To help promote the field of Occupational Health Psychology a number of sessions at the 2026 EAOHP Conference are being made available online to anyone interested. 

Specific details and links will be made available closer to time. 

09:00 – 09:30 – Opening Ceremony

 The opening of EAOHP 2026 Conference, featuring welcomes from:

• Professor Stavroula Leka, President of EAOHP
• Professor Salla Toppinen-Tanner, Conference Co-Chair, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
• Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, Minister of Social Security
• Rector Sari Lindblom, University of Helsinki, University of Helsinki

09:40 – 11:15 – Policy Special Session: Global Trends and the Future of Policy Making on Mental Health at Work

This special policy session brings together policymakers at global, European and national levels to discuss global trends and the future of policy-making on mental health at work. It also includes a roundtable that will explore perspectives from additional stakeholders, including global networks and experts, on work-related psychosocial risks and mental health at work. It aims to evaluate the current policy landscape and to determine how best to address emerging priorities in the future of work and the role of occupational health psychology.

Roundtable discussion:

• Laura Rissanen, State Secretary to the Minister of Social Security, Finland
• Sergio Iavicoli, Director General for Prevention, Ministry of Health, Italy
• Manal Azzi, Team Lead on Occupational Safety and Health Policy and Systems, Occupational Safety and Health and Working Environment (OSHE) Branch, International Labour Organization
• Xabier Irastorza, Senior Research Project Manager, European Agency for Safety & Health at Work
• Dubravka Suzic, Head, Psychosocial Wellbeing – Staff Health and Wellbeing Section, United Nations High Commission for Refugees
• Michael Ertel, International Commission on Occupational Health, Chair of Scientific Committee ‘Work Organisation and Psychosocial Factors’ & BAuA, Germany
• Noortje Wiezer, Principal Advisor, TNO Health and Work; PEROSH Scientific Steering Group
• Loic Lerouge, Research Director at Centre for Comparative Labour and Social Security Law, International research chair in comparative occupational health studies, University of Bordeaux, France

Chairs: Stavroula Leka and Aditya Jain

11:45 – 13:00 – Special Session: New Directions for IGLOO and Realist Evaluation: Extending Professor Karina Nielsen’s Contribution to Intervention Research

This symposium examines the continuing influence of multi-level intervention frameworks and realist evaluation methodologies in occupational health psychology, building on foundational research established by Professor Karina Nielsen. Her work fundamentally shifted intervention research beyond the traditional “what works?” question to examine what works for whom, in which circumstances, and through what mechanisms. This realist evaluation approach recognises that interventions are complex events whose success depends on contextual factors and underlying mechanisms that activate change. Her development of the IGLOO model (Individual, Group, Leader, Organisation, Overarching context) provided a systematic approach to designing and evaluating interventions, proving especially influential in sustainable return-to-work research where it guides understanding of how resources at multiple organisational levels support employee wellbeing and maintaining long-term work participation. These methodologies transformed how researchers design, implement, and evaluate workplace interventions, advancing understanding not just of whether interventions work, but crucially, how, why, for whom, and in what circumstances they produce effects on employee wellbeing. Collectively, these presentations illustrate the enduring value of theory-driven, intervention research. They exemplify the power of moving beyond simple outcome evaluation to understand mechanisms and contexts determining intervention success, whilst maintaining solid commitment to research that provides actionable insights for improving employee wellbeing. This symposium thus demonstrates how these foundational frameworks continue to inspire and guide intervention research and practice in occupational health psychology.

Chairs: Cristian Vasquez and Christine Ipsen

More information can be found here. 

11:45 – 12:30 – Keynote Address – Jari Hakanen

Employee Well-being, Threats, and Solutions – Research and Practical Tools

Despite numerous ongoing and anticipated changes in work-life, employee well-being remains both a significant challenge and an opportunity for the sustainable success of organizations and societies. To a certain extent, each workplace contributes either to the flourishing or suffering of its employees based on factors such as culture, leadership practices, and proactive and adaptive behaviors. Typically, much can be achieved at the workplace level. A starting point for supporting workplaces in fostering health and well-being is to provide tools that offer reliable research information about well-being and ill-being.

More information can be found here. 

13:00 – 15:00 – Practice Forum – What Works in Psychosocial Risk Management: Lessons from Practice

The EAOHP’s Practice Forum, in collaboration with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH).

Many organisations recognise the importance of addressing psychosocial risks but struggle with how to implement effective preventive action in practice. This session focuses on learning from experience, bringing together practitioner perspectives to explore what has been tried, what has worked, and what challenges remain in psychosocial risk prevention.

Using a small number of applied examples from different organisational contexts, the session highlights practical intervention approaches, the conditions that support their success, and the lessons that can be transferred across settings. A facilitated panel discussion and audience reflection create space for dialogue about real‑world constraints, trade‑offs, and opportunities. 

More information is available here.  

 10:15 – 11:45 – Special Session: International Coordinating Group of OHP

 This session brings together the regional associations in the field of occupational health psychology to discuss developments in across the different respective regions and to update on respective activities. It follows on from the Geneva Partnership Commitment for a Global Network for Evidence-Based Policy and Practice on Psychosocial Risks and Mental Health at Work. The new global dashboard on psychosocial risks will also be launched.

11:45 – 12:30 – Keynote Address – Sabine Sonnentag

Capturing Work Life in Real Time: Innovations in Intensive Longitudinal Methods for Occupational Health Psychology

Intensive longitudinal methods (ILM) such as daily surveys, experience sampling approaches, and ecological momentary assessments have become often-used tools in occupational health psychology (OHP). Over the past decade, their application has grown exponentially, driven by technological innovations (e.g., smartphone-based data collection), methodological advancements (e.g., accessible data-analysis software), and an increasing interest in dynamic processes. Generally, ILM capture real-time fluctuations in individuals’ experiences, behaviors, and physiological states, enabling researchers to disentangle intraindividual variability from stable interindividual differences. This approach is particularly attractive for OHP as phenomena such as stress, coping, recovery, and work engagement fluctuate from day to day and even from hour to hour.

In this keynote presentation, I will discuss recent advancements in ILM, organized into three main themes: (1) Innovative study designs, including just-in-time adaptive interventions, within-person encouragement designs, and measurement burst designs; (2) approaches to test and improve data quality challenges, with a focus on compliance, careless responding, and measurement reactivity; (3) advanced data-analytic approaches, highlighting person-centered approaches and models that explicitly account for temporal dynamics, such as dynamic structural equation modeling, continuous-time structural equation modeling, and multilevel growth models. I will illustrate each theme with empirical examples from OHP. The presentation will conclude with actionable recommendations for OHP scholars who want to incorporate ILM into their research portfolio and get the most out of it.

More information can be found here.