Pre-conference day: 16 June 2026

Lead facilitator: Dr Irina Catrinel Craciun (Hasso Plattner Institute, Department of Digital Global Public Health, Potsdam, Germany). Co-facilitators: Zubair Hossain and Mostafa Elgayar (Hasso Plattner Institute)

Summary

Digital stories are transforming health promotion by turning evidence into engaging, shareable narratives that drive real behavior change. The StoryHelper tool empowers participants to design these stories efficiently, ensuring they are tailored, ethical, and impactful for diverse audiences. In this hands-on workshop, participants will craft digital stories using StoryHelper, guided by real-world examples and interactive exercises. Researchers, practitioners, and policy makers will gain practical skills to leverage digital technologies for evidence-based health promotion, leaving with a story ready to influence behavior in their target communities.

Learning objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Design compelling digital stories that translate evidence into actionable health behavior change.
• Analyze and learn from real-world StoryHelper case studies, including WHO Science in 5 and CHAMPS maternal health initiatives.
• Apply the StoryHelper tool to create their own tailored digital story, optimizing audience engagement, ethical integrity, and impact.
• Integrate evidence-based principles and behavior change strategies into digital storytelling for health promotion.

Facilitators: Dr Emma Norris & Arthur Thives Mello (Brunel University of London, UK)

Summary

This workshop introduces study preregistration as a key Open Science practice to enhance transparency in behaviour change research. Participants will learn why preregistration strengthens research credibility and how it is being implemented within behaviour change research. They will then have hands-on experience selecting and apply suitable preregistration templates for quantitative, qualitative, and evidence-synthesis studies related to behaviour change. The session will also introduce Registered Reports as a further step, clarifying how they extend preregistration by integrating peer review before data collection.

Learning objectives

By taking part in this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the need for Open Science practices, including study preregistration, to improve transparency in behaviour change research.
• Identify and implement the preregistration templates most relevant for behaviour change research: including quantitative, qualitative and evidence synthesis designs.
• Understand Registered Reports as an extension of study preregistration