The BPS South West Undergraduate Conference 2026 (SWUC) is a collegiate and collaborative conference. You must share your dissertation or research findings at the conference in the form of a poster or presentation to attend.

Your booking will be confirmed once your research abstract has been accepted. We may contact you with follow-up questions if required.

Writing your abstract

Please write your abstract in line with the APA guidelines for abstracts.

The APA guidelines recommend a 250-word limit. We request that you keep to this word limit for the BPS SWUC as an absolute maximum.

Please contact your supervisor for your abstract-writing process for further guidance. You will need to get their approval before submitting your abstract for the conference. You should allow enough time for your supervisor to review your abstract and provide feedback, and for you to incorporate their feedback.

Submitting your abstract

The deadline to submit your abstract is 2 March 2026.

You can submit your abstract through our form

You will need to submit your study title and a 250-word abstract.

Before you submit your abstract, you must get approval from your dissertation supervisor. You will not be able to submit your abstract without ticking a box to confirm approval and without providing your supervisor’s email.

If you have any questions about your abstract, please email us at swuc@bath.ac.uk

We look forward to receiving your submission!

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Please read the FAQs below before submitting your abstract. If you have further questions, you can contact us at swuc@bath.ac.uk

Do I need to include citations or a reference list for an abstract?

Citations and references are not mandatory, but you may want to include in-text citations for major sources — for example, if you are testing a specific theory or replicating past studies.

What if I have not completed data collection or run analyses yet?

That is no problem, you do not need to have completed results or data analysis for your abstract. If you cannot report on results, please briefly describe your predictions and what such results could mean for your research question and the wider field of research.

Do I need to include keywords? How do I choose appropriate keywords?

Keywords are not required, but they can be helpful for presentation categorisation. If you choose to include them, select 3–5 keywords that reflect the core concepts, methods, population, or theoretical framework of your study. These should help others easily identify the focus of your research (e.g. key constructs, methodology, or topic area).

What happens if I’m working on a group project, but I have an individual research question?

If you are part of a group project but have developed a distinct individual research question, you may submit your abstract individually. Please ensure that your abstract clearly reflects your own research focus and contribution.

If submitting as a pair or group, all named authors must have made a substantial contribution to the research and must agree on the abstract content prior to submission. You are not required to submit as a group even if you are conducting a group project with an identical research question. However, if two or more members of the same group submit closely related abstracts, we may contact you about collaborating or presenting together