On Friday 16 January 2026 HERDSA hosted a highly engaging professional development workshop, Finalising Abstracts for HERDSA 2026, with 58 participants joining from across Australasia and beyond to strengthen their conference submissions.

The two-hour session was designed to support both first-time and experienced contributors in refining their abstracts ahead of the HERDSA 2026 submission deadline. The workshop focused on helping participants move from solid drafts to clear, competitive, and well-aligned abstracts that respond directly to HERDSA’s review criteria and conference themes.

Facilitated by HERDSA Executives Manisha Thakkar, Associate Professor Tania Leach, and Alice Brown, the session combined practical guidance with insider perspectives from the abstract review process. Conference Conveners Misty So-Sum Wai-Cook and Mark Gan (National University of Singapore) also joined the session, providing valuable insights into the HERDSA 2026 conference vision, presentation formats, and reviewer expectations.

Key areas addressed during the workshop included:

• Aligning abstracts clearly with HERDSA conference themes and sector priorities
• Writing with precision within the 300-word limit
• Strengthening the description of methods and evidence, including work-in-progress submissions
• Articulating a clear contribution to scholarship and/or practice
• Designing meaningful audience engagement strategies, a distinctive feature of HERDSA abstracts

Participants were guided through strong and weak abstract examples mapped directly to the HERDSA rubric, with step-by-step demonstrations of how weaker sections can be transformed into higher-scoring submissions. A detailed abstract writing guide was shared to support ongoing revision beyond the session.

The workshop also included interactive elements such as live polls and facilitated breakout discussions, where participants shared draft abstracts, discussed appropriate presentation modes (showcase, roundtable, or poster), and received targeted feedback. Many participants reflected on the value of strategically selecting presentation formats based on the stage of their work, rather than defaulting to a single mode.

Feedback from attendees highlighted the session’s clarity, practicality, and transparency, with several noting that the workshop modelled best practice in scholarly capacity-building and helped demystify the abstract review process.

Workshop recording and resources

Workshop recording: https://youtu.be/ZSWNNzeGLBU?si=4QLYAJg3Hwvp9jHZ

HERDSA Abstract Writing Workshop Guide: http://bit.ly/4pJVmoE

Workshop slides: https://bit.ly/3NpEEgZ

HERDSA thanks all facilitators, contributors, and participants for making this session a collaborative and collegial space focused on strengthening scholarly practice across the higher education sector. These resources are now available to support members as they finalise submissions for HERDSA 2026 in Singapore.