Rethinking Theorizing in Implementation Science Symposium

Wednesday, February 11, 2025, 10 am to 4 pm – University of Zurich, Main building, room KOL-H-317, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich

The Rethinking Theorizing in Implementation Science (RTIS) Symposium 2026 welcomes everyone working in implementation — researchers, practitioners, policy partners, and community members — to come together and explore how theory can help us better understand and improve what we do. Our goal is clear: to spark curiosity and build shared excitement about the role of theory in implementation science, and to collectively consider how we can promote more creative, practical, and meaningful use of existing theory as well as develop new theory across our work.

Theory, in the broadest sense, remains underutilized in implementation science. Many factors may contribute to this — including an underestimation of how theories add value to scientific work, a lack of confidence in using theories, limited educational opportunities to learn about relevant theories, or the invisibility of theoretical development work done in our own and other fields. 

With the RTIS Symposium, we aim to demystify theory and its use, demonstrate how theories can be applied meaningfully and with sufficient depth in implementation studies, and offer guidance in selecting, combining, and applying theories in relevant ways. Our discussions will also focus on making meaningful contributions to theory development and promoting theory literacy among implementation scientists and practitioners.