Keynote Lecture 1
Michael Ni (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China): Mental Health during and after Collective Actions
Symposium 1: Mental health in uncertain times: Political polarization, inequality and psychiatric distress
This symposium will examine how contemporary political polarization, growing economic inequality, and social uncertainty contribute to psychiatric disorders and psychological distress across diverse populations. Talks will explore the mechanisms linking sociopolitical stressors to mental health outcomes, identify vulnerable groups disproportionately affected by these dynamics, and discuss building individual and community resilience in politically turbulent times.
Chairpersons: Katherine Keyes (USA) – Corina Benjet (Mexico)
Speakes: Seth Prins (USA) – James Kirkbride (UK) – Frank Njenga (Kenya) – Girish Rao (India)
Symposium 2: Trauma, forced migration and mental health
This symposium will examine approaches to ensuring human rights protections while delivering high-quality mental health care across diverse global contexts and healthcare systems. Talks will explore emerging frameworks for rights-based treatment, address systemic barriers to dignified care, examine international best practices, and discuss novel interventions that simultaneously advance therapeutic outcomes and uphold the fundamental rights and dignity of persons with mental illness.
Chairpersons: Eli Karam (Lebanon) – Solvig Ekblad (Sweden)
Speakers: Eli Karam (Lebanon) – Kimberly Hook (USA) – Lukoye Atwoli (Kenya) – Marianna Purgato (Italy) – Jeremy Kane (USA)
Keynote Lecture 2
Mauro Carta, Italy: Human rights perspective
Symposium 3: Human rights and quality of care and treatment for mental illness across the globe: new perspectives
This symposium will examine approaches to ensuring human rights protections while delivering high-quality mental health care across diverse global contexts and healthcare systems. Talks will explore emerging frameworks for rights-based treatment, address systemic barriers to dignified care, examine international best practices, and discuss novel interventions that simultaneously advance therapeutic outcomes and uphold the fundamental rights and dignity of persons with mental illness.
Chairperson: Mauro Carta (Italy)
Speakers: Solvig Ekblad (Sweden) – Mvuyiso Talatala (South Africa) – Helen Herrman (Australia) – Soumitra Pathare (India)
Symposium 4: Methodological advances in global mental health and addiction science and prevention
This symposium explores the latest science on methodological approaches in addiction research, including novel techniques for prevalence estimation in diverse contexts, and innovative treatment strategies. Talks will examine prevention strategies and guidelines especially relevant to low- and middle-income countries, discuss advances in data collection and surveillance methods, and present new frameworks for translating epidemiological studies into policy.
Chairperson: Louisa Degenhardt (Australia)
Speakers: Tim Slade (Australia) – William Axinn (USA) – Stephanie Chardoul (USA) – Soraya Seedat (South Africa) – Josh Barocas (USA) – Huang Yueqin (China)
Keynote Lecture 3
Tansella Award Winner
Symposium 5: Social media and artificial intelligence: applications in mental health surveillance, research, and treatment
This symposium will examine how social media and artificial intelligence can and are informing mental health research through enhanced case identification, population surveillance, and epidemiological methods. Sessions will explore innovative research designs on how social media exposures create new risks for mental health outcomes, AI applications in treatment delivery, discuss machine learning approaches for detecting mental health conditions at scale, and evaluate the efficacy and scope of new interventions across diverse clinical and research settings.
Chairpersons: Lukoye Atwoli (Kenya) – Antonio Egidio Nardin (Brazil)
Speakers: Chen Shanquan (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China) – Joseph Maria Haro Abbad (Spain) – Chibanzi Mwachonda (Kenya) – Antonio Egidio Nardi (Brazil) – Corina Benjet (Mexico)
Symposium 6: From adolescence to older age: New epidemiological findings across the lifecourse
This symposium will present new findings in epidemiological research examining mental health patterns and trajectories from adolescence through late life, highlighting critical developmental periods and age-specific vulnerabilities. Sessions will explore emerging findings on adolescent mental health trends, examine mental health challenges in aging populations, and discuss lifecourse approaches that illuminate how experiences across the lifecourse shape mental health outcomes across developmental stages.
Chairperson: Corina Benjet (Mexico)
Speakers: John Pamplin (USA) – Viviane Kovess (France) – Annelieke Roest (The Netherlands) – Josh Barocas (The Netherlands) – Ke Ning (Singapore) – Maria Lourdes Rosanna De Guzman (Philippines)