Call for Submissions
Dear colleagues, dear friends,
it is our great pleasure to invite you to be part of the 17th World Conference on Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling (or as we simply like to call it: PCE 2026).
The Submissions portal is now open!
We are living in a changing world which affects us as persons and which is often at odds with the way we see or we want to see us. Clearly, all of these changes are of our own doing, we are not only responsible but we are also our one and only hope for a change to the better.
The PCE2026 aims to provide a facilitating and stimulating context to experience, share, discuss, elucidate, understand, question, celebrate and feel how we become agents of change in this time of pressing and alarming changes. This will be done by both acknowledging and fostering our rich clinical, theoretical and empirical basis in psychotherapy, counseling and personal change as well as employing these treasures as a point of reference to face a changing world.
The PCE2026 offers an array of different formats for symposia, talks, posters, workshops and encounter.
Conference Formats:
Symposium (60 minutes, i.e. three 15 minute talks plus a 15 minute discussion)
A symposium has a duration of 60 minutes and consists of three individual talks plus a general discussion. It is hosted by a moderator who will be responsible for introducing the presenters, managing the time, and facilitating the discussion after the presentations. The topics of talks within the symposium should focus on a same thematic area. The scientific committee will give the priority to submissions that include presenters from different approaches and perspectives. At least one talk should be given by a future researcher (in training, master or PhD level). Submissions for symposium should include an abstract presenting an overview of the symposium, the name of the moderator and the abstracts of the talks.
Individual Talks (20 minutes, i.e. 15 minutes talk + 5 minutes discussion)
This format encourages individual presenters to submit talks focused on theoretical, empirical or practical issues. The Scientific Committee will thematically organize all individual talks and arrange them into 60 minutes sessions to include three 20-minute individual papers.
Individual Lectures (60 minutes, i.e. 40 minutes talk + 20 minutes discussion)
Submissions for individual lectures will typically involve a 40 minute presentation and allow, preferably, a minimum of 20 minutes for discussion with audience participation. Only a limited number of these submissions will be accepted.
Poster Session
The Poster Session particularly aims to provide a center stage for upcoming scientists and practitioners, especially those in early stages of their careers, to present their work. Posters will be displayed during the conference and presented by the respective researcher and practitioner in the Poster Session on Friday, 10th of July before lunch. There will be a prize for the best poster.
Experiential Workshops (75 minutes)
An experiential workshop can be focused on any topic related to the conference theme that allows for a significant amount of time for audience participation through experiential exercises or other forms of audience participation such as discussions or practical tasks. The goal of the experiential workshops is gathering professional knowledge, methods and orientation. The focus is on learning, teaching and exchange.
Creative Workshops (90 minutes)
A creative workshop can be a place of thinking ahead and getting innovative. The methods should be based on the PCE approach and support exchanging and developing new ideas as well as changing the perspective. In the creative workshops a space could be facilitated for participants to work on what they experienced and learned during the day, where people can meet to explore and develop an idea. The aim is to encourage experimentation, exploration and further development of topics using creative methods. This new format aims to create space for joint reflection and further development, and to inspire participants to become agents of change themselves.
Parallel Online Conference
There will also be an online conference. The main lectures will be streamed. On the middle days of the conference (9th -11th of July 2026), online time slots will be offered after the streamed dialogue keynotes in parallel to the conference in presence.
Submissions can be made for either symposia/individual lectures (60 min slot) or experiential/creative workshops (90 min slot).
General information
To register and submit, please provide the following information:
Registration: To participate, you need to register. Conference fees are set according to membership status and time of registration. There will be a reduced student fee. Registration is not needed for submission, but you need to be registered to be able to attend and present. We intend to publish the conference fees in August.
Submission
Symposia:
- Names, affiliations and details of all participants and moderator
- Title and general abstract (300 words)
- Titles and abstract of all individual talks as pdf-file (max. 300 words each)
Individual Workshops/Talks/Lectures:
- Name, affiliations and details of presenter
- For talks and lectures: title and abstract (max. 300 words)
- For Workshops: title, abstract, structure, outline and learning objectives (max. 300 words)
Poster Presentations:
- Name(s), affiliations and details of presenter(s)
- Title and abstract (max. 300 words)
Assessment and Selection of Submissions:
All submissions are evaluated and reviewed by the Scientific Committee on the basis of the following criteria:
- Thematic relevance to the conference topic “A Changing World”, especially with regard to the sub-themes “Climate Crisis”, “Social Injustice” and “AI/Social Media”
- Quality of content: to have a clearly recognizable epistemological interest, a clearly recognizable question and/or problematization
- Quality of presentation: to illustrate the conceptual-theoretical, historical, methodological and/or methodical approach/line of argumentation
- Significance for theory and practice: the present results and findings should have a significance for counseling and therapy science and/or the fields of application of PCE approaches
Publication of the Conference Contributions:
There will be a special conference issue of the peer reviewed journal of PCE world (PCEP) containing accepted conference papers. Please note: The selection will follow the usual review process of the PCEP journal.
We look forward to your submissions and contributions as well as your participation in the PCE 2026! Please submit your abstracts until the 30th of November 2025 via Oxford Abstracts.
Once the review process is complete, you will receive feedback on your submission by the end of February 2026.
The PCE 2026 Steering Committee
For further questions regarding submissions, please contact: submissions@pce2026.com
