Building Assessment for Good: What's Coming to Rome This October

Assessment is facing what may be its biggest challenge yet. If online proctoring tested the industry during the pandemic, AI is now prompting questions about the very fundamentals of how we measure learning. So what happens next?

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To find out, Tim Burnett sat down with Emily Worthington, Head of Programmes at Pearson VUE and the 2026 Chair of the European Association of Test Publishers (E-ATP). With the E-ATP conference heading to Rome from 7–9 October — the first time it has come to Italy — Emily shared what's on the agenda, why the theme matters, and how the assessment community plans to meet the moment.

"The pandemic was a huge challenge, but the assessment industry rose to it because we had to, and it transformed what we do. I think this will be similar — we're all going to have to react quickly, but we'll come out the other side."
— Emily Worthington, Head of Programmes, Pearson VUE

That sense of cautious optimism runs through the whole conversation. AI is undeniably disruptive — the uninvigilated essay and take-home assignment are under serious pressure — but Emily frames it as a challenge to rise to rather than a crisis to fear. The industry has reinvented itself before, and it will again.

Nowhere is that question sharper than in this year's keynote. Dr Luca Longo of University College Cork — a teaching hero of the year award winner and former AI person of the year — will deliver a talk titled "Cheating or Revealing", asking whether AI is undermining assessment or exposing what we should have been measuring all along.

"It's very much about how AI is going to change what we measure. We need to look at what we measure."
— Emily Worthington, Head of Programmes, Pearson VUE

It's a deliberately provocative framing — and Emily expects people to disagree, which is rather the point. The conference is built to bring people together to think hard about how AI will reshape what assessment is for.

But this isn't a conference about AI and integrity alone. The 2026 theme reaches wider.

"This year's theme is building assessment for good. We're very much looking at the value of assessment and its ability to transform lives, to open up opportunities for people."
— Emily Worthington, Head of Programmes, Pearson VUE

Speakers have taken that theme and run with it. Alongside presentations and interactive sessions, there's a discovery zone where attendees can get hands-on with the latest technology, plus a run of pre-conference workshops — including Tim and Josceyln's "year in AI" retrospect, repeated by popular demand after standing-room-only sessions last year, along with workshops on psychometrics and security.

One of the recurring themes in the conversation is the unique value of bringing different sectors together. Emily recalled first-time attendees from very different organisations who arrived expecting to learn about their own corner of assessment — and left with ideas from sectors completely unrelated to their own.

"They were able to benefit from what's happening across a number of different sectors, some of which were completely unrelated to what they were doing — but they were still getting ideas they could take home and use."
— Emily Worthington, Head of Programmes, Pearson VUE

E-ATP is entirely volunteer-run, and Emily is candid about how much that community matters. There are plenty of ways in: attend, sponsor and exhibit, review session submissions, facilitate on the day, or join the committee — the very route that led to Emily's own progression from secretary to vice chair to chair. As she puts it, it's not just about the knowledge; it's about the network and the friendships you build along the way.

And after all the planning, is she excited?

"The agenda is absolutely packed. One of the biggest challenges is always picking which session to go to — there's usually at least three I want to attend at the same time. I always wish I could do it twice."
— Emily Worthington, Head of Programmes, Pearson VUE

With Rome averaging a comfortable 20–24°C in October, a packed three-day agenda, and a community that genuinely enjoys working together — competitors included — there's every reason to be there. Early bird registration closes on the 26th, with a second early bird window in September, so it's worth moving quickly.

Register for the E-ATP conference (Rome, 7–9 October 2026): eatpconference.eu.com

Keynote speaker — Dr Luca Longo, University College Cork: linkedin.com/in/drlucalongo

Connect with Emily Worthington on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/emily-worthington10