Keynote Speakers
All of us at the Association of Occupational Therapists Ireland are thrilled to announce our keynote speakers for the 2026 conference!
This year’s keynote programme brings together outstanding voices from across Occupational Therapy and advocacy - sharing new ideas, evidence, and real-world experiences that will help shape the future of practice, education, and research.
We can’t wait to welcome these speakers and the broader Occupational Therapy community to the 2026 conference for meaningful discussion, inspiration, and connection. Stay tuned for the full programme details.
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YOUR AOTI 2026 KEYNOTE SPEAKER IS... Professor Katie Robinson!
Keynote:
From Everyday Practice to National Impact: Building a Research Culture for Occupational Therapy in Ireland
High-quality occupational therapy research begins with questions that matter to clinicians, services and those who access and use occupational therapy services. Drawing on examples from ageing research, this keynote will explore how strong partnerships between practitioners, researchers and people with lived experience generate relevant research, accelerate translation into practice, influence policy and ultimately improve outcomes for service users. Using examples from ageing and integrated care, it will demonstrate how embedding research within practice can strengthen occupational therapy's contribution to improving health and wellbeing across Ireland.
Bio:
Professor Katie Robinson is Discipline Lead for Occupational Therapy and Co-Director of the Ageing Research Centre at the University of Limerick. Her research improves outcomes for service users through integrated care, rehabilitation, patient-centred interventions and methodological studies. She collaborates widely with clinical, academic, policy and patient involvement partners, and has authored 100+ peer-reviewed publications. She has completed supervision of 13 PhD students and currently supervises eight doctoral/professional doctorate students.
With 22 years at UL, Professor Robinson has taught 700+ Occupational Therapy students and helped develop a new BSc in Occupational Therapy (launched in 2024). She has served on the CORU Occupational Therapists Registration Board and the CORU Council, and is committed to advancing Occupational Therapy education, research and practice.
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YOUR AOTI 2026 LIVED EXPERIENCE SPEAKER IS... Mr Ethan Lloyd!
Keynote:
Wired for It: Rethinking ADHD from the Inside Out
I will take the audience through my own progression from awareness to self‑awareness to understanding, beginning with my diagnosis of combined ADHD at 16 and the emotional chaos that came with it, and how I eventually learned to work with my brain instead of fighting it. I will then talk about the role occupational therapy played in that shift, giving me practical strategies that genuinely changed my day‑to‑day. As I moved into deeper understanding, I discovered how ADHD traits can become strengths, and I share the systems and techniques that helped me turn obstacles into workable routines. From a youth perspective, I explore how AI is becoming one of the most powerful tools for people with ADHD whether it’s structuring brainstorming, breaking down schoolwork, or scaffolding executive‑function‑heavy tasks. I will close by explaining where I am now in the awareness phase, doing advocacy work so others feel less afraid to seek diagnosis.
Bio:
Ethan Lloyd is a 24-year-old Sales Development Representative at Salesforce and a national youth advocate.
Diagnosed with ADHD Combined Type and Social Anxiety at 16 and living with dyspraxia since birth, Ethan spent years researching and understanding his own neurodivergence, channelling it into a 2.1 degree and a top performing career in sales, most recently becoming a top performer at Salesforce following a record breaking internship at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
His focus is on helping young people with ADHD better understand themselves, not just managing the challenges but recognising and harnessing the strengths that come with it.
He speaks from lived experience, not theory.
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We hope you are excited as we are to welcome Katie and Ethan to AOTI 2026!
