Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities Advancing Practice Conference 2025
- Intellectual Disabilities
Welcome to the Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities Advancing Practice Conference 2025!
This 2-day event will bring together leading experts, researchers, educators and advocates in our field to share best practices and develop a community.
This year the conference will be held at:
- Hilton Cardiff
Kingsway
Cardiff
CF10 3HH
Our conference is a limited capacity event and we suggest registering early to ensure your place.
Themes & aims
This year's conference invites submissions that explore the multifaceted nature of our two themes:
- Working with systems
- Research to practise links-bridging the gap
We encourage innovative approaches that challenge conventional thinking and propose new solutions.
We want to engage with a range of views; relevant topics could include:
- The impact of societal attitudes and stigma on individuals with intellectual disabilities
- The role of systemic barriers in accessing quality healthcare and education
- The intersection of systemic oppression and disability
- Systemic Approaches to Supporting Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
- Family-centred approaches to support
- The role of technology in supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities
- Working with paid carers
- Research to practise links-bridging the gap
- Examples of large or small-scale clinically relevant research
- Ways of developing practice- based research
- Supporting clinicians' involvement in research.
While we encourage submissions related to our theme, our discussions will be far broader and cover a number of varying topics.
Whatever your work, it has the potential to contribute to this year's rich and diverse conversation.
You are invited to share your experiences and knowledge and to submit abstracts addressing this theme through:
- Research
- Professional practice
- Theory/opinion papers
- Social activism
Key submission dates
Authors are strongly advised to register on the on-line submission system and begin preparing their submissions well in advance of the following deadlines.
- 05 November: Online submissions system open
- 18 February: Deadline for submissions
- 03 March: Updated notification of outcome
- 04 March: Draft programme released
- 28 April: Deadline for registration
If you wish to submit more than one abstract, please complete individual submissions for each.
How to submit
Please ensure you read the submission guidelines below before submitting.
Submissions must be made via the online application portal.
Please note: you will need to create an account if this is your first time submitting.
The registration fee includes daily lunches, refreshments and access to all content.
Alongside the conference, we will be hosting a Gala Dinner at the Hilton Cardiff, you can purchase a ticket in the "add-on" section of the registration page. Included in your ticket is a 3-course seated dinner and 1/2 a bottle of wine or soft drinks.
Please note: ticket cost does not include accommodation.
All prices are inclusive of VAT at 20% and exclusive of booking fee.
1 Day
- Early Bird - FPID Member/Concession: N/A
- Concession (prequalified delegates): N/A
- FPID Member: £132
- BPS Member: £151.80
- Non-Members: £171
2 Day
- Early Bird - FPID Member/Concession: £180
- Concession (prequalified delegates): £216
- FPID Member: £276
- BPS Member: £346
- Non-Members: £388
The Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities are accepting bursary applications for any pre-qualified psychologists who are successful in their abstract submission.
To qualify for a bursary, you must be pre-qualified:
- Have an undergraduate degree in psychology but are not qualified practitioner psychologists.
- Including but not limited to assistant psychologists and trainee psychologists
To apply for a bursary, please answer the series of questions at the bottom of the submissions form.
Levelling the playing field – A journey of developing psychological guidance for supporting people with a learning disability in Wales
Dr Jaime Horn – Consultant Clinical Psychologist/Systemic Psychotherapist Powys Teaching Health Board
Dr Caley Hill – Joint Head ABUHB Learning Disability Psychological Services
Dr Helen Delargy – Principal Clinical Psychologist to lead improving access to psychological interventions for children/young people with learning disabilities, and their families, in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board
Dr Jennifer McElwee – Psychology Lead for Children with additional Needs ABUHB
Dr Vaughn Price - Senior Academic Tutor / Consultant Clinical Psychologist Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology
In 2023 a small group of senior psychologists working in adult learning disability services in Wales started to share frustrations about a lack of recognition in Wales of people with a learning disability psychological needs and ways of working, and what developed was a movement. And it spread across Wales from adult to children and young people's services, from NHS to private and educational providers and cumulated in the production of guidance of best practice document on the delivery of Psychological Interventions for Children, Young People and Adults with a Learning Disability in Wales
This isn't guidance founded on the traditional idea of an evidence base, it's a collection of values, principals, practice-based evidence for meeting psychological needs and adapting psychological interventions, across the lifespan for people with learning disabilities. The journey here has been full of passion and collaboration and we'd like to share it with you. This is a moment in time....
Dementia guidance updated – what's new.
Dr Karen Dodd
This presentation will summarise the main changes from the joint BPS/ RCPSych (2015) guidance document on Assessment, Diagnosis, Interventions and support of people with intellectual disabilities who develop dementia to the new version to be launched today. The main changes to be highlighted include:
- Update to context to include key documents from all 4 nations
- New section on work to support prevention of dementia and good brain health
- Further emphasis on differentiating a baseline assessment for people with Down's syndrome from a first concerns assessment
- Results of a survey of services for people with intellectual disabilities on conducting baseline assessments an the types of assessments used by services will be included
- Update on current best practice and quality outcomes for people with intellectual disabilities and dementia
- Update on exciting prospects for future understanding of dementia in people with intellectual disabilities and future treatments
The Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities has a number of allocated rooms on-site at the Hilton Cardiff.
You can book your accommodation directly here.
If you are email [email protected] for further information.
Want to speak to one of the team?
Contact us at [email protected].