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Conference Theme

Leading the future of primary care

Conference Overview

Join us for SAPC's 54th Annual Scientific Meeting, held in the historic city of St Andrews. The 2026 conference brings together leading researchers, educators, and practitioners from across the UK and beyond to share cutting-edge research and innovations in academic primary care.

The three-day event features keynote plenaries, research presentations, posters, and networking opportunities designed to advance the field of academic primary care and foster meaningful collaborations.

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Quick Facts

Date:24-26th June 2026
Location:St Andrews
Expected Attendees:450+
Submission Deadline:23rd January 2026
Registration:Opens Feb 2026

2026 Call for abstracts

The annual SAPC conference showcases the latest research and education in academic primary care.

The Scientific Committee is particularly keen to receive abstracts which complement the conference theme: Leading the Future of Primary Care. We particularly welcome submissions that map closely to this theme. However, submissions are welcome on any topic relating to research and educational activities in primary care both in the UK and internationally. 

Submission deadline 23rd January 2026.

We invite you to submit work in the following formats:

Oral presentation

Full oral presentation - 10 minute presentation, 5 minute discussion

Lightning presentation - 3 minute presentation, 2 minute discussion (maximum 3 slides)

Oral and Lightning presentation format: PowerPoint widescreen 16:9 Landscape 

Work in progress - the Scientific Programme Committee will consider work in progress for oral presentations.

Poster

Poster format: Printed poster size A0, preferably sustainable material.

Posters will be displayed for casual viewing throughout the conference (No associated oral presentation).

Review criteria

Abstracts will be included in the book of abstracts which will have a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) reference.

Workshops offer a 60 minute slot to bring people together with shared interests to explore a topic in greater depth. Workshops may have an educational, research or practice-based theme. We welcome innovative topics and formats for workshops.

Please describe your workshop using the following headings:

Title
Aim and intended outcome / educational objectives
Format
Content
Intended audience (include a maximum number of participants if you wish)

Points for authors to note:

Your workshop must be interactive with plenty of time for discussion
Please avoid using presentations as the key feature of the workshop
Please limit time spent talking to slides to a maximum of 10 minutes
Participants will not sign up in advance so preparatory work by attendees will not be possible

Maximum word count: 350 including title

Review Criteria for the assessment of Workshops

Workshops will be judged against the following criteria by two independent peer reviewers using a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent):

1. Topicality
Is the workshop topic important, interesting and relevant to primary care and likely to appeal to SAPC delegates?

2. Objectives
Are the learning objectives of the workshop clear, relevant and achievable?

3. Educational methods
Do the authors suggest appropriate pedagogical methods to achieve the learning objectives?

4. Format
Is the proposed format of the workshop likely to provoke discussion and interaction between workshop participants?

Theme
In addition to the criteria described above, peer reviewers will also be asked to indicate (on a scale from 1 - 10) the extent to which this submission aligns with conference theme.

Creative Enquiry Presentations: exploring ‘caritas’ through creative or artistic media.

We are offering an opportunity for delegates to extend engagement with the complexity and inter-subjectivity of primary care through a creative enquiry. This is an opportunity to engage with different forms of evidence, knowledge-creation and meaning-making.

Work selected for presentation may be allocated a workshop slot. 

You may use any creative medium for your presentation, for example: music, dance, monologue, painting, photography, prose, poetry, sculpture. You must submit some evidence of the created work at the time of submission and this must be accompanied by an abstract/reflection (limited to 350 words). The created work on which your abstract/reflection is based may be your own. Alternatively you may choose to present something which is not your own creation but which has deepened your own engagement with, or understanding of, primary care. We are primarily interested in the quality and depth of your accompanying engagement and thought.

Review criteria.  

What is Creative Enquiry?

It is usual at academic conferences to focus predominantly on the science and it can be very easy to lose sight of the ‘art’ or ‘practice’ of medicine. Caritas: Creative Enquiry is an opportunity to enrich and extend our engagement with the art and practice of medicine. The aim is not to displace our attention to academic rigour, but to enhance it…and it is not about creating entertainment, but about entertaining creativity in how we think about primary health care.

'Experience is the name one gives to ones mistakes' This session encourages risk taking! 

This is your opportunity to stimulate conversation and debate. 

At a time of significant change and challenge in the world of primary care, we need critical and creative ideas to help find solutions to problems affecting patients and practitioners.

Dangerous Ideas should represent blue sky thinking - and we want to hear your thoughts. An idea can’t be dangerous if it stays silently inside one person’s head.

SAPC ASM aims to bring people together in a festival of ideas; there’s room for brand new conversation and experimentation just as much as evaluation of existing research.

The Dangerous Ideas Soapbox facilitates thought experiments in a fun and friendly way: 2 minute pitches followed by debate open to the floor.

Voting and vetoing strongly encouraged. An open mind is essential.

Do YOU have a dangerous idea? Want to challenge the status quo?

Submission Details

  • A Dangerous Idea is something which challenges, but also demonstrates a commitment to action and making a difference.
  • Speakers have 2 minutes to pitch a Dangerous Idea – outlining your idea, why it matters and how you will make it happen.
  • Each pitch may be accompanied by one PowerPoint slide.
  • The audience are asked to vote for the best idea - the one that they most feel needs to be heard. 
  • We ask you to chose an idea that is new (challenging, even provocative); that recognises and resonates with the vision of driving improvement in primary care through scholarship; and has the potential to make a difference.

Recent ideas

2024 winning ideas: 1st - GP's should ask patients how it went 2nd - Primary care should tackle healthcare inequalities but not health inequalities 3rd - All symptoms are wrong (but some symptoms are useful) 4th - Treat RA like cancer

2025 winning ideas: Pay GPs to spend more time in their communities - Patients should be discouraged from Googling their symptoms and use Chat-GPT instead - Scrap mandatory annual basic CPR training - Listening to our patients

Notifications

Notifications of the status of your submission following peer review and the programming meeting, will be emailed to submitters by March 2026.

Bursaries and prizes

We have a number of bursaries and prizes on offer. See the registration information for bursary eligibility. 

Keynote Speakers

Leading voices in academic primary care

Conference information and FAQs

  • 23rd January - Abstract submission closes
  • 25th February - SAPC will notify of acceptance to present
  • 28th February - If successful, confirm your acceptance to present
  • 6th May – SAPC bursary application deadline
  • 8th May - Early Bird tickets close
  • 8th June – Registration for conference and dinner attendance closes
  • 19th June - Deadline to email oral presentation slides to office@sapc.ac.uk 

The conference is being held at St Andrews University. The conference dinner will be held at The Old Course Hotel

Attendance and daytime refreshments on the days purchased. Please note that the conference dinner must be purchased as an additional ticket.

Discounted accommodation will be available at the university. This will be available to book direct once registration opens.

For details about the information you have provided when registering please read SAPC's privacy policy. If you have any queries please remember to quote the conference name and your registration ID in any communication with us.

Conference Committee