Present your work at the Horatio Congress 2026
We invite you to contribute to the next European Mental Health Nursing Conference in Mechelen, Belgium—where we will celebrate 20 years of Horatio and reflect on the deep roots, enduring resilience, and forward momentum of our profession.
Abstracts are welcome under the broad theme: Rooted. Resilient. Ready. Fundamentals of Mental Health Nursing as Drivers for the Future. We are looking for contributions that explore and celebrate the essential building blocks of mental health nursing—our values, skills, and relationships—and how these drive innovation, research, practice, and leadership in diverse contexts.
This includes (but is not limited to) work connected to:
- Foundational principles and evolving roles in mental health nursing
- Research and practice that highlight what makes our profession unique and impactful
- Real-world examples of compassion, interpersonal relationships, creativity, and resilience in care
- Innovations, interventions, and strategies shaping tomorrow’s mental health services
- Collaboration and co-creation with experts by experience, persons coping with mental health vulnerabilities and all other “interest” holders
- Interdisciplinary and intercultural learning across Europe
- Education, advocacy, policy, and systems leadership rooted in nursing values
Whether you are a practitioner, educator, researcher, student, or lived-experience expert—your voice matters. Join us in Mechelen to reflect, connect, and shape what’s next for mental health nursing across Europe.
Formats
Contributions can be made in four different formats:
- Concurrent session – 20 minutes in length (incl. 5 min for questions)
- Symposium – 1 hour in length containing 2-3 papers on the same topic (incl. 15 min for questions)
- Workshop – 1 hour in length
- Poster – digital (PDF) and on paper format
Instructions
The congress language is English. Therefore, abstracts will only be accepted in English.
To actively contribute to the congress, you have to submit an abstract, which should be structured as follows:
- Background: max 550 characters incl. blanks
- Aim: max 200 characters incl. blanks
- Methods: max 250 characters incl. blanks
- Results: max 300 characters incl. blanks
- Discussion: max 1,300 characters incl. blanks
- Learning outcomes (Workshops only)
Closing date for Abstract submission is December 15, 2025
In case you have any questions about the abstract process, please do not hesitate to contact us at: liesbet.vanbos@thomasmore.be