Welcome to Oxford – CA&CE 2024
Virginia Calabria (Durham University) and Yicen Guo (Oxford University)
This summer the 8th International Meeting on Conversation Analysis and Clinical Encounters (CA&CE 2024) took place. Over three days, a diverse group of 96 international delegates from 20 countries and 54 universities – all #EMCA scholars – met at Wolfson College, Oxford, to enjoy sixty presentations, twelve group data sessions and four keynote talks. This was organised by a team from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford: Rebecca Barnes (Meeting Chair), Liliia Bespala, Virginia Calabria, Rachael Drewery, Yicen Guo, Jack Joyce, Chloe Phillips and Catherine Woods
Co-founded by Rebecca Barnes (together with Professor Nicky Britten at the University of Exeter in 2007), the biennial international meeting ‘Conversation Analysis and Clinical Encounters’ (CA&CE) is always an eagerly anticipated event in the EMCA community.
One of the reasons is that CA&CE puts: “real emphasis on participation, interchange, sharing research ideas and findings – as much of a ‘hands on’ approach as is possible within the constraints of such a meeting”. This participation is always ensured by regular breaks throughout the meeting, the opportunity to attend small group data sessions, and sharing a chat, a pint, or an evening meal!
Over the past 17 years, CA&CE has offered a unique venue for EMCA scholars and postgraduates to engage with practitioners and clinicians eager to apply CA insights and methods to their own work.
The aim of the CA&CE meetings is: “to bring the international community to share research findings and promote methodological excellence and innovation in the application of conversation analytic (CA) methods to communication during health care encounters; and to consider how we can best ensure that our research is meaningful to patients and their family members, health care professionals, clinical educators, and policymakers.” (same source as above). And at this CA&CE, excellence, innovation and application could be found in all presentations and keynotes. Outside of the presentations, casual conversations about research papers, potential collaborations, and ways to make our work more meaningful for patients, families, healthcare professionals, clinical educators, and policymakers spilt over from the meeting rooms into the dining hall during coffee breaks and lunch. One common thread throughout the event was a sense of care and respect for the participants involved in research, as well as the advancement of scientific knowledge.
The best CA&CE scenario
The conference kicked off with a warm welcome from Professor Catherine Pope from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, who highlighted the paramount importance of communication and interactional studies in healthcare settings. All four keynote speakers: Professor Rose McCabe (University of London), Professor Johanna Ruusuvuori (University of Tampere), Professor Alison Pilnick (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Professor Steven Bloch (University College London), delivered inspiring talks, respectively on emergency mental health assessments; the role of touch and affect in health care across different primary care settings; understanding the ‘failures’ in policy-driven patient-centred care; and the role of national helplines in supporting people with chronic illness.
The 60 captivating oral presentations tackled a variety of health communication challenges with insights from all corners of the globe. Attendees had a wealth of choices, with talks ranging from professional issues like evaluating patient risk and tackling vaccine hesitancy to practical challenges such as communicating with minimally conscious patients, discussing violence, and designing AI conversation tools. The research showcased a broad spectrum of healthcare settings, including primary care, dentistry, emergency services, intensive care, and end-of-life care.
Since its origins, CA&CE has always included small group data sessions: amazing opportunities for delegates to share their research-in-progress or some preliminary data. We both had the great pleasure of leading one of these sessions, sharing data highlighting the role of patient companions in medical consultations in China, and data from a study on Lifestyle in type-2 diabetes patients and their answers to the clinicians’ questions about physical exercise. We were lucky to receive valuable input and insightful feedback on both the recordings and transcriptions during our lively discussions.
While the numbers – 60 oral presentations and 20 countries represented – might sound a lo:::t, CA&CE is anything but scary! This welcoming event focuses on bringing together diverse perspectives and encourages collaboration, ultimately setting the stage for more effective, empathetic, and efficient healthcare communication across the globe.
But that’s not all: Analysis of the Encounters!
The meeting provided an array of other beautiful occasions for sharing. A taste of people’s joy in meeting up with old friends and making new friends can be evidenced by the multiple shares and reshares of #CACE2024 on social media platforms.
On the second night of the meeting, many of us dressed up and came together for a celebratory dinner: in perfect Oxford formal style, Rebecca welcomed delegates to Green Templeton College, a picturesque venue, where people could get a real “taste” of the collegial life in this lovely city: there was a beautiful sunset, the Radcliffe Observatory was gorgeous, the food was delicious, and the company even better.
Earlier that day, we witnessed a moment of great emotion and real community when the meeting delegates came together for a session entitled ‘On (in)dispensability: Remembering Manny Schegloff to celebrate the legacy and share personal memories of Emanuel Schegloff (sadly deceased on the 23rd of May 2024),’. After watching a personal video sent by Professor Heritage, Galina Bolden, chair of the International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA), shared memories and beautiful words about not just one of the founders of CA, but also a mentor, and a friend. She also presented some initiatives from ISCA to keep on remembering Manny and learning from him. After Galina, other friends, students and colleagues of Manny, came up to the stage to share a fun memory, an acknowledgement or some words about him. He will be missed, but his memory will be kept alive: his lessons will continue illuminating EMCA scholars for many generations to come.
From our part, we can say that it was a personal pleasure and honour being members of the organising committee of the biggest CA&CE meeting yet. The delegates were kind, engaged, and understanding. After five years and a pandemic, many people were really looking forward to attending the event. Healthcare research has been enriched by advances in the field (by leaving the participants with questions like: can conversational practices be taught to an automated voice? How can CA findings influence policymakers when it comes to healthcare?), PhD students benefited hugely from the possibility of learning from practitioners what the questions they deem important are, from more senior researchers’ presentations, and also by seeing the variety of applications (and its importance!) CA finds in healthcare, senior researchers created new collaborations and – above all, many old friends got the chance to meet in person again!
We hope our enthusiasm is at least partially shown by this report: academia needs more encounters like this one, and here we rest our CA&CE!