Essex hosts prestigious Occupational Science Europe conference

The University of Essex welcomed 231 delegates from 26 different countries to its Colchester campus in August for the 8th Biennial Occupational Science Europe Conference.

Occupational science is an academic discipline focused on generating knowledge about human occupation, extending beyond paid work to include all everyday activities.

It is an inter-disciplinary science investigating how our occupations shape how we live, as individuals, communities, and populations.

The conference hosting and planning was led by two Occupational Therapists at the University; Dr Anna Pettican from the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences, and Dr Simone Coetzee from the School of Health and Social Care.

Anna and Simone are excited to now be guest editing a conference special issue of the Journal of Occupational Science, as an outcome of the conference.

They would very much encourage contributions from inter-disciplinary colleagues at Essex who are undertaking work concerned with what people do in their daily lives and how that influences their health.

Further details of the call for submission can be found here.

They would also welcome colleagues contacting them directly via email, if a discussion would be helpful.

The conference was held in the Essex Business School and had the overall theme of Visions and realities - Exploring tensions in what we do and how we live.

Keynotes and sessions then explored four specific themes:

• Transformation through participation, looking at how what we do impacts our wellbeing in different ways
• Negotiating social citizenship, rights, and responsibilities, considering our sense of belonging, what we do to shape this and the challenges to our sense of citizenship;
• Decolonising occupational science, discussing how dominant ways of doing, thinking, and believing infuse all our practices and how to disrupt this within the discipline and beyond
• Sustainable environments for all, bringing together ideas about the long-term future, limits to growth associated with human occupation, interdependence, and locally designed solutions.

Keynote speakers included Professor Wendy Bryant, Dr Mya-Rose Craig, Susan Buckingham and Dr Lisette Farias Vera.

Lisette’s keynote had a central concern with decolonisation and therefore AI translation services were provided by Boostlingo to enable her to present in Spanish.

Furthermore, live oral and text translation into English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French and German was available to delegates for all four of the keynote presentations.

Furthermore, the conference included defined unconferencing spaces and times, to support more democratic and organic thinking and discussion. Anna and Simone strove to provide an on-campus conference experience, and a significant proportion of the delegates stayed in the University accommodation.

They also had the opportunity to participate in conference dinners at Wivenhoe House, Fusion East, and an evening disco at Sub-Zero, as part of the conference experience.