Jan Wagner, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Lead, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (CONFIRMED)

• Reviewing the City & Guilds Neurodiversity Index 2026 to highlight key research insights, core data outcomes, areas of success, priorities for further progress
• Examining the widening confidence gap across UK organisations in building neuroinclusive workplaces with practical, actionable steps to support meaningful change
• Analysing the Neurodiversity Employers Index (NDEI) and its value in helping organisations identify improvement areas and strengthen their approach to neuroinclusion
• Sharing best practice insights on advancing neuroinclusion in the workplace, ensuring alignment with the Equality Act 2010 and supporting the retention of high-value talent

Professor Amanda Kirby, Chair, Independent Expert Academic Panel on Neurodiversity and Employment for Department for Work and Pensions, Founder and CEO, Do-IT Solutions, Honorary Professor, Cardiff University, Emeritus Professor, University of South Wales, Chair, ADHD Foundation (CONFIRMED)

• Gain lived-expert insights into neurodiversity, understanding how neurodivergent experiences vary across the spectrum and what this means in workplace contexts
• Challenge misconceptions, stigma, and assumptions around neurodiversity, building a more nuanced and inclusive perspective on neurodivergent thinking through lived experience, community knowledge, and emerging understandings of neurodivergent communication differences
• Explore neuroinclusive communication in practice, including how neurodivergent individuals may experience, interpret, and express communication differently, drawing on perspectives such as Rachel Cullen’s autistic pragmatic language hypothesis and exploring how this impacts workplace interaction, engagement, and inclusion
• Identify practical, community-informed strategies to improve neuroinclusive communication and embed universal design principles as a baseline approach, creating communication practices that are accessible and beneficial for everyone rather than designed only around specific neurodivergent profiles

Dr Chloe Farahar, Project Manager for Learning Disability and Autism, Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust (CONFIRMED)

• Putting yourself out there: understanding the importance of visible neurodivergent senior leadership in shaping a neuroinclusive workplace
• How to get the best from you ND staff network – creating the right conditions for your ND staff network to thrive
• Drawing upon the principles of co-production to marry up HR expertise and lived experience of neurodivergent colleagues to develop policy and strategy and effect culture change

Jane Senior, Director of Commissioning and Co-Chair ND Staff Network, Slough Borough Council (CONFIRMED)

Pat Hayes, Executive Director for Regeneration, Environment & Planning and Corporate Sponsor ND Staff Network, Slough Borough Council (CONFIRMED)

• Assessing what reasonable adjustments mean in practice, including innovative approaches to supporting neurodivergent candidates and employees
• Key insights into inclusive adjustment strategies, drawing on best practice from recruitment processes and workplace networks, including approaches such as allowing notes or mind maps in interviews
• Guidance on creating supportive, low-stigma workplaces where neurodivergent employees feel confident requesting adjustments such as sensory considerations (noise and lighting), quiet spaces, flexible seating, dress codes, sensory tools, and hybrid working arrangements

Anne Keast-Butler, Director, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) (invited)

• Analysing the crucial importance of line manager support for neurodivergent staff confidence, safety and productivity
• Examining line manager responsibilities for providing positive support for neurodiverse staff, strengthening employee retainment and reducing turnover rates
• Best practice managerial support strategies which combined with research-led understanding of neurodiversity, ensure that support is targeted, evidence-based and effective
• Developing evidence-based strategies to improve accessibility, comfort and support through proactive adjustments, clear communication, structured routines, and reduced pressure, enhancing productivity and employee satisfaction

Emily Pattinson, Lead Inclusion and Diversity Consultant, Inclusive Employers (CONFIRMED)

• Guidance on how to manage and address workplace conflicts or miscommunications with neuroinclusive teams to ensure cases are handled sensitively and appropriately
• Enhancing knowledge on communication styles, sensory sensitivities, and cognitive processing to understand how neurodiverse individual’s experience conflict
• Analysing the perspective of a neurodivergent person in mediation or conflict to ensure mindfulness in approaching workplace difficulties
• Examining the 7 Stage Mediation Model framework to provide workplaces with a plan to resolve workplace conflicts with neurodiverse teams successfully and appropriately

Dr Mike Talbot, Chief Executive Officer, UK Mediation (CONFIRMED)

Join our breakout networking to discuss challenges that sectors have faced with providing neuroinclusive workplaces and discuss innovative solutions to confront these challenges. We encourage attendees to engage in discussions, share insights from your experiences and collaborate across sectors to strengthen a whole-system approach to neuroinclusive workplaces.

• Increasing awareness of the diverse and complex experiences of neurodivergent individuals across age, gender, ethnicity, class and sexuality, to better understand differences in lived experience and inform tailored, rather than one-size-fits-all approaches and policies
• Analysing female neurodivergence and how it may present differently in women, to inform more inclusive policies and tailored employee support that reflect these distinct experiences
• Examining shared experiences of neurodivergent individuals, from masking, microaggressions, or downplaying, and the potential impact these can have on mental health if unaddressed
• Building inclusive workplace policies that understand neurodivergent experiences from LGBTQ+, age, and gender to provide targeted support with sustained and informed practices

Juliana Picon Duarte, Senior Recruitment Manager, IKEA (invited)

• Examining best practice strategies to support neurodiverse individuals in the workplace, empower confidence, self-advocacy and professional growth
• Actionable takeaways on individual-level support strategies for building neuroinclusive workplaces through debunking myths, and dismantling ‘do and don’t’ mindsets
• Highlighting the importance of asking neurodivergent individuals what will make them feel supported, what reasonable adjustments they require, and providing workplaces that make these conversations comfortable and non-anxiety provoking
• Providing support with self-determination, breaking down barriers to disclosure, and developing strategies on how to best support and strengthen neurodiverse career pathways and access to leadership

Neil Barnett, Chief Accessibility Officer, Microsoft (CONFIRMED)

Jan Wagner, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Lead, Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (CONFIRMED)