15th January 2026

We are delighted to announce that bookings for our iHV Evidence-based Practice (EBP) Conference 2026 are now open. This year’s conference, “From Evidence to Action: Getting it right from the start”, will be held at Bournemouth International Centre on 6 May 2026 – with options to join us in-person, or online, to give you flexibility.

The iHV annual Evidence-based Practice (EBP) Conference is the UK’s leading health visiting event. This one-day conference offers a fantastic opportunity to hear about the latest developments, research and innovations in health visiting and to network with colleagues from across the UK to share best practice.

With growing support, the iHV annual EBP Conference is getting bigger, better and more popular every year! This year’s bumper programme brings together an incredible line-up of inspiring thought leaders, cutting-edge researchers and prestigious speakers you won’t want to miss.

Reasons to attend

• Hear from over 80 inspiring speakers and presenters – and engage in Q&A sessions and discussions.
• Participate in an extensive range of topical sessions covering the breadth of health visiting practice and research – with something for everyone to choose from in our keynote, concurrent and breakout oral presentation sessions focused on key priority topics for health visiting in the UK today.
• Enjoy an extensive range of poster presentations selected from the highest scoring abstract submissions from researchers and leaders in practice.
• Network with hundreds of participants from across health visiting practice, research, education, policy, national and local government, charities, businesses, partners and supporters.
• Visit our vibrant exhibition with carefully selected stands that will be of interest to those working in health visiting and child/ family health in the earliest years.
• Hear new ideas and solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing health visiting and child/ family health across the UK and share ideas during interactive sessions.
• Flexible joining options: You can choose to either join in-person at the fantastic Bournemouth International Centre, with its state-of-the-art facilities and excellent location on Bournemouth beachfront – or take advantage of our hybrid option and enjoy the conference experience online.
• Leave feeling inspired and connected to the wider health visiting community.

Programme

Our conference programme covers a breadth of key priority topics for health visiting in the UK today.

We are delighted to be joined by high-profile keynote speakers including the inspirational health visiting leader and iHV Fellow, Dr Ruth Oshikanlu on her groundbreaking work as an advocate and leader of transformational change. We also love to profile new ways of sharing evidence on achieving the ‘best start in life’ with families and are delighted to be joined by Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Julie Hayward from BookTrust on their latest learning from research. Also, hear iHV CEO Alison Morton’s presentation on ‘Leading with purpose: Turning Vision into Impact’. And there are many more – see programme for full details.

Choose from a wide range of fantastic concurrent sessions, with research and evidence-based practice presentations focused on:

• Safeguarding and trauma-informed care* (*live streamed option for online delegates)
• Supporting babies and children with SEND
• Food insecurity and oral health inequalities
• Health equity
• Professional practice
• Perinatal and infant mental health
• Getting it right from the start (*live streamed option for online delegates)
• Infant feeding

Alongside an extensive range of poster presentations from researchers and leaders in practice, we also have a fantastic variety of presentations in our Oral Breakout Sessions, with four streams to choose from:

• Bridging the gaps (live streamed option for online delegates) – focused on financial hardship, paternal mental health, parents by adoption, and clinical governance (including learning from international colleagues in Australia).
• Inclusive practice – covering mothering with autism, perinatal and infant mental health, transition to parenthood for same-sex couples, and experiences of multiple birth care.
• Supporting families with safeguarding or additional needs – including social care reform, MECSH sustained home visiting in London, health visitors working in prisons, and young fathers with histories of childhood domestic abuse.
• Applying professional learning and service design – focused on the health visitor new baby assessment, enhancing the HV offer in Hull, embedding safeguarding supervision, and delivering excellence in workforce education, learning and development.

Don’t miss our special early bird ticket rates, available until Friday 6 March 2026 – extra discounts and concessions are available for iHV members, iHV corporate members, early booking and group bookings of 5 or more.