Co-hosted by University College London (UCL) and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
Supported by the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Royal College of Midwives, College of Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Faculty of Public Health.

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GLOW 2026 is a biennial conference bringing together researchers, clinicians, policymakers, advocates and community partners from around the world to connect on global women, newborn, child, and reproductive health. Co-hosted by University College London and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and delivered in partnership with the Royal Colleges, this year’s meeting explores the theme of POWER – examining how structural, political, economic and digital forces shape health across the life course.  
 
Over two days, attendees will engage with leading global experts, hear cutting-edge research and policy innovations, and participate in interactive sessions designed to challenge existing paradigms and inspire new approaches. From plenaries on inequity and global health financing, to breakout sessions on overlooked topics in global women, newborn, child and reproductive health, to the first GLOW Film Festival, the conference will provide a space to learn, question and connect with colleagues. 
 
The programme is designed to be multidisciplinary and inclusive – featuring practitioners from diverse settings and across all career stages. Whether you work in clinical practice, public health and policy, data science, or community advocacy, GLOW 2026 offers a platform to share insights, build partnerships and collaborate on solutions.  
 
Why attend GLOW 2026? 

• Explore POWER: who holds it, how it operates, and how shifting it can transform global health outcomes 

• Receive updates from global leaders in maternal, newborn, child and reproductive health 

• Understand the contemporary challenges faced by global health experts and explore actionable solutions 

• Connect across disciplines and regions to expand your professional network 

• Showcase your work, whether through an oral or poster presentation, or via artistic or film-based contributions within the GLOW Film Festival 

 

Key Dates

Deadline for in-person tickets 13 September 2026

Last online booking date 30 September 2026

Conference dates 15 & 16 October 2026

All deadlines are 23:59 (GMT) on the date listed.

Registration

Join us for the GLOW 2026 conference.

Register Now

Secure registration via UCL Online Store.

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GLOW 2026 Conference Agenda

Further confirmed speaker announcements coming soon!

Day 1 – 15 October 2026

Time	Activity
09:30-10:00	Arrival and registration
10:00-11:00	Welcome and Opening PLENARY POWER 1: Power in women and children’s health worldwide Power for change towards SDGs in 2030: Status for women and children’s health worldwide Dr Pascale Allotey Director, World Health Organization Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing Prof. Adam Kucharski Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and award-winning science writer Dr Mary Kinney University of Cape Town academic and activist for maternal and newborn health
11:00-11:30	Break
11:30-13:00	Breakout sessions – Parallel sessions 1-5 For more details on topics please scroll to the end of the page
13:00-14:00	Lunch and poster judging Film Festival lunchtime screening 2YoungLives: the power of community-based mentoring in Sierra Leone Healthy women, healthy communities, healthy environment: 25 years in East Africa Stories of the empowering benefits of research: Paul the hand hygiene trainer Empowering women in their midlife: bringing menopause care to Tanzania A-Má’s Periods: stories four generations of women never told Hysterical Health Why We Provide – RCOG & Doctors for Choice UK
14:00-15:30	PLENARY POWER 2: Overcoming power imbalances and disparities Prof. Delan Devakumar Professor of Global Child Health, University College London. Director of the UCL Centre for the Health of Women, Children and Adolescents and the UCL Race & Health research group Addressing maternal disparities through a UK research consortium: an intersectionality and anti-racism lens Dr Mairead Black Reader in Obstetrics and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician, Aberdeen Centre for Women’s Health Research, University of Aberdeen Dr Enny Da Paixao Cruz Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Associate Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Accepted oral presentations Please scroll down to see presentation topics
15:30-16:00	Break
16:00-20:00	Film Festival Two showings, three films each, followed by a panel discussion. Drinks reception from 19:00. Showing 1 – Power and Reproductive Rights · 16:15-17:30 Kind to Women: How the 1967 Abortion Act Changed Our Lives On Our Own Terms Coffin Décolleté: Voices Against Early Marriage and Gender Inequality Showing 2 – Power in Pregnancy and Bereavement · 17:45-19:00 22+1 Shadows of Motherhood The Power of Words Creative submissions Generations of LightKenneth Mugabe · Denis Sewanyana · Andrew Weeks Unheeded Stories, Enduring TruthsStephanie Chianda Lost Mothers: Co-producing Creative Pathways to Illuminate Maternal Health and InjusticeLaura Abbott · Kate Chivers · Beci Ward Landscape of urban health realities: visualising maternal healthcare provisioning and accessibility in urban Sub-Saharan AfricaNamrata Narendra · Jil Molenaar · Peter Macharia · Aline Semaan · Cathy Birabwa · Fassou Mathias Grovogui · Lenka Beñová Some films cover pregnancy bereavement, abortion and child marriage. Trigger warnings will be given before each screening.

Day 2 – 16 October 2026

Time	Activity
10:00-11:00	PLENARY POWER 3: Money power! Dr Susan Sparkes Health economist in the Health Financing team at the World Health Organization (WHO) Prof. Dina Balabanova Co-chair of the Lancet Global Health Commission on Anti-Corruption. Professor of Health Systems and Policy, Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Adjunct Professor, Njala University, Sierra Leone Prof. Chima Onoka Health systems, policy and management, Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria. Consultant Public Health Physician, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Funders panel discussion
11:00-11:30	Break
11:30-13:00	Breakout sessions – Parallel sessions 6-10 For more details on topics please scroll to the end of the page
13:00-14:00	Lunch and poster judging Film Festival lunchtime screening Thoko’s Story Nema’s Choice: co-developing a docu-film to raise awareness of pre-eclampsia in Sierra Leone Across the Mountains What the WOMAN trials revealed about anaemia, postpartum haemorrhage and maternal death Learning the words to be heard: a co-produced maternal health literacy journey Five poems, an animation: voices of higher-weight women receiving maternity care
14:00-16:00	PLENARY POWER 4: Power for the future and next generation power Prof. Annettee Nakimuli Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Makerere University, Uganda Accepted oral presentations Please scroll down to see presentation topics Royal colleges panel discussion Dr Maryam Nasri Global Vice President, College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (CoSRH) Dr Sherif Abdel-Fattah Vice President for Global Health, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) Dr Elizabeth Mason Chair of the Global Health Committee, Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Lia Brigante International, Quality and Standards Professional Policy Advisor, Royal College of Midwives (RCM)
16:00-16:30	Conference closing Prizes Handover to the next GLOW committee

Parallel Sessions

Day 1 – 15 October 2026

Session	Content
Parallel session 1	Submitted science abstracts: maternal, newborn and child health Power, knowledge, and voices: implementers’ perspectives on evidence use from 157 countries Mother-child co-residence in correctional facilities: a cross-country policy analysis of maternal and child health protections Towards the development of weight inclusive maternity care, using critical participatory action research Using political economy analysis to improve community MPDSR in Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda Wealth, place, and stillbirth: a cross-sectional study of stillbirths and travel time to emergency obstetric care in The Gambia The development of a digital drug, feed and fluid calculator to improve guideline adherence and reduce prescribing errors on admission to Kamuzu Central Hospital Neonatal Unit in Malawi Applying the socioecological model to examine the beliefs, perceptions and attitudes surrounding preterm birth in Ethiopia: a qualitative study The invisible power of hierarchy and fear in maternal and perinatal death reporting in Ethiopia: a qualitative study Main room, streamed
Parallel session 2	Tackling corruption in health systems World café format 63 spaces · cabaret seating
Parallel session 3	Parent power in neonatal care: realities of families at the centre with the Newborn Toolkit, NEST360 and PANSAA Neonatal care and family led care 60 spaces · theatre seating
Parallel session 4	Ending preventable stillbirths: who has the power? Stillbirth, bereavement and compassionate care 24 spaces · cabaret seating
Parallel session 5	A woman / a record / a datapoint: missingness as a signal of power and vulnerability in maternity care Maternal and perinatal health 50 spaces · cabaret seating

Day 2 – 16 October 2026

Session	Content
Parallel session 6	Submitted science abstracts: sexual and reproductive health Unequal knowledge, unequal power: gender disparities in adolescent contraceptive knowledge and access in urban Gambia The role of equity and structural determinants in menstruation-related school absenteeism among adolescent girls in Ibadan, Nigeria Whose pain counts? Measuring pain in medication abortion in the era of telemedicine care Health washing and philanthropy in global women’s health Delayed, fragmented and unequal pathways to care: a global systematic qualitative evidence synthesis of determinants of fertility care-seeking Digital battlegrounds: youth, misinformation, and sexual and reproductive health rights advocacy in Kenya Main room, streamed
Parallel session 7	What do we mean by medical misogyny? An interactive workshop 63 spaces · cabaret seating
Parallel session 8	Power, trauma, and maternity care: implementing the EMPATHY Framework Maternal and perinatal health 20 spaces · theatre seating
Parallel session 9	Contragestive Time Sexual and reproductive health 24 spaces · cabaret seating
Parallel session 10	Parent power and the voice of Ubuntu: re-imagining inclusive care for at-risk newborns Neonatal care and family led care 50 spaces · cabaret seating

Oral Presentations

Day 1 – 15 October 2026

No.	Presentation
1	From powerlessness to agency: redistributing reproductive power in conflict-affected Gaza through a women-led volunteer model
2	Prescribing power: traditional birth attendants, informal maternal therapeutics, and the gendered roots of antibiotic misuse in southwest Nigeria
3	Redistributing power in military pregnancy: an ecosocial analysis of structural inequities and pathways to action
4	Power in the margins: how structural, social and gendered forces shape pregnant adolescents’ wellbeing in El Codito, Bogotá, Colombia

Day 2 – 16 October 2026

No.	Presentation
1	Experience-based co-design of an infection prevention and control intervention in a Zimbabwean neonatal unit
2	Institutionalising community participation to redistribute power in maternal and newborn health decision-making: a realist evaluation in Malawi
3	HER Too Theatre: a participatory approach to respectful maternity care
4	Redistributing communicative power in maternity care: a co-produced maternal health literacy intervention for pregnant women with limited English language proficiency
5	BetaMama Companion: using WhatsApp-based maternal health support to bridge information inequities in underserved communities
6	Shifting the power: how trainees are redefining education, advocacy, and the future health workforce