**The call for abstracts for HR23 has now closed. Details on the process are below for your information only. The HR23 programme will be released on 28 February 2023.**
We encourage everyone – researchers, activists, campaigners, policymakers, people who use drugs, human rights experts, health professionals and sex workers – to submit abstracts on their latest work in drug policy and harm reduction. Proposals can be for oral presentations, workshops, dialogue space and poster sessions, and this year we are also asking for wellbeing, creative arts and online-only abstracts; you can read more about session types in the menu below.
Help us to advance the discussion on best practice in harm reduction by submitting your abstracts on innovative harm reduction services, new or ground-breaking research, effective advocacy campaigns, peer-driven programmes and key drug policy discussions or debates.
The overarching theme for HR23 is Strength in Solidarity; we’d love to see this reflected in your abstracts.
HRI has a particular interest in hearing from you on how harm reduction intersects with other social justice movements, so please think big – there are no limits!
We still encourage submissions around the foundational aspects of harm reduction, such as HIV prevention and treatment, hepatitis elimination, key populations, programming, Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT), needle and syringe programmes, drug policy and overdose prevention.
For all topics, we encourage a focus on women and on community-led responses. You can tackle any topic from the point of view of research, service provision, organising and activism, etc.
Please see to the right for a list of key topics for HR23.
You do need to register to submit an abstract, but you don't need to pay yet. The deadline for submitting your abstract has been extended until 23.59 BST on 4 October 2022.
This list should be seen as a starting point – and not as a limit.
An oral presentation is the standard conference presentation.
Your abstract may be selected as part of a themed major or concurrent session. You may be considered for a standard presentation of maximum 12 minutes or a shorter presentation of maximum seven minutes. You may have PowerPoint projection available to you for your presentation or you may be a participant in a roundtable discussion. We will let you know the format when we accept your abstract.
Posters are ideal for current projects which are either at the proposal stage or are work in progress; for data best displayed visually and for those whose English may not be quite good enough for an oral presentation.
At the conference, all poster presenters are given a large pinboard or equivalent presentation opportunity to put up material describing their work for one day. New for HR23, all poster presenters will have the option to record a short video of themselves talking about their poster and this video will be uploaded to the conference app.
The Dialogue Space is designed to be an interactive space where people can discuss concepts and learn from each other’s experiences. Presentations should be short (maximum 10 minutes) and should stimulate feedback, discussion and debate. There is no PowerPoint or screen in the Dialogue Space.
There are very few Dialogue Space slots available.
Workshops are highly interactive sessions, and should be considered more like training sessions. A workshop is designed to teach something or develop a specific skill. A workshop is directed more towards teaching and learning in an interactive environment.
There are very few workshop slots available.
New for HR23! If you would like to offer a yoga class, mindfulness session, healing circle etc, this is the type of session for you.
There are very few wellbeing session slots available.
New for HR23! Creative arts sessions will explore poetry, music, storytelling, art, photography and more.
There are very few wellbeing session slots available.
Each day, we will have one session that is virtual only. Both in-person and virtual attendees will be able to watch virtual only sessions through the conference platform.
