Overview
Save the date – RCSLT Conference 2025 will be taking place online on 26-27 November 2025. This year we are celebrating 80 years of the RCSLT, which means this is the perfect time to recognise and celebrate the speech and language therapy profession as well as share learning, innovation and the latest in SLT practice.
Planning for the Conference has begun and once again it will be packed with presentations, keynote speeches and workshops covering a wide range of topics, as well as giving you the chance to come together and network with your peers and build on your continuing professional development (CPD).
We are currently seeking submissions for abstracts which will help shape the content of the event. If you have work you would like to present on research, quality improvement, audit or service evaluation, please take a look at the abstract submission process and guidelines. The deadline to submit your abstract is 16 May 2025.
This year we’re also calling on the wider speech and language therapy community to shape the conversation by sharing your ideas with us. If you have a story to tell or an innovation to share we want to hear from you. Read on for further information on what we’re looking for and how you can share your idea – the deadline for submissions is 18 July 2025.
Conference is the chance for our members to:
- learn from and share research, evidence and practice with the SLT community
- hear about and engage with the latest priority work from the RCSLT
- connect with what is happening in the wider healthcare, social care, and education systems and how it relates to speech and language therapy
- celebrate the speech and language therapy profession and foster a sense of belonging
- network with SLT colleagues from across the UK at all stages of their careers.
Further information about Conference, including when to book, will be shared as the programme develops. If you have any questions, please email rsvp@rcslt.org.
Themes
As in previous years, RCSLT Conference 2025 will be based around themes that are in line with our organisations strategic vision. These are:
- Equity, Diversity and Belonging (EDB) – promoting greater equity, diversity and belonging, and embedding anti-racism within the profession and in service provision
- Co-production – embedding co-production with service users and their families and carers
- Innovation and excellence in research and clinical practice – building the speech and language therapy evidence base and delivery of best practice in collaboration with service users
- Workforce development – supporting growth and development of the speech and language therapy workforce
- Profile and opportunity – championing the value and impact of speech and language therapy within society
- Member engagement – empowering members to lead the profession.
All abstract submissions and presentations at conference will support one or more of these themes.
If you have any questions, please email rsvp@rcslt.org.
Abstract submissions
Abstract submissions are open until 16 May 2025. The submission categories for this year’s conference are:
- Research (speech and language therapy research contributing new knowledge)
- Quality improvement/audit/service evaluation
All submissions must be sent electronically via the Ex Ordo platform. Please submit your abstracts by 16 May 2025.
Useful information
Using the Ex Ordo platform
- To submit an abstract, you will need to create an account by first entering your email address; Ex Ordo will then prompt you to create login details, which will allow you to create, save and edit your submission(s) until 16 May 2025.
- Please note that due to known security flaws, Ex Ordo do not support Internet Explorer 9 or 10. This means if you use either of these browsers, you won’t be able to access Ex Ordo. Please upgrade your browser to Internet Explorer 11, or use an alternative browser e.g. Chrome, Safari, Firefox etc.
Become an abstract reviewer
We are looking for Research Champions to review abstract submissions across a number of topic areas listed below. Reviewing will take place between Monday 26 May to Friday 27 June and you may be asked to review up to a maximum of 6 abstracts.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please email our Research Manager, Jessica Lane, with a brief bullet point description of why you would like to apply, your experience of reviewing and the topic area(s) you would like to be considered for. The deadline for expressions of interest is 9am on Wednesday 14 May. You should expect to hear whether or not your expression of interest has been successful by Friday 23 May.
- Adult acquired – aphasia
- Adult acquired – progressive neurological/motor speech disorders
- Adult service provision
- Augmentative and alternative communication
- Autism and social communication
- Brain injury
- Child language
- Child speech and cleft
- Child service provision
- Clinical education
- Co-production, service-user involvement/engagement
- Critical and/or neonatal care
- Deafness
- Dementia
- Dysphagia
- Functional neurological disorders
- Head and neck
- Justice sector (youth offending, prison etc.)
- Learning disabilities and complex needs
- Mental capacity
- Mental health
- Multi-lingualism, cultural-linguistic diversity, social justice and equity
- Public health
- Selective mutism
- Showcasing good examples of independent and NHS services working in collaboration
- Stammering and cluttering
- Voice and Voice Communication Therapy
Share your ideas
This year we’re calling on the wider speech and language therapy community to help us shape the programme for RCSLT Conference 2025.
We’re looking for submissions from SLTs, students, partners, and people with lived experience; anyone who has a story to tell or an innovation to share. Whether you’re improving staff well-being, enhancing services, or making a difference in patient outcomes and experiences, we want to hear from you. Submit your ideas by 18 July 2025.
What are we looking for?
All impact-driven initiatives are welcome – if you are making a difference and impacting the profession and/or our service users why not share it with the wider community. Some ideas you may want to consider are listed below.
- Bringing the speech and language therapy community together
- The voice of those with lived experience
- Big ticket items for the profession, e.g. dosage, thickened fluids, EDAR, CYP waiting lists and more
- Health and wellbeing in the profession
- Issues that are on the horizon, e.g. environment and sustainability, the implications of AI etc.
Please note we will not consider suggestions that purely focus on the promotion of commercial products or services.
We appreciate your ideas and will reach out if we decide to move forward with it. We may invite participants to join panels or explore alternative ways to showcase their work beyond the conference. Additionally, we might consider your idea for other opportunities, such as case studies for our website.
If you are asked to contribute to the conference programme in some form, you will need to purchase a conference ticket. Super early bird and early bird rates will be made available.
Tickets
Ticket prices for RCSLT Conference 2025 have been frozen to match what they were two years ago, something we hope will support members to be able to attend the packed two-day programme. Super early bird and early bird rates will once again be available for those who book early.
And to make the event as accessible as possible for those usually eligible for discounted tickets, we’ve introduced a new flexible “pay what you can” option, with a suggested contribution between £5 and £20. If you are able to contribute at the higher end of this range, your support will help us to continue offering inclusive opportunities and delivering high-quality events for the wider SLT community.
| RCSLT Members | Non-members | Discounted rate | |
| Super early bird tickets | £35 | £55 | £5, £10, £15, £20 |
| Early bird tickets | £40 | £60 | £5, £10, £15, £20 |
| Standard ticket | £55 | £75 | £5, £10, £15, £20 |
The discounted “pay what you can” rate is available to:
- Students
- Newly qualified practitioners
- Those returning to practise within the last 12 months
- Retired members
- Support workers / SLT assistants
- Abstract reviewers
- Clinical advisors
Tickets will go on sale in the coming weeks, so look out for more information and the link to register soon.
James Law Child Language Conference Prize
To honour the legacy of Professor James Law, the RCSLT has been gifted a prize to be awarded to the highest scoring abstract submitted to the RCSLT conference by an early career researcher in the child language category.
The prize will be used to fund travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs for national or international conference attendance and aims to support network building and further dissemination of the author’s portfolio of work.
To be eligible for the prize you must be an early career researcher* and submit a research abstract on the topic of child language. The prize will be awarded to the highest scoring abstract as identified by blind peer-reviewers.
*This means anyone leading independent research but excludes anyone who is more than 8 years post-PhD (not inclusive of career breaks e.g. sabbatical, maternity leave).
