Programme & Abstracts
Over five days, the annual IHRA conferences include around 60 sessions – including:
- Opening and Closing Sessions – featuring high-profile addresses and speeches from key international figures, dignitaries from the host country, and key activists and advocates.
- Plenary Sessions – which help to set themes for the rest of the conference and are the focus of the programme at that time, attract over 1,000 delegates.
- Major Sessions – which showcase key issues and topics in more detail, and run in sets of three at a time, each attracting around 350 delegates.
Concurrent Sessions – which run in sets of six sessions at a time, each attracting around 100 delegates, and allow for a range of different subjects and issues to be explored and discussed in some detail.
The format of these sessions varies, but typically involves four presenters speaking for 15 minutes each based on an abstract that they have submitted online. Overall, the conference aims to accommodate around 250 such oral presentations.
In addition to the formal programme for the conference there is also:
- The Dialogue Space/Workshops – which will run alongside the main programme and allow for discussion, debate and skills building in a more informal setting.
- The 8th Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festival – run in partnership with the burnet Institute, Australia, this popular annual event shows some 35/40 films, ranging from short documentaries to features, all concerned with the issues of the conference, as well as ‘meet the film maker’ seminars and discussions about the individual films.
- Poster Exhibition – which will feature some 400+ posters exhibited during eh 5 days, offering the opportunity for delegates to explore in some detail developments and work being undertaken at locations across the globe and to network and establish contacts with like-minded colleagues from many locations.
Abstract Submission
Each year, the conference receives around 1,100 ‘abstracts’, which are reviewed and scored before some of them are accepted to be presented in the conference programme. For more information on how to develop and submit an abstract please click here to see our guide. (PDF, 73 KB)
The on-line abstract submission system for Harm Reduction 2011 is now open to submit an abstract please click here.
In December 2010, the Executive Programme Committee meet, review all of the abstracts that have been submitted and create a conference programme, which reflects the latest global developments and examines current issues in harm reduction, and the conference theme – ‘Harm Reduction & Gender’.
Details for how to submit films for exhibition in the film festival will be posted in early September 2010.