Registration for the pre-meeting is now closed-we have reached capacity with 50 participants. 

A pre-meeting on Evolutionary Psychiatry is planned for August 5-6, from late morning Monday until Tuesday noon immediately preceding ISEMPH 2024.  All with an interest in how evolutionary medicine can help to advance the understanding, prevention and treatment of mental disorders are welcome. Members of the Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group in the Royal College of Psychiatry Evolutionary and members of the World Psychiatry Association Section on Evolutionary Psychiatry will join with ISEMPH members as active participants. The meeting organizers are Riadh Abed, Paul St John Smith, and Randolph Nesse.

This will be a small meeting with plenty of breaks and meals to encourage lively exchanges. All speakers will conclude their talks with core questions to help focus our discussions.  The main talks will be recorded for later posting but the discussions will not be recorded. 

To register for the meeting click here. That will take you to the regular ISEMPH 2024 registration information page that has a link to the meeting registration form. If you will also attend the regular ISEMPH meeting, go ahead with the regular registration process; the Pre-meeting is on the list of optional extra events. If you want to register only for the Evolutionary Psychiatry Pre-meeting, choose the "Evolutionary Psychiatry Pre-meeting ONLY registration option, and complete payment details later in the process.  The fees cover the costs of the venue, breaks, two lunches, and a served dinner at The Cellar Door!.

• $180 per person for medical faculty and practicing clinicians
• $150 per person for other faculty, teachers, and retirees
• $120 for students and trainees

Send questions to Manager@ISEMPH.org 

See below for the program and schedule.  Abstracts are here.

ISEMPH 2024 Discussion meeting on Evolutionary Psychiatry

Organized by Riadh Abed, Randolph Nesse, and Paul St John Smith 

Monday, August 5, 2024

• 9:30 Coffee,  tea, and conversation
• 10:00 Paul St John-Smith (London) on core principles of evolutionary psychiatry. Introduction and discussion led by Riadh Abed
• 10:30 Daniel Nettle (Newcastle and Paris) keynote on evolution and depression
• 11:15 Discussion about depression led by Randolph Nesse
• 12:00 Lunch provided on site
• 13:00 Nikhil Chaudhary (Cambridge) and  Annie Swanepoel (London) on "What we can learn from hunter-gatherers about child and maternal mental health?"
• 14:00 Discussion about mismatch, child rearing and mental disorders led by Paul St. John-Smith
• 14:30 Break
• 15:00  Leif Kennair (Norway) and Henry O'Connell (Ireland) on clinical applications
• 16:00 Discussion about clinical applications led by Marsden McGuire (Washington DC, USA)
• 18:00 Drinks then Dinner at The Cellar Door!

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

• 8:30 Robin Dunbar (Oxford) on social evolution theory for understanding relationships and Randolph Nesse (University of Michigan/Arizona State University) on if social evolution theory can be useful for understanding relationship problems 
• 9:30 Discussion of previous topics led by Bernard Crespi (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)
• 10:00 Break for coffee, tea, and conversation
• 10:30 Riadh Abed (Sheffield, UK) on The Evobiopsychosocial model and Challenges
• 10:50 Two-minute comments from several participants to inspire breakout group discussions about what specific actions that will encourage the healthy growth of evolutionary psychiatry
• 11:05 Breakout groups and discussion to identify the most tractable big questions for the field and strategies for getting researchers and clinicians up to speed and funded to answer them.
• 11:30 Reports from each group
• 12:00 Lunch provided on site
• 13:00 Adjourn