18th Annual ISSDP Conference

Save the date: ISSDP 2025 in Manchester, UK, June 11 to 13.

ISSDP trustee Rebecca Askew will be hosting the ISSDP conference at Manchester Metropolitan University from the 11 to 13 June 2025. We look forward to seeing you there.

The 18th annual ISSDP conference 11-13 June 2025, hosted by the Drugs, Policy, and Social Change (DPSC) research group at Manchester Metropolitan University, envisions a transformative dialogue on drug policy grounded in social justice. Our aim is to foster an inclusive platform where diverse voices from affected communities, practitioners, and policymakers converge to explore and address the complexities of drug policy processes and formation.

Social justice is important in drug policy to ensure that policies are fair, equitable, and inclusive, addressing the needs of all individuals, especially marginalised and vulnerable populations. Drug policy consistently shows that the most marginalised are disproportionately impacted and that many new reforms either exacerbate gaps or fail to reduce these gaps. Novel ways of thinking about how to improve social justice in drug policy is thus a key focus for this conference.

With ISSDP’s primary focus on connecting and facilitating world-leading drug policy research, the conference will also highlight novel methodological approaches to analysing drug policy and a broad range of scholarship across the drug market, incorporating use, supply, cultivation/production and trafficking as well as other sub-themes (see below).

The conference invites contributions from scholars from the Global North and the Global South. By doing so, it aims to promote a comprehensive understanding of drug policy issues worldwide and identifying ways to advance drug policy and practice.

Registration

Registrations are now open for the ISSDP 2025 Conference.

There is a reduced fee ticket available for ISSDP members and delegates who are Students or Person with lived experiences.

Register for the conference

Themes

1. Drug Markets, Production, and Supply
2. Methodological Innovations
3. Equity and Equality in Drug Policy
4. Geopolitics of Drug Policy
5. Harm Reduction
6. Culture and Moralities

Organising Committee

ISSDP 2025 Scientific Committee

1. Laura Atuesta, PhD CIDE Mexico, Mexico.
2. Lisbeth Vandem, PhD, EUDA, Portugal.
3. Marie Jauffret-Roustide, PhD French Institute of Health and Medical Research, France.
4. Gideon Lasco, MD, PhD University of the Philippines Diliman, The Philippines.
5. Rosario Queirolo, PhD Catholic University of Uruguay, Uruguay.
6. Alex Stevens, PhD Kent University, UK.
7. Claudia Stoicescu, PhD Monash University Indonesia, Indonesia
8. Margriet van Laar, PhD Trimbos Institute, The Netherlands
9. Shaun Shelly Department of Family Medicine, University of Pretoria, South Africa
10. Karen Laidler, PhD University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
11. Alberto Aziani, PhD, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and Researcher at Transcrime, Italy
12. Fay Dennis, PhD, Research Fellow, Goldsmiths, London, UK
13. Bisi Akintoye, PhD RAND Europe
14. Daniel Bear, PhD, Director, Humber College Centre for Social Innovation.
15. Ahsan Ahmad, Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, AIDS Program at the Yale School of Medicine, USA and Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA), University of Malaya, Malaysia
16. Atul Ambekar, PhD, National Drug Dependence and Treatment Centre, India
17. Caitlin Hughes, PhD Flinders University, Australia & ISSDP President
18. Beau Kilmer, PhD McCauley Chair in Drug Policy Innovation
    Codirector, RAND Drug Policy Research Center & ISSDP Vice-President
19. Magdalena Harris, PhD Professor of Inclusion Health Sociology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, England, UK
20. Monica Barratt, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, RMIT
21. Paul Keilata, PhD, Drug Policy Modelling Program, UNSW, Sydney
22. Mark Monaghan, PhD, Professor in Criminology, Loughborough University, UK
23. Giulia Zampini, PhD, Associate Professor in Criminology, Greenwich University.
24. Karen Duke, PhD, Professor Criminology, Middlesex University.
25. Judith Aldridge, Professor in Criminology, University of Manchester.
26. Lisa Williams, PhD, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Manchester.
27. Anna Ross, PhD, Lecturer in Health and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh.
28. Toby Seddon, PhD, Professor of Social Science, University College London.
29. Aileen O’Gorman, PhD, Professor of Substance Use and Social Policy, University of West Scotland.
30. Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, Additional Professor of Psychiatry at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India.
31. Sarah Larney, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
32. David Decari Hetu, PhD Professor of Criminology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

ISSDP funded-scholarships

The ISSDP will sponsor at least three scholarships for the annual conference in Manchester: 1) For an early career researcher (5 years since most recent degree); 2) For a researcher from a low- or middle-income country (using the World Bank’s classification for fiscal year 2025); and 3) For a person with lived and/or living experience of drugs, including family members. The scholarship will include a reimbursement of your registration fee and up to 1500 British pounds to cover travel and lodging. Applicants must check the scholarship option when submitting their abstract and upload a short paragraph about why they should be selected (max 250 words).

Pre-Conference Workshops

Methods Matter Workshop with Professor Alex Stevens (University of Sheffield)
On the day before the conference, 10th June 2025, there will be a one-day workshop on methods in drug policy research, hosted in Manchester by the Universities of Sheffield and Manchester. The event will give participants opportunities to explore cutting edge methods with world-leading experts in the field in the aim of extending and improving participants own research practice. There will be special sessions on causal inference with Professor Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, realist methods with Professor Alex Stevens, critical drug policy analysis with Professor Alison Ritter. More details to follow. You will be able to register for this separately once conference registration opens.

Conference Registration, Accommodation and Events

Consistent with prior conferences ISSDP 2025 will feature a welcome event on the opening night and a conference dinner. ISSDP conference organisers have also been seeking out a range of accomodation opens for the conference. More details on this and other matters to come.