Evolutionary Psychiatry Conference, August 5-6

A pre-meeting on Evolutionary Psychiatry is planned for August 5-6, immediately preceding ISEMPH 2024 in Durham, UK.  All with an interest in how evolutionary medicine can help to advance the understanding, prevention and treatment of mental disorders are welcome. Members of the Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group in the Royal College of Psychiatry Evolutionary and members of the World Psychiatry Association Section on Evolutionary Psychiatry will join with ISEMPH members as active participants. The meeting organizers are Riadh Abed, Paul St John Smith, and Randolph Nesse.

This will be a small meeting with plenty of breaks and meals to encourage lively discussion. Register early;  there may not be room for all those interested. 

To register for the meeting click here. That will take you to the regular ISEMPH 2024 registration information page that has a link to the meeting registration form. If you will also attend the regular ISEMPH meeting, go ahead with the regular registration process; the Pre-meeting is on the list of optional extra events. If you want to register only for the Evolutionary Psychiatry Pre-meeting, choose the “Evolutionary Psychiatry Pre-meeting ONLY” registration option, and complete payment details later in the process.  The fees cover the costs of the venue, breaks, two lunches, and a served dinner.

• $180 per person for medical faculty and practicing clinicians
• $150 per person for other faculty, teachers, and retirees
• $120 for students and trainees

Send questions to [email protected] 

See below for the tentative program and schedule.

Monday August 5, 2024

• 10:00-10:30 Paul St. John-Smith (London) on core principles of evolutionary psychiatry
• 10:30-11:15 Daniel Nettle (Newcastle and Paris) keynote on evolution and depression
• 11:15-11:30 Breakout groups to discuss what is needed advance understanding of depression
• 11:30-12:00 Discussion about depression questions
• 12:00-13:00 Lunch
• 13:00-14:00 Nikhil Chaudhary (Cambridge) and  Annie Swanepoel (London) on Mismatch, child rearing and mental disorders
• 14:00-14:30 Discussion about Mismatch, child rearing and mental disorders
• 14:30-15:00 Break
• 15:00-16:00  Leif Kennair (Norway) and Henry O’Connell (Ireland) on clinical applications
• 16:00-16:30 Discussion about clinical applications
• 5:30 Drinks
• 6:30 Dinner 

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

• 8:30-10:00 Robin Dunbar (Oxford) on Social evolution theory for understanding relationships and Randolph Nesse (University of Michigan) on Social evolution theory for understanding relationship problems
• 10:00-10:30 Discussion of previous talks
• 10:00 Break
• 10:30-11:00 What can we do to encourage healthy growth of evolutionary psychiatry? 

     Two talks will inspire discussions in breakout groups

• Riadh Abed (Sheffield, UK) on The Evobiopsychosocial model 
• Fabio Zampieri (Padua) on using historical perspective to guide future healthy growth

• 11:00-11:30 Breakout groups to identify the most tractable big questions for the field and strategies for getting researchers and clinicians up to speed and funded to answer them.
• 11:30-12:00 Reports from breakout groups and conference conclusions
• 12:00 Lunch and discussion
• 1:00 Adjourn 

The 20% discount on ISEMPH memberships is Valentine’s Day. Use code ISEMPH2024 at checkout .