Design in Mental Health, one of the UK's leading annual events for the mental health built environment, has launched its 2025 Call for Papers, giving anyone whose work involves the design or delivery of spaces that support mental health the opportunity to submit a proposal to present at the next edition of the event, taking place at Manchester Central from 3-4 June 2025.
The Design in Mental Health Advisory Board has selected eight key themes for the 2025 conference, and says it would welcome proposals for presentations or workshops that touch on one or more of them. The themes are:
• Clinical and operational learning.
• Collaboration and partnership innovation.
• Design, estates, facilities. and equipment learning.
• New ways of working.
• Person-centred approach.
• Policy, research, and standards.
• Safety and Psychologically Informed Environments (PIEs).
• Service-user learning
The conference at Design in Mental Health is an annual forum for organisations and professionals interested in advancing the cause of good design in mental health settings to learn, network, share best practice, and explore collaboration. The Design in Mental Health event is organised by Step Exhibitions with Design in Mental Health Network, a charity which aims to improve mental health outcomes by promoting knowledge exchange, co-production, and quality standards in design in mental health settings. Submissions to the Call for Papers which reflect those aims are particularly welcome.
Conference director, Victoria Emerton, said: “Speaking is an opportunity to share your knowledge with the community, promote best practice, and raise your organisation’s profile as well as your own. Many previous presenters and workshop leaders have told us that the exposure they got as a speaker led directly to them making new contacts, which in turn resulted in productive collaborations.”
Assistant event director, Mel Sands, added: “The attendee community consists of a broad range of professionals and experts from around the world, spanning the public and private sectors and specialist charities. They include architects, designers, clinicians, health planners, estates and facilities managers, capital projects managers, product manufacturers, and contractors and engineers, among others. So, if you have something interesting to say on the design, construction, refurbishment, management, or equipping of facilities used for mental health treatment or therapy, your audience is here, and we encourage you to submit a proposal to speak.”
Submissions to the Call for Papers can be made at: www.designinmentalhealth.com/speakers2025