The 19th International Network on Brief Interventions for Alcohol & Other Drugs (INEBRIA) conference will take place on the campus of UNC Greensboro this fall, attracting health experts from across the globe to North Carolina’s Piedmont.
With the pre-conference beginning Sept. 27, the event will be hosted by UNCG’s Bryan School of Business and Economics and run from Thursday, Sept. 28 to Friday, Sept. 29. The title of this year’s conference is “Optimizing Brief Interventions for a New Era: From Research to Practice and Policy.”
“The INEBRIA conference is a great opportunity to put UNCG and Greensboro on an international stage,” said Dr. Jeremy Bray, Jefferson-Pilot Excellence Professor in the School’s Department of Economics. “INEBRIA is a small research society but includes the world’s leading experts on addressing alcohol and substance use issues using brief interventions.”
Bray’s research focuses on the economics of health behaviors, with two primary areas of focus: the economics of risky health behaviors, such as alcohol or illicit drug use, and the economic evaluation of behavioral health interventions. In his work on the economics of risky health behaviors, he has led or contributed to multiple studies that explored both the economic causes and consequences of risky health behaviors.
INEBRIA is the only organization in the world exclusively dedicated to screening and brief intervention (SBI) research. Organized out of the World Health Organization Collaborative Project on Identification and Management of Alcohol-related Problems in Primary Health Care, INEBRIA serves as a catalyst for researchers and policymakers worldwide to meet and analyze emerging SBI-related research findings. In 2012, the group expanded its focus to include SBI for other drugs, in addition to alcohol.
INEBRIA’s goals are:
- to share information, experiences, research findings, and expertise on the early identification and brief intervention for hazardous and harmful substance use,
- to promote best practices in, and encourage the development of, guidelines for the wide dissemination and implementation of evidence‐based early identification and brief intervention for hazardous and harmful substance use,
- to identify gaps and needs for research in the field of early identification and brief intervention for hazardous and harmful substance use,
- to promote international research cooperation and set standards for research, and
- to promote the integration of the study of brief interventions for hazardous and harmful substance use with the wider context of measures to prevent and reduce substance-related harm.
Though the bulk of the membership is based in Europe, the USA, and Latin America, INEBRIA membership spans the globe with more than 800 members worldwide.
“This is an opportunity for UNCG to show the world what our researchers are doing,” said Bray. “We can build collaborations that can lead to future funding and I expect attendance from funding agencies and health policymakers, like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the WHO.”
Abstract submissions will be accepted through March 31, and registration is now open. For more information, please visit the INEBRIA website or the conference website.
