest of your audience. The abstract should provide sufficient information to allow the reader to assess the implications of the work undertaken. 

*The abstract word limit does not include the presentation title, authors and references. 
*Your abstract document should not include the author details as these will be included in the online submission form.

Scientific abstracts should be set out as follows:

Background – briefly describe any significant previous research conducted in the area and justify the need for your research. 
Aims – outline specific research aims. 
Method – describe briefly the study participants, research design used and basic procedures.
Results – present key findings from statistical analyses and link these to research aims.
Conclusion – highlight major conclusions from the work in the context of study limitations. Consider implications for future research.

Clinical/Quality abstracts should be set out as follows:

Background – briefly describe the clinical background/setting and include previous research if applicable. 
Problem – clearly identify the clinical problem.
Intervention – detail the quality improvement framework, and describe the intervention used to address the clinical problem and how this was innovative/unique. 
Evaluation – explain how you assessed the effectiveness of your intervention.
Recommendations – provide recommendations for future implementation and highlight the implications of your intervention.

Submitting your abstract

Online submission is the only method of receipt of abstracts. Abstracts are submitted via the conference website. If you experience technical difficulties with the online submission, please email your query to conference@ahta.com.au or call 02 8776 0205. 

Confirmation of receipt of abstracts

Immediately following submission, you will receive an acknowledgment email confirming receipt of your abstract. If you need to make changes to your abstract submission, you can do so by logging into your conference dashboard, up to and no later than the submission deadline. No changes will be possible after this deadline.

Important dates

Abstract submission closes: 
Monday 20 January 2025, 11.59 pm AEDT for workshops and panel presentations
Tuesday 1 April 2025,11.59pm AEDT for papers and posters 

Acceptance notification: 
Wednesday 12 February 2025 for workshops and panel presentations
Monday 12 May 2025 for papers and posters 

SUBMIT ABSTRACT