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<\/p>\nIn January I attended my first real academic conference. I woke up at about 5am and travelled to Cardiff to spend the day volunteering at the first day of the British Psychological Society's (BPS) Division of Occupational Psychology (DOP) Annual Conference 2026. I first heard about this opportunity through a Chartered Occupational Psychologist that I follow on LinkedIn who advertised the volunteering role and I knew that this would be a unique opportunity for me to get a better understanding of what occupational psychology is and how it works in the real world.<\/p>\n
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My role was to support the speakers and event as a whole; providing directions to speakers and attendees, dealing with any technical issues, and providing 5 and 10 minute warnings to make sure the presentations finished on time. However, and much more importantly, when I wasn't stood in the corridor pointing the way to all the different rooms and reminding people that the stairs don't take you to the first floor from here, I got the opportunity to watch the presentations and meet the speakers. This was a really good opportunity to practice networking and professionalism in a 'real world' setting which has helped build my confidence and ability to communicate with a diverse group of people that I've never met before. I also got to connect with a lot of the speakers on LinkedIn after the event and have since followed all of the work they have been doing which has broadened my insight into the field.<\/p>\n
While at uni, I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of poster presentations by PhD students in my department and hear about all the interesting research that the University of Bath does, but this was completely different. Some of the presentations I got to watch were given by people that I, and I imagine everyone else in the room, had been following on LinkedIn since my interest in occupational psychology began in the middle of my first year at uni. In particular, members of the committee of the BPS DOP, owners of psychological consultancies and psychometrics firms, and prominent researchers in the field of occupational psychology all gave and interacted with the presentations and it was such a unique and insightful experience to hear their thoughts and expertise on all of the things discussed.<\/p>\n
The most memorable talk for me was the keynote on the role of occupational psychology in security and defence over the past 100 years. It summarised the key contributions the field has made, from the First and Second World Wars through to modern national defence, such as using human factors design to improve the layout of fighter jet cockpits and enhance pilots\u2019 cognitive processing and responses.<\/p>\n
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I also really enjoyed the panel on supporting LGBT+ inclusion during the widespread DEI 'backlash', and what occupational psychologists can and should professionally be doing to support LGBT+ issues in their work, which highlighted some really interesting issues about when morals and individual responsibility becomes more important than professionalism and the work that some employers are asking people to do.<\/p>\n