Qualitative Research Symposium 2027

The University of Bath’s 11th annual Qualitative Research Symposium: two days, in person, on how qualitative researchers make meaning.

How do we get from interviews, observations and artefacts to interpretation and insight? That question is the theme of QRS 2027, Making Meaning: Interpreting the Qualitative World. The symposium looks at the different answers scholars have offered, from grounded theory to thematic analysis, and at the complexity, contradiction and uncertainty that come with interpreting other people’s accounts.

It is open to researchers from every discipline and methodological tradition, and is pitched as a friendly space for qualitative experts, novices and everyone in between. Alongside the talks there will be workshops run by the symposium’s affiliates. QRS is hosted by the University of Bath School of Management, and the organising committee includes Dr James Fletcher, whose own research is in dementia.

Call for abstracts

Submissions close on Friday 20 November 2026, with authors notified by 27 November. Theoretical, methodological and empirical work is all welcome, linked to one or more of three strands:

• how qualitative researchers do, could and should make meaning, from data and encounters through to interpretation
• critical questions about interpretation: what counts as rigorous, how positionality and reflexivity shape what we see, and whose meanings count
• empirical examples of meaning-making in practice, including challenges, failures, and creative or participatory methods

You can submit a 15-minute talk (plus 5 minutes of questions), a 5-minute lightning presentation, or a symposium of three or four linked presentations with a named chair. Abstracts are limited to 250 words and go in through the organisers’ online form.

If you work with qualitative data in dementia research, our guides on what counts as data in qualitative research and qualitative data analysis for PhD research are a good place to start thinking about your submission.

Registration

The symposium is in person only, in 10 East on the University of Bath’s Claverton Down campus. Registration opens in December 2026. It costs £40 for one day or £65 to £75 for both days, with concession rates for University of Bath staff and PhD students, and includes refreshments and two catered lunches. Questions can go to QRSBath@bath.ac.uk.

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