Author: EUSPR Office

Save the date: 14th EUSPR Conference and Members’ Meeting, 4th – 6th October 2023, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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EUSPR 2023 is being held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in October 5th and 6th 2023, with workshops and project meetings scheduled for the pre-conference day, October 4th. The chosen venue is the Swissotel Sarajevo, close to the city centre. 

Our theme this year is ‘Optimizing Prevention Infrastructures’ and our keynotes and special sessions will focus on discussing the challenges facing prevention science.  

During the conference, several aspects of strengthening prevention infrastructures and systems will be explored, including ways to improve interventions, enhance decision-making processes, optimize funding, and professionalize the workforce. The goal of the conference is to connect research with practical needs and find ways to bridge the gap between the two.

We invite you to submit your abstracts in line with the conference theme, although submissions on all prevention science related topics are welcome, including discussion papers and theoretical and methodological developments. Instructions for authors on the specific characteristics of each presentation format will be available on our website. In addition, posters will be presented virtually, and some keynote sessions will be broadcasted online. 

In addition to these exciting theme presentations, there will be many opportunities for exploring the city of Sarajevo, trying out the tastes of Sarajevo and discovering the culture while socializing with familiar and new colleagues.

Fees have been determined in correspondence with the average academic salary of the country of employment, adjusted for the cost of living.

Early bird fees (from 15th June – 31st July 2023) – Level A & B countries

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2024 membership) – 170€ 
  • Full renewal (includes 2023 and 2024 membership) – 255€ (Level A); 215€ (Level B) 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2024 membership) – 220€

Early bird fees (from 15th June – 31st July 2023) – Level C countries, students, retirees/seniors

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2024 membership) – 75€ 
  • Full renewal (includes 2023 and 2024 membership) –  105€ 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2024 membership) – 125€

Full fees for Level A & B countries (available from 1st August – 8th September 2023)

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2024 membership) – 195€ 
  • Full renewal (includes 2023 and 2024 membership) – 280€ (Level A), 240€ (Level B). 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2024 membership) – 245€

Full fees for Level C countries, students, retirees/seniors (available from 1st August – 8th September 2023)

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2024 membership) – 100€ 
  • Full renewal (including 2023 and 2024 membership) – 130€ 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2024 membership) – 150€

Virtual registration

  • Access to poster presentations and keynote sessions during the conference
  • Virtual poster presentation via Slack
  • EUSPR 2024 membership
  • 100€

Group A countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the USA.

Group B countries: Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, and Turkey.

Group C countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. This category also includes all other countries in non-European territories that have not been mentioned above.

If you would like to participate, you are welcome to submit an abstract on the conference theme or any other prevention science related topic. You can also submit discussion papers, and theoretical and methodological developments.

In addition to these exciting theme presentations, there will be many opportunities for exploring the city of Sarajevo, trying out the tastes of Bosnia and discovering the culture while socializing with familiar and new colleagues.

Registration will be available soon. 

If you have any questions, contact the conference manager at conference@euspr.org.

EUSPR 2023 Scientific Committee

 

 

Position paper of the European Society for Prevention Research on the role of law enforcement in prevention

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Law enforcement officers (LEOs) have an important role in preventing crime and problems related to substance use. They can help create safer environments, like nightlife areas and schools, by enforcing the law and working to improve the safety of these areas. LEOs should also work with other prevention professionals to give young people the skills they need to make good decisions and assure safe and nurturing spaces for their development. This Position Paper by the EUSPR and the EU-funded project Frontline-POLITEIA discusses the do’s and don’ts for law enforcement officers (LEO) when they engage in the prevention of harmful behaviours.

Continue Reading"Position paper of the European Society for Prevention Research on the role of law enforcement in prevention"

2022 Keynote Speakers

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Keynote speakerPresentation titleBiography
Triin Edovald
Generating evidence to inform policy and practice - how hard can it be?Triin Edovald (PhD in Evidence-Based Intervention) has about 20 years of experience in generating and summarising high-quality evidence and promoting its better use in the design and delivery of public services. Her former roles include the Director of Evidence and Experimentation at UK innovation agency Nesta and the Head of Evaluation at the Education Endowment Foundation, one of the leading organisations of the What Works movement. She is passionate about supporting outcomes for children through impactful research that is rigorous, ethical, participatory and transparent. She has extensive experience in developing guidance for designing, running and reporting of randomised controlled trials. Triin is committed to improving the quality of evidence and transparency of research, so that policy and practice are informed by the best possible evidence.
Margit Sutrop
Margit Sutrop is a Professor of Practical Philosophy and the founding Director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics at Tartu University. She is the leading ethicist in Estonia and besides scholarly articles regularly comments on the ethical issues in media. Since January 2021 she is a Member of the Estonian Parliament (Reformparty) and in the Parliament she belongs to the committee of social affairs. She has studied journalism, philosophy and literary theory in the universities of Tartu, Oxford, Oslo and Konstanz. She received her PhD from the University of Konstanz in Germany in 1997. She is an elected member of Academia Europaea (London), independent ethics expert of the European Commission. She is also a member of the international advisory board of the University of Konstanz and of the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tübingen. Over 15 years she was a Member of the Clinical Ethics Committee at Tartu University Hospital. Now she is actively involved in the work of the Ethics Council at the North Estonia Medical Centre.
In Spring 2020 she led a working group which compiled the Guidelines for the Estonian Hospitals on how to distribute scarce resources during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Her research interests are bioethics, ethics of new technologies, ethics in education, normative ethics and aesthetics. She has published more than 100 articles on values education, moral disagreements, ethics codes, trust in science, ethical issues of genetic databases and pharmacogenetics, biometric technologies, and AI ethics. She has held over 50 national and international grants from the European Commission, as well as from UNESCO, Volkswagen Stiftung, European Economic Area, NorFa, Nordic Spaces, Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, and Estonian Research Council. Since 2009 she is also leading the state programme “Values Development in the Estonian Society”.
Yasemin Kisbu
Ethical and practical considerations in effectiveness research: New challenges and effortsYasemin Kisbu is a faculty member and the director of Independent Evaluation Laboratory at Koç University in Istanbul Turkey. She completed her post-doc in causal inference methods at Northwestern University Institute for Policy Research and PhD in Quantitative Psychology at Arizona State University. She has more than ten years of experience in implementing randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental evaluations, models to maximize intervention effectiveness, and transportability and adaptability studies to bring evidence-based programs to countries different from where they originated. She currently serves as the lead evaluation advisor for the experimental evaluations of digital interventions at UNICEF Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office and the associate editor of Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, the methodology journal of Association for Psychological Science. She can be contacted at www.evalresearchlab.com.
Kristian Wahlbeck
Cost-effectiveness of prevention in mental health – towards cross-sectoral impact assessmentResearch Professor Kristian Wahlbeck is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist with more than twenty years’ experience of policy development, monitoring and evaluation at the governmental Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the national NGO for mental health MIELI Mental Health Finland. He has contributed to several national clinical Current Care guidelines in the field of mental health. He has also led several European research and development projects in the field of public mental health and promotion of mental health. He has published more than 140 original papers and has an h-index of 67.
Hans Orru
Climate change and health – The role of preventionHans Orru is a Professor of Environmental Health at the University of Tartu and a Visiting Fellow at Umeå University. His main research area is the health impact of the external environment. Within his research, he has focused on air quality and climate change, but more recently also on the industrially contaminated areas, indoor air pollution and the health impact of noise. Over the past 15 years of investigations, he has been involved in more than 30 research or development projects which have had a significant effect in raising public awareness about the health effects of the environment. Prof Orru has published more than 90 original scientific articles and he is contributing author of the IPCC WGII Sixth Assessment Report.

EUSPR 2022 Conference FAQ

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My country is not listed in the registration form. Can I participate in this conference?
Yes, absolutely. Just scroll all the way down and select “Other”. Countries not listed are considered Level C for registration purposes.

My registration is shown as “unpaid” but I have made a bank transfer, is there a problem?
Nothing to worry about! If you have chosen to pay your fees via bank transfer, it may take a couple of days until we manually process your payment. If your organization is processing the payment, make sure your details are mentioned in the bank statement.

I have registered for the virtual conference. How do I participate in the hybrid and virtual events of the conference?
Delegates registered for the virtual option will receive an email with the links for the hybrid and online events of the conference, as well as a Slack workspace invitation to interact with online and onsite delegates.

What should I prepare for my poster presentation?
Poster presenters should submit a poster (PDF) exported from PPT (or similar) in the “Final Paper” section of Ex Ordo.

See examples of last year’s presentations here and here. You can design similar posters using PowerPoint, Keynote, or similar. Templates are readily available online; you can download the regular template and Early Career template. If you wish to use your own design, include the EUSPR and Conference logos.

When is the deadline to submit my poster?
Deadline has been extended to 22nd of September. You can submit your poster file in your Ex Ordo profile. If you need a step-by-step guide on how to do it, check the author’s support website for this and more popular articles.

As a presenting author, do I need to be available during my poster session?

Yes. Poster presentations will be uploaded in our Slack workspace and poster presenters will be able to interact with delegates in the Slack platform. You should be available during the session to receive feedback and answer questions.

What should I prepare for my oral communication?
Oral presenters can present using the format suitable for their discipline/purpose. For most, this will likely involve a slide deck (PowerPoint presentation) of some kind. Oral presentations do not need to be uploaded. Just make sure you bring a flash drive or similar with the presentation file to Tallinn.

How much time do I have to present at the conference?
Oral communication’s times vary depending on the presentation format (oral communication or Pechakucha). Check the live schedule on ExOrdo or the EUSPR website for more details.

What time is my presentation?
The schedule of the conference has gone live already. You can check it out in your ExOrdo profile or at the EUSPR official website.

As a presenting author, should I attend the conference both days?
The scheduling procedure for allocating parallel sessions is quite complex. If you accept to present an abstract at the EUSPR Conference onsite, you should plan to arrive and depart with enough time to attend the whole conference.

Will I receive a certificate for my participation at the conference?
Authors will receive a certificate for their presentation, while attendees will receive a certification of participation upon request.

Will there be a book of abstracts or journal publication with my abstract submission?
The final programme will include all the abstracts and authors’ details. These abstracts will not be part of a journal publication, but if you are interested in publishing in the field of prevention science, get in touch with our Journal of Prevention editorial board.



2022 Award nominations

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European Society for Prevention Research 2022 Awards

Call for nominations and expressions of interest to be a member of the judging panel

Nominations for 2022 EUSPR awards are now open. The closing data for nomination is Friday 2nd September. This is an important opportunity for EUSPR members to recognise individuals who have made an important contribution to Prevention Science. Please see the attached information with information about the awards, how to submit a nomination and the criteria that will be used to judge them.

This year’s judging panel will comprise a subgroup of the EUSPR board, and up to five other members of the Society. We invite members to apply to be a member of the judging panel. Please submit your expression of interest to office@euspr.org with a brief explanation of why you would like to be part of the judging panel and the relevant experience/skills you can offer.

Awards-Nomination-Form-and-Guidance 2022

Early bird fees available until 31st of July

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EUSPR 2022 is being held in Tallinn, Estonia on 29th and 30th September 2022, with workshops and project meetings scheduled for the pre-conference day, September 28th.

Our theme this year is ‘Prevention – Between Ethics and Effectiveness’ and our keynotes and special sessions, in a hybrid format, will focus on discussing the challenges of being both effective and ethical in prevention.

You can set up your ExOrdo account and register for the conference here!

If you are an early career, consider applying for a bursary to attend the conference in person (Deadline for applications: 15th July).

BURSARY APPLICATION 2022

Early bird fees (from 15th June – 31st July 2022) – Level A & B countries

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2023 membership) – 170€ 
  • Full renewal (includes 2022 and 2023 membership) – 255€ (Level A); 215€ (Level B) 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2023 membership) – 220€

Early bird fees (from 15th June – 31st July 2022) – Level C countries, students, retirees/seniors

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2023 membership) – 75€ 
  • Full renewal (includes 2022 and 2023 membership) –  105€ 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2023 membership) – 125€

Full fees for Level A & B countries (available from 1st August – 8th September 2022)

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2023 membership) – 195€ 
  • Full renewal (includes 2022 and 2023 membership) – 280€ (Level A), 240€ (Level B). 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2023 membership) – 245€

Full fees for Level C countries, students, retirees/seniors (available from 1st August – 8th September 2022)

  • EUSPR Members (includes 2023 membership) – 100€ 
  • Full renewal (including 2022 and 2023 membership) – 130€ 
  • Non-members of the EUSPR (includes 2023 membership) – 150€

Virtual registration

  • Access to poster presentations and keynote sessions during the conference
  • Virtual poster presentation via Slack
  • EUSPR 2023 membership
  • 100€

Group A countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the USA.

Group B countries: Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, and Turkey.

Group C countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. This category also includes all other countries in non-European territories that have not been mentioned above.

Visit the conference’s EUSPR & Estonian website and join the Facebook event, where all useful information will stay up to date. 

If you have any questions, contact the conference manager at conference@euspr.org.

EUSPR 2022 Scientific Committee

2022 EUSPR Pre-Conference Workshops

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For workshop registration, please visit our Ex Ordo website. 

Workshop 1: Enhancing GBG and PAX GBG Implementation through Mentoring – Challenges And Benefits  – Wednesday, 28th September, 13:00 – 16:30 GMT+3

Presenters: National Institute for Health Development (Estonia); City of Malmö (Sweden); Linnaeus University (Sweden); Vestigio (Sweden).
Location: Radisson Olümpia Blu, Tallinn Liivalaia 33

Teachers need ongoing support to implement preventive interventions and to acquire skills needed for that. Mentors can provide individual support and encourage teachers to try out different elements of the intervention, guide them in the correct use of the methods, and model the use of intervention elements with teachers themselves. European countries currently have various systems in place for supporting the teachers in the implementation of Good Behavior Game and PAX Good Behavior Game in elementary schools. During this workshop we will talk about different forms of mentoring, and the benefits and challenges regarding these. Different strategies for supporting teachers will be shared.

CLASSROOM VISITS TO EXPERIENCE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PAX GBG AND REFLECT ON THE EXPERIENCES – Wednesday, 28th September, 8:00 – 12:00 GMT+3

The PAX GBG was adopted in Estonia in 2014 by the National Institute for Health Development (NIHD) and has been implemented since in over 150 schools by more than 600 teachers. Several studies have demonstrated that PAX GBG is accepted and appropriate for Estonian teachers (70% of the teachers feel that adaptations to the intervention are not necessary) and teachers’ satisfaction with the intervention and with the support that PAX GBG mentors provide to them is high (most teachers would recommend the programme for other teachers – the average recommendation rate is 9.0–9.1 points on a 10-point scale and the average score given by teachers for their satisfaction with mentoring has remained between 5.6–5.9 on a 6- point scale).

We offer the interested participants a chance to visit classrooms where PAX GBG is implemented, and reflect the observations later with the mentor and the teacher. Participants can observe 1-2 lessons and experience the implementation of behaviour influence strategies which environment.

The classroom experience has limited availability (15 places). Transport to/from Schools in Tallinn and Harjumaa will be organized.

Workshop 2: Supporting Families in Challenged Settings  – Wednesday, 28th September, 13:00 – 16:30 GMT+3

Presenters: UNODC Prevention,Treatment & Rehabilitation Section
Location: Radisson Olümpia Blu, Tallinn Liivalaia 33

During last decade Europe has seen many refugee crisis, latest following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine where many families have experienced devastating consequences. Some of them have been internally displaced, migrated, live in refugee camps or in conflict/post-conflict situations all over Europe. During this workshop we will discuss what can prevention professionals do to reach parents who have fled from the war and what skills and practices can support them face the challenges wrought by the war?

Workshop 3: Implementation of the Unplugged School-Based Prevention Programme – Wednesday, 28th September, 9:00 – 12:00 GMT+3

Presenters: University College Ghent (HOGENT)
Location: Ministries Building, Suur-Ameerika 1

The workshop is aimed at trainers, implementers, decision makers and researchers with interest in universal prevention with social influence and life skills approach. The workshop will present HOGENT Unplugged online training of teachers workshop manual with discussion on opportunities and limitations; Introduction to the LineUp LiveUp sports based program from UNODC: inclusion of criminality indicators as outcomes, try out, discussion on program potential; Latest updates on Unplugged projects worldwide, including Pakistan project. Future challenges and possible directions for the network.

This workshop is interactive, building on experiences and visions of participants. If participants like to make a contribution in the form of a presentation on opportunities, contribute an exercise, latest project results, etc. please contact the workshop facilitators to discuss.

Workshop 4: Open (Prevention) Science: Barriers, Opportunities, and Where To Start (Early Career Workshop) – Wednesday, 28th September, 13:00 – 16:30 GMT+3

Presenters: EUSPR
Location: online workshop

The umbrella term Open Science refers to strategies, tools and methods to increase transparency, openness, communication, replication and reusability of scientific research. As a scientific paradigm, it targets the entire research process from developing ideas, formulating research questions to study design, implementation, analysis, and evaluation. So far, many applications of Open Science frameworks, toolboxes and manuals have been developed to guide basic and applied, qualitative, quantitative and theoretical research from an Open Science perspective. However, for many preventionists, there are many educational, economic and structural barriers to Open Science Practice, challenging the goal of Ethical Prevention Science. Therefore, this workshop aims to introduce core principles of Open Science, present their connection to ethical prevention (science), and provide tips and tools for early career researchers in applying them to their work.

Workshop 5: Common Flaws in Designing and Analyzing Preventive Interventions and How to Avoid Them – Wednesday, 28th September, 9:00 – 12:00 GMT+3

Presenters: Karl Hill, Yasemin Kisbu, Jon Moyer Christine Steeger, Pamela Buckley
Location: Ministries Building, Suur-Ameerika 1

The workshop will highlight common serious flaws seen in proposed and published preventive interventions and discuss strategies for avoiding them. Despite the field’s published Standards of Evidence (Flay, et al. 2005; Gottfredson, et al. 2015), many studies with serious design and implementation flaws get funded, incorrectly analyzed and become published. For example, the Blueprints (http://www.blueprintsprograms.org) team has reviewed over 1600 interventions to date, but only 103 (18 Model or Model Plus and 85 Promising) had sufficiently strong design and implementation materials to be certified by the review board. The workshop begins with an overview of a range of common design and analysis problems seen in published preventive interventions. Then, two specific problems are then discussed in greater depth: (1) designing and analyzing mediation and moderation of intervention effects and (2) designing and analyzing cluster- randomized and related designs. The workshop then discusses the importance of and approaches towards increasing research transparency (making public the underlying information, materials, and processes informing a scientific claims) as a means of increasing trust in and validity of research findings.

EUSPR Board elections 2022

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On the following pages, you will find the candidate statements for the elections for the EUSPR Board 2022-2025. Please click on the relevant roles to read these. The election results will be announced at the 2022 Members’ Meeting.  Selection will be via electronic voting which will take place between 08/07/2022 and 07/08/2022. A reminder of the process can be found here.

2022 Candidate statements – Board members

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NameStatement

Giovanni Aresi		I am researcher and professor of Community Health Psychology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy. My research focuses on young people's healthy behaviours, with a primary emphasis on the adoption of a participatory approach in conducting research and intervention evaluation. In EUSPR, I’ve been active in different ways, including during conferences, contributing to early career forum meetings and blogs, as well as member of the Society’s journal board.

If elected, I’ll work towards three main goals: a) increasing EUSPR capacity of advocacy with decisionmakers and the public on the role of prevention in our society; b) further improving the potential of the Early Career Forum to support members in pursuing a career in prevention; and c) encouraging further discussion on conflict of interest in prevention research.

Nick Axford		I am honoured to have been nominated for the EUSPR Board.

I have been a member of the EUSPR for over 10 years and contributed to all annual conferences from 2012 onwards. I am strongly sympathetic to its ethos and aims and believe this is reflected in my involvement to date and wider work.

I led the working group to achieve the formal affiliation between the Journal of Prevention and EUSPR. This involved extensive discussions with the publisher (Springer) and potential editors and working with the new Editor-in-Chief to identify possible Associate Editors and Editorial Board members. The affiliation started in January 2022 and I now serve as a member of the Editorial Board.

I have conducted research in a wide range of prevention science areas, including child maltreatment, youth violence and anti-social behaviour, school-based bullying and the social-emotional learning of young children. I think it is important that the EUSPR encourages and reflects a wide variety of prevention science interests and welcome the increased attention to climate change and associated challenges.

I have been fortunate to work with colleagues in several European countries, including the European Communities that Care project, where I led a team reviewing evidence for the effectiveness of interventions in Europe. The results of this analysis were used to help populate the Xchange registry of interventions hosted by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). I now sit on the Evidence Panel for Xchange.

I am particularly interested in knowledge mobilisation and have contributed to several initiatives to help disseminate evidence-based programmes (e.g., Xchange, Blueprints in the US and the Early Intervention Foundation Guidebook in the UK). I continue to be interested in how such initiatives can evolve to better support getting evidence into practice.

Although my recent work has had an emphasis on programmes and trials, I am very interested in other forms of intervention and impact evaluation and would seek to encourage these within EUSPR. For example, common elements and system-orientated interventions need more attention, as does theory-based evaluation. I would also encourage more attention to the social and economic drivers of poor outcomes and ways in which prevention science can better address those.

I have enjoyed being part of the EUSPR Board since 2019 and hope to continue serving in that capacity and so help the society develop and flourish.

Angelina Brotherhood
(Fotocredit: R. Ettl)		Hello, my name is Angelina Brotherhood. I am a Health Expert at the Addiction Competence Centre of the Austrian National Public Health Institute in Vienna as well as the prevention expert within Austria's REITOX National Focal Point to the EMCDDA.

I am best known for my work to develop and promote the European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS), as published by the EMCDDA. I also contributed to the UNODC/WHO International Standards on Drug Use Prevention. I have developed training materials and given numerous talks and workshops for policy-makers and practitioners to support the use of standards and help increase the quality of drug prevention activities on the ground, across Europe and beyond. As part of my current role, I am working to introduce the European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC) in Austria. I'm also currently active in the Western Balkans, thanks to a joint capacity-building project with EMCDDA on prevention and other drug-related topics. My other interests include environmental prevention and its theoretical basis, which is also a current focus of the EUSPR. I am a sociologist by training, which probably explains why I'm not scared to take on the role of the critical and questioning voice in discussions, when needed.

I have assisted the EUSPR since its inception, initially offering administrative support and later acting as External Advisor to the Board of Directors. I then served on the EUSPR Board from 2014 to 2017. My main achievement in that period was to set up and establish the EUSPR's Early Careers Forum (ECF) to support and connect students working on prevention-related topics. I wanted to give them that sense of academic family and belonging which I myself experienced with EUSPR during my doctoral study years. I also supported the Austrian National Public Health Institute to host the EUSPR conference in Vienna in 2017. For me, the EUSPR has always been an excellent opportunity to foster professional relationships and knowledge exchange with colleagues across Europe and to develop ideas on how to advance prevention, and so I'm very excited to stand for election once again. If elected, I would initially contribute to the EUSPR's planned position paper on environmental prevention. I would also like to use my time on the Board to collaborate with fellow researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to explore and address the sensitive issue of how drug prevention activities are selected for funding in EU Member States.

Boris Chapoton		I have been a member of the EUSPR since 2015. I am currently working as a project manager at the Jean Monnet University, Saint-Etienne, France. Coming from a training background mixing Health Psychology and Public Health, I am using a Social Marketing approach to the projects I develop in order to change or maintain people’s behaviour for the better good of individuals and society.

I have served the EUSPR as a board member for the last term (2019-2022). This period has tested the strengths of the links between each member of our community and between the members and the EUSPR itself. Although the historic members of the Society have reminded present through these years alongside with resilient members who believe in EUSPR objectives and philosophy; we cannot put aside the other members whom drift apart and the ones whom did not get to taste fully the EUSPR spirit because of our missed opportunities to meet face to face during our annual conferences. The actual European context keeps challenging our abilities to get reunited and for researchers, practitioners and policy makers to discuss preventive strategies and opportunities in a safe and optimistic environment.

Yet, the Board and the EUSPR members have kept developing different initiatives to pursue and preserve the goal of our Society to develop and promote evidence-based prevention for the population. I am pride and delighted to have been able to participate to those initiatives. We still have much to do in order for our European Society’s to grow stronger and I have no doubts that, together, early and senior members will be able to keep consolidating our established roots made of excellence, collaborative opportunities, trust and kindness.

I apply to the position of Member of the Society Elected to the Board to serve the EUSPR members for another mandate, to help re-establishing the links between members in positive perspectives and to keep developing our goal to disseminate effective preventive strategies.

Elena Gervilla		I am a PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor of Methodology and Statistics, and Deputy Director of the Psychology Department at the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. My research mainly focuses on the evaluation of interventions to prevent addictive behaviors and mental health problems and the application of evidence-based preventive programs.

The quality and warmth of the professional collaborations I have been part of at the EUSPR have been pivotal for my career as an advocate for mental health. Therefore, a meaningful goal set for the growth of our society is to foster collaborations and shared actions on effective change with colleagues from fellow scientific Societies, facilitating discussion and developing recommendations for tangible action plans in prevention. The purpose of these conjoint efforts will translate the evidence available into top-quality research, policy implementation and dissemination of resources in our community.

Being nominated for future president from the EUSPR's community of supportive colleagues humbles me and fills me with pride equally. I would gladly commit to extending the reach of our society, strengthening the methodological aspects, and promoting our results while supporting the training of the next generation of scientists and practitioners in the upcoming years. It would be a great honor to continue serving the organisation that has allowed me to grow in the prevention science field.

Vasilka Lalevska		I am gladly submitting my statement that will hopefully support my candidature for the upcoming EUSPR Board of Directors election and bring closer to you my background and the areas where I could contribute to the future work of the EUSPR.

My educational background is in Economics and Project Management, acquired in Skopje, North Macedonia, where I was born and raised, while most of my work experience has been acquired in Stockholm, Sweden, where I am currently based. The biggest focus of my work at the start has been policy from the aspects of carrying out advocacy and education activities, with particular focus on alcohol, narcotic drugs and prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. Today, this has expanded to financial regulation and sustainable finance, focusing on climate, environmental and importantly social issues.

I have been a member of the EUSPR since 2017, and during the same year I started as Training Officer at the Committee of the EUSPR Early Careers Forum (ECF). The dynamics of my engagement with the ECF followed, in both intensity and topics, with the changes in my career path. In the period since, together with the team, we were able to organize several webinars targeted at Early Career members. Additionally, I was also engaged in abstract reviews and writing blogs mostly on the connection points between policy and research. My latest engagement was during the 12th EUSPR Conference, where I participated in the Climate Change and Health joint activity (SPR-BRAPEP-EUSPR) speaking about the opportunities in climate change for prevention research.

The EUSPR already has an excellent platform for action and cooperation as well as varied and ambitious membership. To add to that, I would like to use my long-term experience working in the non-profit sector on national, European and global level to contribute to governance processes in the EUSPR and help the successful functioning of the organization together with fellow members. Additionally, I would be keen to work on strengthening the connection between the EUSPR and the Early Careers members in order to continue creating a safe space for discussion, learning and exchange of experience and expertise.

For the upcoming three years, in addition to the existing scope of activities and work, I would imagine the EUSPR intensifying its efforts in exploring the interconnection between health, prevention science and climate change through defining key actions, possibilities for joint work and innovation as well as sharing best practices across the EUSPR. Lastly, as there are different global actions that often tackle some of the areas of relevance for prevention researchers, it might be relevant for the EUSPR to strengthen its awareness and seize opportunities that these developments offer, in terms of funding, cooperation and identifying research gaps/needs that could be of interest.

I hope that my background and experience would be of benefit to the EUSPR and its membership and I look forward to the next steps in the process.

Michal Miovski		Prevention is representing very important piece of my professional life – and it was dedicated to almost 23 years long story since my first bigger project in prevention with Peer van der Kreeft on our Phare Twinning 2000, when we conducted national-wide needs assessment in the Czech Republic, and I have started to work on building prevention system in my country. We have created quite original national concept of school prevention, including databank of interventions, training and education workforce, quality standards and real quality assurance system. Paper about this story is in press and summarized this entire work as a case study. My team participated on EUDAP project, Nightlife, EUPC and many others and was honor to work with so many international partners and great teams. Our team created on-line international training INEP (4 language mutations now), based on EUPC and training is available for free. In 2012 we formulated and published first competency model for prevention professionals and work on it and up-date now.

EUSPR was always important to me personally and my plan is to work on quality and especially on quality assurance systems and training and education for prevention professionals. That is also area to bridge science and praxis – e.g. we are running international Journal Addictology where practical oriented papers are welcome and where we are focus on applied science. I would like also emphasize EUSPR in international context and help and support linking EUSPR with other international relevant partners – Europe should not be isolated and I see many critical opportunities for collaboration outside of Europe at this moment.

Zila Sanchez		Despite being a professor in Brazil, since 2013, I have been working on evaluating and disseminating European programs in my country. In that year, I started my participation in EUSPR activities.

My large-scale studies of national dimension allowed the adaptation of the Unplugged program and its dissemination as federal public policy in Brazil. It is worth noting that this is the first experience of a complete research cycle of the science of prevention at a federal level: adaptation, evaluation, readaptation, reevaluation, readaptation, reevaluation and dissemination on a large scale. Three adaptations of the program were necessary until a positive effect was found. In this process, I was responsible for creating an important network of researchers in Brazil who started to work with researchers and practitioners in Europe.

Beyond that, I assumed the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Prevention, the Oficial Journal of the European Society for Prevention Research, for the quinquennium 2022-2026. The Journal has an editorial board of important European researchers members of the EUPR. We are working together to guarantee that the Journal contributes to all emerging areas in the field of prevention science, with an emphasis on behavioral interventions, linking academic research and professional practice. Each edition of the Journal seeks to ensure that the Journal reflects the Society's core mission.

Thus, it is crucial to be part of the EUSPR Board of directors so that my work reflects the aspirations and positions of the Society in the content of the Journal. This will help the Journal to comply with the mission of the Society.

Karin Streimann		Karin Streimann is a researcher in Estonian National Institute for Health Development and a guest lecturer in Tallinn and Tartu University. She has educational background in social work (PhD in 2021, Tallinn University, School of Law, Governance and Society). Her work and research are interdisciplinary, involving the educational, social and health sector in the prevention of behavioural health problems such as externalizing and internalizing problems as well as substance use. She is interested in the intervention research as well as the systems perspective on prevention to understand how to raise the quality of prevention nation-wide. She is leading the Estonian Scientific Council on Prevention, where Estonian higher education institutions are partnering to support evidence-based decision making in the prevention field. She has been also involved in several European-level projects (UPC-Adapt, ASAP training, Frontline Politeia) that focus on the prevention workforce development.

In my vision the EUSPR already has a strong connection with substance use prevention researchers, I would like to support its development cross-sectorally and attempt to involve partners who work in the other prevention fields. As many social, health, and educational problems are caused by the same factors I feel that a cross-sectoral approach is needed to succeed in prevention. I believe we could move towards a shared understanding of prevention across siloes, sectors and disciplinaries in EU level.

Samuel Tomczyk		Since 2017, I work as the Lead of the Early Careers Forum of the European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR). In this role, I was fortunate to build networks with other early career researchers and more experienced colleagues from different professional backgrounds to strengthen the cross-disciplinary, evidence-based approach to prevention across Europe. For the future of prevention, I believe that it is important to provide a common understanding of the systems, dynamics, and processes of prevention science for early career preventionists, and to mutually create and develop strategies towards achieving sustainable development goals in the areas of health and prevention. In my eyes, the Early Career Representative in the EUSPR Board aims to connect early career preventionists‘ needs with senior colleagues‘ expectations, experience, and support. Therefore, as a candidate for the role of Early Career Representative in the EUSPR Board, I would like to expand the collaboration among early career preventionists and senior colleagues, for instance via mentoring programs (e.g., as reviewers for the Journal of Prevention), by establishing and promoting opportunities for international exchange and education (e.g., via the climate change action group), and by preparing webinars as well as meetings and workshops surrounding the annual EUSPR conference.

Rachele Donini		In the past 15 years, I’ve been involved in several European projects funded by the European Commission, with the general aim to enhance prevention science and evidence-based practice. In detail, the findings and results of the different projects contributed to:

- build and disseminate the European quality standards
- adapt the Universal prevention curriculum to the European context
- professionalise the European prevention workforce (specifically decision, opinion and policy makers) based on the European prevention curriculum
- analyse the European prevention systems and understand the impact of the prevention system on the delivery of prevention interventions
- develop a European prevention curriculum addressed to implementers.

In the past years, I’ve been training professionals on evidence-based prevention all over Europe, in collaboration with EMCDDA, and I have worked with international bodies in the prevention field. I have developed a rich and nurturing network with prevention professionals, working both on a European and International level.

In my Country-Italy, I’m part of the current panel of prevention experts in charge of updating the National plan against drugs for the upcoming years.

In case of nomination, I commit to serve EUSPR in the dissemination of Evidence- and Practice-based prevention across Europe and to increase dialogue and exchanges with other international bodies involved in the prevention field, such as WHO, UNODC, SPR, ISSUP, BRAPEP, APSI, COPOLAD and any other similar associations.

I would nudge prevention professionals, practitioners, and policy makers to join the Society. The intent is to empower dialogues between the academic world, the everyday work of people in the field, and representatives that have a relevant role in the decision-making process on prevention policies at a national, regional or local level.

As part of my role in the Society and with other board members, I would like to translate into practice the prevention science theories and contribute to bridging the gaps between science, practice and policies.

Ina Koning		Ina Koning is an assistant Professor at Interdisciplinary Social Science, Youth Studies, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Koning has made a significant contribution to research associated with parenting and the prevention of adolescent substance use. She has extensive experience in leading diverse intervention studies where different phases in intervention development are carried out; from development and adaptation of interventions to process and outcome evaluation. Her research involves investigating the role of parents and the larger social environment in e.g. social media use and alcohol use. She has made a significant contribution to research associated with parenting and the prevention of adolescent substance use and problematic online behaviour; including research on environmental and digital interventions, and co-creation. Koning highly values the translation of her work to practice. She has a history of disseminating her work to utilize the knowledge gained in the most comprehensive way possible.

I am looking forward working with dedicated, highly skilled and experienced professionals from around the world in designing activities for and with the society. Following up on the current and next president, I continue to advance the society by broadening the topics of interest addressed in the society through the annual EUSPR conference and the Journal of Primary Prevention. That is, where substance use is in origin the main focus of the society, addressing behavioral addictions as well may further broaden the scope of the society. Moreover, topics such as digital interventions, process evaluation and closing the practice-science gap are subjects that lie at the heart of my research.

Helena Horalek		Since 2007 I have been working in the prevention of risk behaviour in cooperation with the Department of Addictology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University (CUNI). Since 2019, as a permanent employee in the assistant professor position at CUNI.

I focus on quality and efficiency in preventing risky behaviour and training professionals in this area. I refer to effective strategies in the place of risk behaviour prevention at international professional meetings, including the implementation of quality control of primary prevention standards in practice.

In the Czech Republic, I co-founded the Professional Society for the Prevention of Risky Behaviour, which actively advocates for quality control of standards in practice (certification system) and is dedicated to teaching and training future practitioners in prevention.

As a treasurer, I will try to assist the EUSPR board in funding and finance. I will try my best to support the EUSPR Board in this area. I would also like to participate in and support EUSPR Board during discussions on the development of the EUSPR strategy.

Mariàngels Duch		As European Project Manager at the European Institute of Studies on Prevention – IREFREA, I am deeply involved in research and implementation of prevention programmes to address adolescents risk behaviours and enhance the impact of prevention research and practice at community and environmental level, through the capacitation of key stakeholders and their engagement in prevention policies and strategies.

In addition, I actively participate in networks such as the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs, to enhance prevention practice among its members and the work that their organizations develop, and collaborate in the progress and consolidation of the Spanish Best Practice Portal, coordinated by the National Plan on Drugs (PNSD), promoting the incorporation of the European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS) among programme implementers and practitioners, through presentations and trainings, to expand a competent prevention workforce at national and European level. For the past two years, I have coordinated several actions to promote the incorporation of the European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC) among decision-makers, opinion-makers and policy-makers (DOPs) in Spain and engage policy making with prevention science. As a result of this work, during 2022 some trainings have been conducted (some more already scheduled) for the implementation and consolidation of the EUPC at government level in three regions of Spain.

I have been a member of the EUSPR since its beginning, actively participating in the organization of several conferences as well as presenting research findings from the work developed by the IREFREA’s network. Since 2019, I have been acting as Secretary of the EUSPR Board establishing a firm working collaboration with the PNSD to consolidate the EUSPR at national level by means of developing activities, co-financed by the Spanish agency, to facilitate exchange of experiences between the European and the Spanish network, and contributing to the growth and active participation of the Spanish group at European level.

In order to increase the impact of prevention research and prevention science in society it is absolutely necessary to connect the work undertaken by researchers, practitioners and DOPs. This is a goal for the EUSPR that I firmly believe in and I will keep joining forces to work towards it.