Project news

The EPA section Epidemiology & Social Psychiatry is delighted to invite to their 21st congress, taking place on the campus of the University of Lausanne very nicely located on the shores of the Lake Geneva.

KEY DATES
Congress dates: 11-14 September 2024
Registration open: 01 February 2024
Call for abstracts: 01 February 2024
Abstract submission until 15 April 2024

The field of psychiatric epidemiology and social psychiatry has rapidly progressed during the last years by combining traditional clinical and epidemiological data with genetic, neuroimaging, accelerometry and ecological momentary measures in single studies or large databases.

By organizing overviews by distinguished experts in specific domains of our field, symposia, free oral presentations and poster sessions, the meeting will focus on recent advancements throughout Europe and beyond. Following the tradition of previous meetings, this conference will also offer an excellent opportunity for young researchers to present their results and to exchange with each other and with experienced researchers in the field.

FAMILY partner EUFAMI organizes together with the Lithuanian member-organisation LSPŽGB congress on “Conflict and Recovery in Mental Health” from 28 to 29 June 2024 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Against a background of disruption and conflict in Europe over the past few years, mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and also due to the significant displacement of war and cultural refugees, families have been the centre of, and most affected by, these crises.

The congress will be constructed around a plenary session during a period of two days, followed by a series of parallel workshops.

The FAMILY consortium is delighted to extend a warm invitation to our first Stakeholder Dialogue Event, focusing on ethical aspects and social consequences of prediction of risk of mental illness.

Date: Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Time: 3- 5 PM (CET)
Location: online, via Zoom (free of charge)

The aim of the first Stakeholder Dialogue Event is to build a dialogue between the European communities of health care professionals and researchers on ethical aspects and social consequences of prediction of risk of mental illness. Risk prediction for mental health problems is a prominent focus of research in psychiatry. However, risk prediction comes with ethical and social challenges, such as questions about informed consent, the right not to know, risk of stigmatisation and discrimination, empowerment and strengthening resilience of affected families, responsible use of Artificial Intelligence etc.

The main objective of this event is to gather feedback about views, needs and potential involvement of health care professionals which will serve as input for the planned FAMILY survey for health care professionals across Europe.

For more information click here!

The members of the FAMILY consortium met in early October 2023 in the beautiful city of Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss recent research results and advancements in the project. After one year of hard work, it was great seeing everyone in person again – old and new faces.

André Decraene, EUFAMI Vice-president, closed the event with powerful words, that resonated with the FAMILY members, underscoring the profound significance of our project’s mission:

“Intergenerational transmission of serious mental ill-health is at the heart of the concerns of patients, their families and – it cannot be stressed enough– of their friends, their relatives and other connections. It is the “elephant in the room”: nobody speaks about it, but everybody thinks of it. It is a cause for stigma and ostracisation. It touches people in their most intimate being.”

FAMILY’s 2nd General Assembly (GA) Meeting will take place from 04 to 06 October 2023 in the beautiful city of Lausanne, Switzerland.

During the meeting, work package leaders will present and discuss the overall status of their respective work package.

We are looking forward to meet again and hear about everyone’s progress!

📢 Dr. Ali Jawaid is a physician-scientist with training in both clinical and basic neuroscience. He completed his medical studies from the Aga Khan University, Pakistan, and followed it up with clinical/research training in Neuropsychiatry from Baylor College of Medicine, USA. He then proceeded to complete MD-PhD in Neuroscience from Switzerland with simultaneous doctoral degrees awarded by the University of Zurich (UZH)/ETH Zurich PhD Program in Neuroscience and UZH MD-PhD program. He currently heads the Laboratory for Translational Research in Neuropsychiatric Disorders (TREND lab) at the BRAINCITY: Center of Excellence for Neural Plasticity and Brain Disorders, a partnership between EMBL and the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology in Warsaw, Poland. TREND lab investigates the role of metabolic factors in the pathogenesis and inheritance of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders using a multi-pronged approach involving rodent models, human cohorts, and brain organoids. Dr. Jawaid is also an active member of FENS-Kavli Network of Excellence and is a strong proponent of initiatives focussed on using science for humanitarian and peace-building causes.

Welcome to the FAMILY, Ali! 😊

Find out more about our SEAB members here.

Our partners from Nijmegen (RADBOUDMC) will attend the Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) organise a symposium taking place in Montréal, Canada on 22^nd – 26^th July 2023 and will organise a symposium on neuroimaging-genetics.

Our partners from Latvia (LU) will organise a symposium on the “Prediction of severe mental illness in child and adolescent psychiatry” and have a talk on “Ethical issues in personalized risk prediction of severe mental illness in the context of inter-generational transmission of risk”.

Our partners from Nijmegen (RADBOUDMC) will attend this year’s Dutch Neuroscience Meeting (DNM) taking place in Tiel, The Netherlands on 22^nd – 23^rd June 2023 and are also planning to give a talk. Stay tuned for further information.

📢 Exciting opportunity! ERASMUS MC seeks a talented Postdoc Researcher to investigate epigenetics and intergenerational psychiatric risk. Joining the European-funded FAMILY consortium, you’ll develop prenatal exposure scores based on DNA methylation at birth. Examine whether the transmission load score is stable over time and predicts the development of psychiatric problems. Explore score stability, predictive abilities, and test for sex differences, especially resulting from X-chromosome inactivation. Apply now and make a difference! Find more information here.

Our partners from Nijmegen (RADBOUDMC) held a talk about “Epigenetics and Psychopathology: What is the importance of timing and role of intergenerational transmission” at the University of Munster on 28^th February 2023.

The EU-funded research project FAMILY kicked off on November 2^nd – 4^th 2022. The meeting was held on site in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and was full of vivid discussions as well as social interaction.

>> DEADLINE for registration and abstract submission until 31^st July 2023 <<

The symposium is organized yearly by International Resilience Alliance (intresa), the EU Horizon project DynaMORE, Leibniz-Institute for Resilience Research and University Medical Center Mainz. We are part of the Rhine-Main Neuroscience Network (rmn²).

Early bird deadline:
1^st April 2023

Application deadline:
15^th May 2023