Registration is now open for the 2026 Down Syndrome Research Forum. This year, the forum will again be hosted online over three days from 16 to 18 March.

The Down Syndrome Research Forum is a regular international event, hosted and sponsored by Down Syndrome Education International for over 30 years. The event attracts researchers, practitioners and family members from around the world to learn about current scientific research, how it can inform better support for young people with Down syndrome.

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This year, we again received a record number of submissions and have again scheduled the event over three days to include more presentations than ever before. The presentations will cover a wide range of topics including language development, social skills, exercise and physical fitness, executive function, attention, early babble and communication, reading and literacy, school inclusion, motor development, mathematical abilities and number skills, machine learning and statistical modelling, storytelling and book clubs, and more.

We will welcome presenters from throughout Europe, North America and beyond and expect them to be joined by hundreds of participants from around the world. We welcome established and early career researchers, students, education and health professionals, and family members interested in advancing evidence-based care and support for young people with Down syndrome.

The 2026 Down Syndrome Research Forum will be held online over three days between 09:30 and 19:00 GMT each day. Sessions will be recorded and made available to registered participants after the event for on-demand viewing for a period of 3 months after the event.

Please note: as Europe will not have moved to summer/daylight time on these dates, while North America will have, the time difference between the UK and North America will be 1 hour less than usual (4 hours for the East Coast, rather than 5, and 7 hours for the West Coast, rather than 8).

The event will be hosted on Zoom. You can learn more about the technical requirements for using Zoom here.

We encourage participants to attend as much of the live event as they can for opportunities to participate in discussions with presenters. We also encourage participants to engage with us, presenters and panellists, and each other before, during and after the event in our community forums.

View programme Register