Keynote Speakers

Professor Paul Dietze, Burnet Institute and National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University | Melbourne, Australia

Professor Paul Dietze, PhD (Sci), is one of Australia’s leading alcohol and other drug epidemiologists with a significant track record in research and innovation on opioid overdose prevention and response. He is Co-Director of the Disease Elimination Program at the Burnet Institute and leads the Melbourne office of the National Drug Research Institute.  He has published over 340 scientific journal articles and numerous reports that have changed policy and practice around alcohol and other drugs in Australia and internationally. He is Execuitve Editor of Drug and Alcohol Review.

Prof. Dr. Rita Hansjürgens, Fachbereich Soziale Arbeit, Alice-Salomon-Hochschule | Berlin, Deutschland

Prof. Dr. Rita Hansjürgens ist Professorin für Handlungstheorien Sozialer Arbeit im Fachbereich Soziale Arbeit an der Alice-Salomon-Hochschule Berlin. Sie hat Dipl. Sozialarbeit an der Katholischen Hochschule am Standort Paderborn studiert und ihren MA-Abschluss in klinischer Sozialarbeit an der Hochschule Koblenz im Fachbereich Sozialwissenschaften absolviert. 12 Jahre arbeitete sie als Sozialarbeiterin in der ambulanten Suchthilfe. Promoviert wurde sie an der Goethe-Universität zu Frankfurt am Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaften zur Analyse von Beziehungsentwicklung in Suchtberatungsstellen. Sie forscht und veröffentlicht zur Rolle Sozialer Arbeit in der Suchthilfe, zur Funktion von Suchtberatungsstellen im Feld der Suchthilfe und zu Sozialer Diagnostik in der Suchthilfe und wirkt regelmäßig an der Erstellung und Erneuerung von AWMF-Leitlinien im Kontext von Substanzgebrauchsstörungen mit. Sie ist stellvertretende Vorsitzende der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziale Arbeit in der Suchthilfe und Mitglied im wissenschaftlichen Kuratorium der Deutschen Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen.

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Eva Hoch is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. As a researcher she has an international reputation as researcher in the field of cannabis and cannabinoids.
Since 2022 Dr. Hoch is the director of the IFT Centre for Mental Health and Addiction Research in Munich. She is also the head of the Cannabis research group the Department of Psychiatry, and a university lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. Before these positions, she was a researcher at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim (2010-2015), at the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at TU Dresden (2005-2019, at the Max-Planck-Institute of Psychiatry in Munich (2001-2005) and the IFT Centre for Mental Health and Addiction Research (1998-2001).
Her most recent work focuses on health benefits and risks of cannabinoids. Other research topics are: - New behavioral and e-health treatment methods - Treatment practice guidelines - Large-scale epidemiological studies - Randomized-controlled trials - Systematic reviews and meta-analysis - International collaboration and networks. Dr. Hoch was honored through different research awards, e.g. the Wilhelm-Feuerlein Award in clinical addiction research (2017).

Dr. Jürgen Rehm, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf | Hamburg, Deutschland

Dr. Jürgen Rehm is Senior Scientist and Professor in the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH, and he also holds professorships and positions in Germany, Spain and Russia.

Dr. Rehm has been a leader in generating and analyzing the scientific data needed to inform clinicians and policy-makers of strategies to reduce alcohol-, tobacco-, and other drug-attributable harm.  His recent research has increasingly included interactions between socio-economic status, poverty and substance use, including analysis of policies and interventions with respect to reducing or increasing inequalities.  His work has been awarded with numerous awards and prizes, most importantly, the Jellinek Memorial Award (2003), the European Addiction Research Award (2017) and the (Inaugural) Kettil Bruun Society Award for Advancement of International Research Collaboration (2021).

Prof. Dr. Robin Room, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University | Melbourne, Australia

Robin Room is a sociologist (PhD at University of California, Berkeley) who has previously directed alcohol and drug research centres in the United States, Canada, Sweden and Australia. His main research interests are social, cultural and epidemiological studies of alcohol, drugs and gambling behaviour and problems, social responses to the problems, and the effects of policy changes. A member since 1979 of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence and Alcohol Problems, Room is theEditor-in-Chief of Drug and Alcohol Review. He has received the main international prize in alcohol research, the Jellinek Memorial Award (1983), and in Australia the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence and Outstanding Contribution in Drug and Alcohol Endeavours (2012).

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Rumpf | Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy | Head of Research Goup S:TEP | University of Lübeck

Hans-Jürgen Rumpf is psychologist and a senior researcher from the University of Lübeck, Germany. He is interested in substance use disorders as well as behavioral addictions. His work focuses on epidemiology, diagnostic measures, early detection and brief interventions, the natural course of addictions, mechanisms of change, digital interventions as well as measures to reduce stigmatization and the treatment gap in the realm of addictions. He has been involved in WHO expert groups with regard to the development of ICD-11. In ongoing WHO working groups on public health issues of behavioral addictions he is involved in the development of diagnostic measures for Gaming Disorder and Gambling Disorder. He is engaged in other international collaborations such as Children and Screens – Institute of Digital Media and Child Development.