The Academy continues its steady progress with this volume of working papers that were considered at the second international conference in 2019. The proceeds of the previous year’s inaugural annual conference were subtitled Gathering the Field.

The current volume,  Setting the Bearings, demonstrates the Academy’s intention to provide ongoing developmental learning and professional affiliation for those working in this essential discipline. The accounts contained in this publication reveal the recent work of 13 Professional Dialogue Practitioners from Canada, Finland, The Netherlands, Norway, UK and USA. As before, the papers were circulated prior to the conference to replace the typical presentational monologues, which freed up time for dialogues amongst the participants gathered.

Authors were present throughout the full three days of the conference to rub shoulders with the other participants and learn from them too. You will find extracts from these conference sessions following the papers, and postscripts written by the authors to describe their own learning as a result of writing their paper and considering it with experienced colleagues.