The annual Brunel Occupational Therapy Student Conference took place at Brunel University London on 5 April 2019. A diverse range of keynote speakers and workshop lecturers were invited to speak at the conference. Keynote lectures from Jen Gash (OT Coach), Dementia Specialist, Jackie Pool and Laura Fischer (trauma and neuropsychology specialist) captured the attention of the many attendees, offering their perspectives on the future of healthcare, the profession and ourselves as individuals. Three sessions of workshops ran throughout the day, covering topics such as sensory processing in the classroom, the language barriers faces in dementia, working with the homeless population, the perspectives o service users and opportunities for volunteering abroad.
Following qualitative feedback from this year’s attendees, we found out that inviting speakers working in different settings or with different backgrounds provided a wide variety of topics to fit the interests of our attendees and encouraged thinking from different perspectives. Moreover, participants felt happy and welcomed at the conference. Additionally, attendees felt adequately provided for at lunch. The attendees also appreciated having maps and information provided prior to the conference.
The committee are grateful for everyone who attended from clinicians to alumni, current students and prospective students alike; thank-you for making the day a success, without you all we would not have been able to have such an interesting day. We hope to see you all again next year and hopefully you’ll encourage your friends to come along too!