Conference themes

Vulnerability is the central organising concept for LEPH2026. This encompasses structural vulnerability arising from marginalisation, poverty and exclusion; situational vulnerability conferred by context, such as mental health crisis; systemic vulnerability, whereby agencies and institutions create or exacerbate vulnerability; and intersectional vulnerability, through which multiple vulnerabilities compound disadvantage.

Extra weight will be given to proposals and abstracts that consider equity or are viewed through an equity lens – especially with regard to: 

  • Indigenous/First nations communities 
  • Black/racialised minorities 
  • People with lived experience 
  • Relevance to the UN Sustainable Development Goals*

Presentations on addressing and overcoming racial/ethnic disparities in access to health and involvement with criminal justice are especially sought. 

* especially the UN SDGs:

3. Good Health and Well-Being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

10. Reduced Inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries.

11. Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable

16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

  • Gender-based violence, violence against women and girls, youth violence, sexual violence and intimate partner violence
  • The public health approach to gun violence
  • Online/digital forms of violence, technological facilitation of gender-based violence/intimate partner violence (GBV/IPV), online exploitation
  • Police violence
  • Children & young people, criminal and sexual exploitation, youth adversity, modern slavery, human trafficking,
  • Mental health
    • Responding to people in crisis
    • Co-response models and division of responsibility across agencies.
    • Care and control in police custody.
  • Disability
  • Neurodiversity
    • Early identification, support, and interventions to prevent harm
    • Neurocognitive disorders: ‘Hidden in plain sight’ e.g. epilepsy, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Acquired/Traumatic Brain Injury, autism spectrum
    • Neurodivergence and the criminal justice system (CJS): appropriate services during the journey through the CJS
  • Ageing populations
  • Elder abuse prevention and response (intersection of health, policing, and social services).
  • Dementia and dementia-friendly policing practices
  • Forgotten and overlooked vulnerabilities e.g. literacy
  • Workplace safety, precarious employment, and links to policing/public health.
  • Gig economy and migrant workers
  • Operationalising public health approaches to improve services for vulnerable people
  • Ethical AI deployment and digital surveillance in public health and policing (privacy, accountability, community trust)
    • Ethical data sharing between policing and public health
    • Predictive analytics: risks and benefits for equity and inclusion
    • Place-based analysis, including concentration of factors
  • Digital and cyber dimensions beyond violence
    • Cybercrime and digital safety (financial fraud, online radicalisation, misinformation/disinformation as public health and security risks)
    • Online/digital forms of violence and sexual victimisation, technological facilitation of GBV/IPV, online exploitation
    • Data-informed community safety and wellbeing
    • Cybercrime and digital safety (financial fraud, online radicalisation, misinformation/disinformation as public health and security risks)
  • Developing trauma-aware and trauma-informed communities 
  • Adverse childhood experiences and their impact on substance use disorders and criminal behaviour along with mechanisms, services, referrals to stop the cycle 
  • Children and young people – role of policing for best start in life
  • Breaking intergenerational cycles
  • Criminalisation of communities and of public health issues: the role of the law enforcement sector
  • Poverty, homelessness, reproductive justice issues incl abortion, sex work, drug use, LGBTQI+ communities
  • Diversion and deflection from the criminal justice system
  • Links between victimisation, offending and the role of public health in addressing repeat victimisation
  • Decriminalisation of drugs for personal use: evidence, context, issues, over/under-policing, community perception
  • Commercial determinants
  • Drug users and drug markets, including
    • Beyond decriminalisation: regulating cannabis, psychedelics, vaping, novel synthetic drugs
    • Overdose prevention innovations (safe supply, harm reduction evaluation).
  • Sex work
  • Reducing individual and community harms
  • Homelessness
  • Vulnerable children and young people
  • Modern slavery
  • Place: concentrations and locality-base work
  • Connecting the local and the global
  • Global South/Low-Resource Settings
    • LEPH practices in fragile or low-resource states
    • Lessons and innovations from contexts outside Europe/North America
  • Policing and public health under different forms of government
    • Policing and public health under authoritarian regimes
  • Migration, Refugees, and Global Mobility
    • Health, safety, and policing challenges for displaced populations, asylum seekers, refugees, and undocumented migrants
  • Human rights frameworks for transnational LEPH cooperation
  • Moving the dial from collaborative working to ‘connective professionalism’ in service delivery
  • Intersectionality
  • Responses to people and communities with multiple co-morbidities and multiple social needs
  • Lived experiences of those who come to the attention of police and public health
  • Community-led and restorative approaches
    • Restorative justice models as public health strategies
    • Community-driven safety and wellness initiatives that reframe “policing” roles
  • LEPH across systems – health, social welfare, CJS, economic, etc.
  • Wellness and resilience of police and other first responders
  • Wellness and resilience of health and social care staff who work at the intersect of policing and public health
  • Specific harm reduction strategies 
  • Impact of crises and contexts, such as the overdose crisis 
  • Neurodisability, neurodivergence and police wellness: military service, deployment and traumatic brain injury
  • The intersection of neurodivergence with trauma within the police and wider LEPH professionals
  • Violence against health care staff
  • Data-informed community safety and wellbeing 
  • Understanding the current funding landscape and solving for long term funding 
  • Narrative change: generating greater public awareness and support 
  • Law and regulation: what does a proactive legislative framework look like? 
  • LEPH policy 
  • Leadership and governance in LEPH partnerships
  • Which systems, policies, procedures, and cultural aspects act as barriers to effective partnerships? How are these overcome? 
  • What works in building trust-based, sustainable partnerships – and what might the roadmap to achieve them look like? 
  • Policing and public health service redesign to enable LEPH working
  • Especially emphasising real partnerships at the local level: the role of local government 
  • Language and perspective
  • Nomenclature: with public health focus, move to person-centred 
    • Examine issues from contrasting perspectives, and how to marry them
  • Changing expectations concerning the role of law enforcement/policing in society 
  • Resources devoted to problem-oriented outcomes-focused collaborative research 
  • Particularly, but not only, police custody and remand
  • Innovation in the ED
  • Police response to overdose etc
  • Disaster preparedness and response partnerships (wildfires, floods, pandemics)
  • Environmental justice as a policing and public health issue (toxic
    exposures, marginalised communities disproportionately affected)
  • Public health and law enforcement in post accord settings