Rooted in Connection: Co-Creating Equity Through Collaboration
Amplifying Voices and Designing Change Together
2026 Health Equity Research Symposium & Poster Session
Thursday, March 26, 2026 | 12:00p.m. – 5:00p.m
UConn Storrs Campus, Student Union, 3rd Floor
The University of Connecticut’s Office for Inclusion and Civil Rights invites you to the Annual Health Equity Research Symposium, a gathering that highlights innovative and interdisciplinary work advancing equity, justice, and health.
This year’s symposium invites participants to reflect on how collaboration, community voice, and cross-sector partnerships can drive real and sustained change in health and well-being—especially in the face of systemic inequities and racial disparities. Grounded in the values of the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) framework, this symposium aims to build bridges between research, practice, and lived experience by centering community voices and interdisciplinary collaboration.
We welcome faculty, staff, students, researchers, practitioners, community members, and advocates across UConn, UConn Health, and throughout Connecticut. Whether you are advancing research, leading grassroots initiatives, shaping policy, or engaging in cross-disciplinary collaborations, we look forward to being in community with you.
Program Overview
The symposium will feature four panel sessions highlighting diverse perspectives on advancing health equity through research, community engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration. These sessions bring together scholars, practitioners, and community partners to explore how meaningful partnerships, ethical engagement, and applied frameworks can translate research into action and real-world impact.
- Foundations of Health Equity: From Frameworks to Practice
This session is designed to ground attendees in core health equity principles and explore how these frameworks translate into teaching, research, and action across disciplines.
- Interdisciplinary Partnerships in Action: Bridging Research, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity
This session will use illustrative case studies to demonstrate how researchers and practitioners from across disciplines and sectors working in partnership with community members can bridge research, policy, and practice to catalyze change.
- Community Partnerships in Action: Ethics, Accountability, and Impact
The session will address issues of accountability, harm reduction, building lasting infrastructure, and co-creating with communities, among others, as essential components of community engaged research.
- Community Partnerships in Action – Building, Launching, and Sustaining Impact
This session will cover the process for establishing community-academic partnerships, highlighting key principles of partnerships—building trust, authenticity, and reciprocity, as well as the challenges associated with establishing and sustaining partnerships.
Open to Community Organizations and University Departments
Are you interested in showcasing your organization or university department’s mission, services, or resources related to health equity, community engagement, or wellness?
Don’t miss this opportunity!
Engage with attendees from across UConn and Connecticut, build new connections, and highlight how your work contributes to a healthier, more equitable future.
👉 Reserve your table today: Tabling Registration form
Sponsorship and Advertising Submission Details
Why sponsor?
The Health Equity Research Symposium, hosted by UConn’s Office for Inclusion and Civil Rights (OICR), brings together researchers, practitioners, students, community organizations, and advocates from across Connecticut to explore innovative and interdisciplinary work advancing equity, justice, and health. Rooted in the values of Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT), this event builds bridges between academic research, lived experience, and community-driven action.
As a sponsor, your support will help us:
- Fund travel and accommodations for travels, particularly for community partners and invited experts
- Provide an accessible, high-quality experience for attendees through meals, inclusive spaces, and technology
- Create space for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and cross-sector collaboration that leads to new approaches to health equity
Benefit to your organization
- As a sponsor, your organization will be recognized as a supporter of inclusive research, community engagement, and systemic transformation in public health and social policy.
- Sponsors are prominently acknowledged at the event and in the printed symposium program.
Sponsorship Levels
| Amount | Recognition | Program Ad Size |
| $500 | Company logo displayed at event | Full-page ad (4.75” W × 7.75” H) |
| $250 | Company logo displayed at event | Half-page ad (4.75” W × 3.75” H) |
| $100 | Company logo displayed at event | Quarter-page ad (2.25” W × 3.75” H) |
Advertising Specs
Please submit your logo and ad copy as:
- High-resolution files (300 dpi or higher)
- Formats accepted: .JPG, .PNG, or .PDF
Call for Abstracts
The abstract submission period is now closed. Applicants will be notified if their abstract is selected in late February.
We welcome abstracts from faculty, staff, students, researchers, practitioners, community members, and advocates across UConn, UConn Health, and throughout Connecticut. Whether you are advancing research, leading grassroots initiatives, shaping policy, or engaging in cross-disciplinary collaborations, we invite you to share your work and contribute to a shared vision of new approaches to health equity.
Suggested Abstract Topics:
We welcome submissions on a wide range of topics related to health equity, including but not limited to:
- Community Impacts & Policy Intersections
- How public policy affects health equity and vice versa
- Community voice in shaping public health and health systems
- Health Equity & Structural Racism
- Institutional practices and systems that uphold or challenge inequity
- Approaches to shifting policies, structures, or resource allocation
- Innovations in Practice & Policy
- Emerging models in public health practice or policy reform
- Culturally responsive and inclusive care or outreach
- Data, Research, & Equity Tools
- Leveraging data and resources to address health equity and the social determinants of health
- Innovative arts-based and participatory research approaches that advance community participation
- Health Equity Partnerships that Work
- Co-creation between higher education and community partners
- Institutional & Policy Change
- DEIJ efforts influencing systems or resource allocation
- Lessons from shifting policy to advance equity and justice