AEC Call for Abstracts
Connecting Environmental Health at Every Angle.
At the NEHA Annual Educational Conference (AEC) 2027, we're calling on environmental public health professionals to share their expertise, research, and innovations.
The theme of AEC 2027, “Connecting Environmental Health at Every Angle,” celebrates the convergence of people, perspectives, disciplines, and ideas that shape the environmental health profession. Inspired by the concept of confluence, and Portland’s unique geography and culture, the theme recognizes that environmental health challenges are interconnected and that meaningful progress happens when different experiences and expertise come together. Through education, collaboration, networking, and shared discovery, AEC 2027 brings professionals together to explore new perspectives, strengthen connections, and advance environmental health from every angle.
Your abstract is a chance to shape the conversations that drive environmental health forward. Whether you're sharing new research, innovative tools, or proven strategies, your contribution helps build a stronger, more unified profession.
New this year, poster abstracts will be accepted separately, beginning February 1, 2027, and closing May 28, 2027.
What We're Looking For
We're especially interested in topics that reflect the evolving landscape of environmental health, including (but not limited to):
- Climate & Health
- Adaptation & Mitigation
- Air Quality
- Drought
- Extreme Heat
- Extreme Weather
- Wildfires
- Data & Technology
- Artificial Intelligence
- Data Modernization
- Implementation
- Tracking & Informatics
- Emergency Readiness, Recovery, & Resilience
- Focused Populations
- Children’s Environmental Health
- Environmental Justice
- Uniformed Services
- Food Safety
- Cannabis
- Food Defense
- Retail Food
- Cottage Foods
- General Environmental Health
- Body Art
- Emerging Issues
- Food Waste
- Global Environmental Health
- Hazardous & Toxic Materials
- Solid Waste
- Sustainability
- Healthy Communities
- Environmental Health Impact Assessments
- Healthy Homes
- Indoor Air Quality
- Lead
- PFAS
- Risk Communication
- Schools & Institutions
- Infectious & Vector-borne Diseases
- Pathogens & Outbreaks
- Vector Control & Zoonotic Diseases
- National Center for Environmental Health
- RFFM/Retail Program Standards
- Water Quality
- Onsite Wastewater
- Premise Plumbing
- Private Drinking Water
- Recreational Water
- Contaminants, Pollutants, and Toxins
- Water Reuse
- Workforce & Leadership
- Leadership & Management
- Student & Young Professional Career Development
- Workforce Diversity
If your work can spark conversation, lead to solutions, or inspire change, we want to hear from you.
Review Criteria
The 2027 AEC Review Committee will review all submissions based on quality, relevance, impact, and originality.
Prospective presenters are welcome to reference products as long as product references add to the educational value and are presented in a noncommercial fashion.
- Quality: Presentation submissions should be well-organized and easily understood. The abstract and summary are judged as indicators of what can be expected of the session.
- Relevance: Presentation submissions should be highly relevant to the interests of the environmental health audience in general and the track topic in particular.
- Impact: Presentation submissions should contribute to the educational mission of NEHA. Submissions reporting on emerging environmental health issues, important results, methodologies, or case studies of special significance will be favorably considered.
- Originality: Presentation submissions on innovative technologies, case studies for innovative designs, or other novel results that contribute to NEHA's goal of providing a high-quality educational program for practicing environmental health professionals will be favorably considered.
- Commercial content: Product promotion is not permitted. Evidence of product promotion in presentation submissions will lead to rejection of the submission. It is acceptable to use a product in a design case study or as a proof of concept for a design methodology.
The AEC Review Committee reserves the right to request edits to submitted presentations or to reject a submitted presentation if it does not meet review criteria or follow submission guidelines.
Submission Guidelines
- Submissions open: November 2 – 25, 2026
- When submitting an abstract, you are the point of contact for that submission, and you will be the only person notified by email with information about the abstract. Additional speakers listed will not be notified directly; only the submitter whose account was used will be notified. It is your responsibility, as the submitter, to forward communications to other speakers/presenters or other relevant parties.
- Individuals may submit up to three unique abstracts.
- To submit an abstract, you must be a speaker, panelist, or otherwise directly connected to the abstract. NEHA does not accept abstracts submitted by a third party.
- All speakers, presenters, poster presenters, or panelists must be at least 18 years old.
- Submitted abstracts must be in their final form. Revisions or edits are not possible.
2027 AEC Call for Abstracts Timeline
- November 2, 2026: Call for Abstracts Opens
- November 25, 2026: Call for Abstracts Closes
- January 22, 2027: Presenter Notifications
- February 1, 2027: Poster Call for Abstracts Opens
- February 12, 2027: Presenter Confirmations Due
- February 19, 2027: Draft Conference Agenda Published
- May 28, 2027: Poster Call for Abstracts Closes
Every Perspective Matters. Add Yours.
Environmental health advances when different ideas, experiences, and expertise come together. Your perspective is an important part of that connection. Share your knowledge, spark new conversations, and help strengthen our profession from every angle.