LU konferenceESSD members and other researchers who wish to attend the 30th Annual Conference are invited to submit abstracts of their conference papers no later than 26th April 2019.
To attend the conference as an audience member without giving a presentation, please inform essdriga@lu.lv.
Abstracts (see themes and details below) should be submitted online at the www.essdriga.lu.lv
Presentations should preferably include a European dimension (such as reporting on research or issues from more than one European country, comparisons between data from European studies), and/or theoretical analysis that draws inferences from the local to the global. Presentations restricted to the description of interventions or (local) policies will not be accepted. Qualitative studies are particularly welcome. Each presentation lasts for 15 minutes (and additional time for discussion). The conference language is English.
The accepted abstracts will conform to one or more of the following themes:
1. Drug use trends and patterns
Comparative, preferably qualitative research on trends and patterns in use and users (transnational)
- Drug use patterns in central and eastern Europe
- Patterns of use and using careers of polydrug users whose repertoires comprise of both legal and illegal drugs
- The use of ‘new’ drugs (NPS) as an alternative or in addition to ‘old’ drugs
- Performance enhancing drugs: e.g. ‘study’ drugs such as modafinil or methylphenidate (Ritalin)
- Use of substances such as nitrous oxide (‘laughing gas’) or khat for which the legality policy status varies across European countries
- Detailed, critical work on ‘new’ substances
2. Drug use in different groups and settings
Patterns of use and using careers among groups characterised by, for example, age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.
- Social norms and context surrounding drugs and drug use
- Drug use in ‘hidden’ and ‘open’ drug scenes, for example nightlife, streets
- Drug use in prisons and after release
- New interventions for users in prison and after release
3. Drug policy: theories, concepts and research
Theories or concepts that may help exploring drug policy issues from innovative perspectives
- Evaluation of drug policy approaches in central and eastern Europe
- Drug specific policies and combined drug/substance/addiction policies
- Comparative research on cannabis policies, that includes the evaluation of the impact of criminalisation/decriminalisation/legalisation
- Legislative/policy changes regarding NPS and what effect has this had on availability and/or use
- Critical reflections on drug demand interventions and stigmatisation of users
- New challenges and solutions with controversial or novel strategies in prevention and harm reduction
- Ground-breaking and inventive responses to drug offences and/or drug related crime
4. Markets: Dynamics in policy and practice
Changes in the illegal opioid market (heroin, new synthetic opioids)
- Local and national cocaine markets (users, suppliers) in the context of the global market and EU open borders
- Production-related harms such as crime and violence
- Harm reduction approaches towards drug supply
- How do drug users get their drugs?
- Social norms surrounding the acquisition of illicit drugs, including sharing and gifting
- Connections and blurred lines between the social supply and profit-oriented dealing
- Open markets: street dealers and club dealers
- Connections between ‘real’ markets and crypto-markets (the dark web)
- Self-perceptions of social suppliers and dealers
5. Methods and ethics
Innovative and mixed methods
- Researcher identity and reflexivity in drug research
- Sampling and representativeness
- Non-representational methods in drug research
- Online vs. offline methods
- Researching vulnerable populations
- Ethical challenges in drug research
ABSTRACT LAYOUT
- Word format, max. 1,5 page,
- Theme(s) (from the list on the previous page)
- Title of the paper
- Author(s): name(s), qualification(s), job title(s)
- Contact details: full postal address, telephone number, email address
- Abstract (not more than 400 words), including objectives, methodology, significant results and conclusions
ABSTRACT REVIEW
Abstracts are reviewed against the following criteria:
- Relevance to the conference themes
- European dimension
- Theoretical reflections
- Added value with respect to earlier contributions at ESSD conferences
In general, no more than two presentations from the same institute or affiliation will be accepted.
Acceptance of papers will be announced by June 7, 2019.
Participants are very encouraged to bring copies of their full papers and other materials for distribution at the conference.
Open by 30th August 2019
Your data will be held in a secured manner and used only for conference purposes.
Name
Surname
(Co-authors name and surname)
Institution
Job title
Address
Email
Paper title
Each member of organization committee will have login and password to access this info online
Information on registration fee
Information about Payment of Conference Fee will be communicated in due time.
- The standard Conference Fee is €100.
- ESSD Board members and students (bachelor, master and PhD students) pay a reduced rate of €50.
- Local conference hosts are exempted from the Conference Fee. Hosts may negotiate a limited number of places for guest attendees (e.g. sponsors, dignitaries) at the conference.
Until recently, some of the ESSD's activities (especially the annual book and some aspects of the administration of the society) have been financially supported by the Pompidou Group (PG) of the Council of Europe. For various reasons, the PG can no longer offer this support. In order to ensure the sustainability of the ESSD as a society and the continuity of the annual conferences and the ESSD publications, the ESSD Board needed to take some important decisions which affect some of the principal guidelines that the Society has always cherished, including the free membership and free annual conferences.
At the end of 2018, the ESSD Board launched a short survey among its members so that these decisions could be taken in a transparent, deliberate and thoughtful way. 118 members completed the survey (i.e. 42.1% of the total of 280 members). The results were discussed at the ESSD Board meeting on 15 January 2019 in Amsterdam, resulting in the following strategic decisions:
On the basis of the survey results, the ESSD Board decided not to implement an annual membership fee for the Society. The member survey clearly showed that this type of fee was not supported by the majority of the members as the most acceptable option, and it would usually be paid by the members from their personal budget, which is not desirable.
Instead, in order to sustain the Society and its yearly publication, all participants of the ESSD conferences are required to pay a ‘Conference Fee’. This fee covers all of the costs related to the output of the annual conference, such as publisher fees, editing costs, costs related to the editorial board meeting(s), and distribution costs. The fee is mandatory for all participants in the annual conference (regardless of whether they actually submit an abstract for and contribute to the ESSD publication).
The Conference Fee is NOT a conference registration fee: it does not cover any aspects of the conference, such as the conference dinner, refreshments or catering during the conference, the rental costs of the conference venue, conference packs, book of abstracts, etc. Local conference organisers remain responsible for covering all costs of hosting and organising the conference.
The fee is only intended to support and ensure the output of the annual conference: printing and production costs, minimal editors' fee, and the costs for board members and editors attending the annual board meeting.
The fee will be implemented for the first time at the 30th annual conference in Riga (26 – 28 September 2019): participants who pay the fee will receive two publications: free copies of the publications resulting from the 2018 and 2019 conferences. At the future conferences (from 2020 onwards) participants will receive a free copy of the publication resulting from the conference they attended.