Registration is now open for the NDARC Annual Symposium 2016

June 2016
NDARC

Registration is now open for The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre’s Annual Symposium Current Issues in Substance Use: The Bigger Picture to be held on Monday the 12th of September, 2016. The Symposium will be held at the John Niland Scientia Building, UNSW.

This year’s Symposium will have a particular focus on issues of social disadvantage which will be the theme of the opening session and of our opening keynote speech.

  • Guest keynote speaker is Professor Kate Conigrave, an addiction medicine specialist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, a Professor at the University of Sydney and an NDARC conjoint Professor.  Kate has worked in partnership with Aboriginal community controlled agencies in NSW and other states, and with communities in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory over the past 15 years. Her opening keynote will focus on the issues facing Aboriginal communities and the evaluation of interventions designed to reduce the burden of substance use in these communities.
  • Professor Kate Dolan will present on the Global burden of HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis among prisoners and detainees. The work forms the basis of a three part special series to be published in theLancet later this year. Professor Anthony Shakeshaft will present the results of three NDARC interventions in regional and remote Indigenous communities. Dr Ryan Courtney will present the results of a groundbreaking intervention designed to improve smoking cessation rates among hard to reach low SES socio-economic groups,
  • Other sessions will focus on prevention and intervention including the much anticipated results of the evaluation of the introduction of reformulated Oxycontin in Australia (NOMAD). A session on current controversies includes presentations on naloxone; the use of sniffer dogs and drug checking.
  • In the afternoon you will be able to tailor the program to your special interests with a choice of four breakout sessions. 40 posters featuring our latest research will be on display. Our popular five minute poster presentations will this year feature posters on methamphetamine, treatment, ecstasy markets and prescription opioids.
  • The final session of the Symposium will include the first release of the 2016 findings from Australia's largest drug monitoring systems, the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS). These findings and their implications will be discussed by a high-profile panel of key stakeholders offering perspectives from health professionals, consumer representatives, researchers and law enforcement.

To view full details of the program, speakers and costs visit https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/2016-ndarc-annual-research-symposium.