The Harm Reduction International Conference is built by its community. Around 80% of the programme is selected through this open call for abstracts, making your submission central to the conversations that will take place in Belfast.
We welcome submissions from across the full spectrum of harm reduction, including research, policy, advocacy, service delivery, community organising, lived and living experience, education, arts and culture, and innovative practice.
Whether you are presenting the findings of a major research study, sharing lessons from a grassroots project, challenging conventional thinking, or creating space for dialogue, we encourage you to submit your work.
We particularly encourage submissions from people who use drugs, sex workers, Indigenous communities, people living with HIV and hepatitis, activists, peer workers, early-career researchers, practitioners, and people from regions that have traditionally been underrepresented at international conferences.
An oral presentation is the standard conference presentation and your abstract may be selected as part of a themed major or concurrent session, but you can also submit a proposal for a Poster, Dialogue Space, Workshop, Creative Arts or Wellbeing session.
Across all formats, competition is high. We typically accept around 20% of submissions overall, so we encourage you to make your abstract as clear and compelling as possible.
Please note! Abstract submission will close at 23:59 UTC+1 on 30 September 2026.
30 September 2026: Abstract submission closes
October 2026: Online Review Committee review abstracts (want to join the committee? Click here!)
November 2026: Programme Committee gathers to consider abstracts and build programme
By 31 December 2026: Abstract outcomes communicated; scholarship outcomes communicated
15 January 2027: Early bird rate ends
28 February 2027: Deadline to pay registration fee for speakers to be included in the programme
All abstracts are peer reviewed by HRI's Programme Committees, international panels representing diverse professional backgrounds, lived and living experience, and geographic regions.
Reviewers score submissions for relevance, quality, originality and potential contribution. These scores, alongside programme balance, topic coverage and speaker diversity, shape the final programme.
You can log into your dashboard at any time before 30 September to review or edit your submission; no need to contact us for minor changes. After this date, no changes can be made, as abstracts move into the review process.
Acceptance and registration are separate steps: if accepted, you will still need to register and pay the applicable fee to be included in the final programme. If you plan to apply for a scholarship, or will need funding or a visa to attend, we encourage you to start this process as early as possible, as it can take several months.
If your abstract is accepted, we will contact you in February 2027 with your presentation schedule. As it isn't possible to accommodate requests for specific time slots, please plan to be available for the full duration of the conference.
If a presenting author is unable to attend, a substitution can be arranged with an original co-author who is not already presenting elsewhere at the conference; you will need to contact us before 28 February 2027 to arrange this.
To make sure you receive our emails, please add conference@hri.global to your safe senders list.
You're asked to select a topic for your submission so that the 1200+ abstracts we receive can be more efficiently grouped and reviewed by the HR27 Programme Committee.
Questions? Contact the conference team at conference@hri.global.