Submission Topics
The 19th World Congress of Biological Psychiatry welcomes submissions across the full spectrum of biological psychiatry, covering major psychiatric disorders and research across the lifespan – from fundamental neuroscience to clinical practice and global mental health.
We particularly encourage interdisciplinary, transdiagnostic and internationally collaborative research that bridges scientific discovery and clinical practice, addresses diversity and equity, and contributes to improving mental healthcare worldwide.
Abstract Submission Categories
Please select the category that best matches your research when submitting your abstract.
- Precision Psychiatry and Biomarkers
- Genetics, Molecular and Systems Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging and Neurophysiology
- AI, Digital Psychiatry and Computational Approaches
- Psychopharmacology and Novel Therapeutics
- Neuromodulation and Brain Stimulation
- Neuroimmunology, Metabolic and Lifestyle Psychiatry
- Mood, Psychotic and Neurocognitive Disorders
- Anxiety, Trauma, OCD, Eating and Addictive Disorders
- Developmental, Perinatal and Lifespan Psychiatry
- Prediction, Prevention and Early Intervention
- Clinical Translation, Global Psychiatry and Implementation
Detailed Scientific Topics
The congress welcomes research across a broad range of scientific and clinical topics. The following areas provide further guidance on the scope of submissions.
- Biological and clinical heterogeneity of psychiatric disorders
- Precision diagnosis and treatment stratification
- Individualised treatment selection and sequencing
- Transdiagnostic and dimensional approaches to psychopathology
- Biological subtypes, biotypes and endophenotypes
- Integrating clinical, biological and digital data for personalised care
- Precision psychiatry across the lifespan
- Clinical translation, validation and implementation of precision psychiatry
- Genomics, epigenomics and transcriptomics
- Proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics
- Multi-omics integration and systems biology
- Peripheral and central biomarkers of psychiatric disorders
- Biomarkers of disease onset, progression, relapse and recovery
- Predictive and treatment-response biomarkers
- Biomarker discovery, replication and validation
- Biobanking, harmonisation and large-scale consortia
- Clinical utility and implementation of biomarker-informed care
- Psychiatric genomics and polygenic risk
- Rare variants, copy number variants and structural variation
- Functional genomics and gene regulation
- Epigenetic mechanisms and epigenetic ageing
- Gene–environment and gene–development interactions
- Intergenerational and transgenerational biological mechanisms
- Population genetics, ancestry and diversity
- Pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics
- Genetically informed causal inference
- Neural circuitry underlying psychiatric symptoms and disorders
- Neurotransmitter systems and receptor biology
- Synaptic function, plasticity and connectivity
- Cellular and molecular mechanisms of psychopathology
- Glial biology and neuroimmune interactions
- Neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative processes
- Brain networks, connectomics and computational neuroscience
- Experimental and translational neuroscience
- Animal models, stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells and brain organoids
- Structural, functional and molecular neuroimaging
- Multimodal neuroimaging and connectomics
- PET imaging and molecular targets
- EEG, MEG and electrophysiological biomarkers
- Brain ageing, brain age prediction and neurobiological trajectories
- Imaging genetics and imaging–omics integration
- Neuroimaging predictors of treatment response
- Real-time and longitudinal neuroimaging
- Reproducibility, harmonisation and clinical translation
- AI-assisted psychiatric diagnosis and assessment
- Machine learning for risk and outcome prediction
- Multimodal predictive modelling
- Explainable, interpretable and trustworthy AI
- Large language models and generative AI in psychiatry
- Natural language processing of clinical and research data
- Computational models of cognition, emotion and behaviour
- Digital phenotyping and passive sensing
- AI for drug discovery and clinical trial optimisation
- Algorithmic fairness, external validation and responsible implementation
- Novel pharmacological targets and mechanisms
- Advances in antidepressant, antipsychotic and mood-stabilising treatments
- Glutamatergic, GABAergic and other emerging treatment pathways
- Rapid-acting antidepressants and ketamine-based therapies
- Psychedelic and psychedelic-assisted treatments
- Neurosteroids and neuroactive compounds
- Anti-inflammatory, metabolic and immunomodulatory treatments
- Drug repurposing and combination therapies
- Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacogenomics
- Treatment resistance, augmentation and optimisation
- Long-term safety, tolerability and adverse effects
- Translational pharmacology and early-phase drug development
- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and theta burst stimulation
- Transcranial direct and alternating current stimulation
- Deep brain stimulation
- Vagus nerve stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation
- Focused ultrasound and emerging neuromodulation technologies
- Closed-loop and adaptive brain stimulation
- Personalised stimulation targets and protocols
- Neurostimulation biomarkers and predictors of response
- Comparative effectiveness, safety and implementation
- Immune and inflammatory mechanisms in psychiatric disorders
- Microglia, astrocytes and neuroimmune signalling
- Peripheral inflammation and central nervous system function
- Autoimmunity and psychiatric symptoms
- Gut–brain–immune interactions
- Microbiome and microbial metabolites
- Neuroendocrine–immune interactions
- Inflammation and treatment resistance
- Immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory interventions
- Infection-associated neuropsychiatric syndromes
- Metabolic dysfunction and psychiatric illness
- Mitochondrial function, bioenergetics and oxidative stress
- Obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiometabolic risk
- Nutrition, dietary interventions and the gut–brain axis
- Exercise and physical activity as biological interventions
- Sleep, circadian rhythms and chronobiology
- Chronotherapeutic interventions
- Hormonal and endocrine mechanisms
- Metabolic effects of psychotropic medications
- Integrated physical and mental healthcare
- Early brain development and neurodevelopmental trajectories
- Prenatal and perinatal determinants of mental health
- Maternal, paternal and placental biological influences
- Early-life adversity and developmental programming
- Neurodevelopmental disorders, including ADHD and autism
- Childhood and adolescent mood, anxiety and psychotic disorders
- Puberty, hormonal transitions and brain development
- Developmental biomarkers and early risk identification
- Early intervention in high-risk children and adolescents
- Longitudinal birth cohorts and developmental studies
- Primary, secondary and tertiary prevention in psychiatry
- Biological and psychosocial risk and protective factors
- Clinical high-risk states and prodromal syndromes
- Early detection of psychosis and mood disorders
- Predicting transition to psychiatric illness
- Early intervention across the lifespan
- Preventing relapse, recurrence and chronicity
- Resilience and protective biological mechanisms
- Preventive interventions in vulnerable populations
- Population-based and public mental health prevention strategies
- Neurobiology and pathophysiology of mood disorders
- Major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression
- Bipolar spectrum disorders and affective instability
- Biological heterogeneity and mood disorder subtypes
- Biomarkers of treatment response and relapse
- Novel antidepressant and mood-stabilising treatments
- Suicide risk and prevention in mood disorders
- Cognitive and functional outcomes
- Longitudinal course, recurrence and recovery
- Mood disorders across reproductive and developmental transitions
- Neurodevelopmental and neurobiological models of psychosis
- First-episode psychosis and clinical high-risk states
- Schizophrenia spectrum disorders
- Positive, negative and cognitive symptoms
- Neurochemical and neural circuit abnormalities
- Novel antipsychotic treatments and therapeutic targets
- Treatment-resistant schizophrenia
- Biological predictors of illness progression and treatment response
- Early intervention, relapse prevention and recovery
- Physical health, mortality and functional outcomes
- Neurobiology of anxiety, fear and threat processing
- Generalised anxiety, panic, social anxiety and phobic disorders
- Posttraumatic stress disorder and complex PTSD
- Continuous and cumulative traumatic stress
- Childhood adversity and biological embedding of stress
- HPA-axis, autonomic and immune mechanisms
- Neurobiological markers of vulnerability and resilience
- Fear extinction, learning and memory processes
- Biomarkers and predictors of treatment response
- Pharmacological, psychological and neuromodulation treatments
- Prevention and early intervention following trauma exposure
- Neurobiology and neural circuits of obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
- Treatment-resistant OCD and novel interventions
- Neurobiology of eating disorders
- Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder
- Reward processing, compulsivity and cognitive control
- Biological markers of illness severity and recovery
- Pharmacological and neuromodulation interventions
- Transdiagnostic mechanisms of compulsivity and dysregulated behaviour
- Neurobiology of substance use and addiction
- Alcohol, opioid, stimulant, cannabis and nicotine use disorders
- Behavioural addictions and problematic digital behaviours
- Reward circuitry, motivation and impulsivity
- Genetic and environmental vulnerability to addiction
- Neuroadaptation, withdrawal and relapse
- Novel pharmacological and neuromodulation treatments
- Biomarkers of craving, relapse and treatment response
- Dual diagnosis and psychiatric comorbidity
- Prevention, harm reduction and recovery
- Neurobiology of cognitive impairment and dementia
- Alzheimer's disease and related neurodegenerative disorders
- Mild cognitive impairment and early detection
- Vascular contributions to cognitive impairment
- Neuropsychiatric symptoms of neurological disorders
- Brain ageing and cognitive resilience
- Neurodegeneration, inflammation and proteinopathies
- Biomarkers and disease-modifying treatments
- Parkinson's disease and movement-related neuropsychiatric disorders
- Delirium and other acute neuropsychiatric syndromes
- Cognitive rehabilitation and preventive interventions
- Sex- and gender-related differences in psychiatric disorders
- Reproductive hormones and neuroendocrine mechanisms
- Perinatal depression, anxiety and psychosis
- Premenstrual disorders and menstrual cycle-related symptoms
- Menopause and mental health
- Sex differences in pharmacokinetics and treatment response
- Gender-related differences in biological risk and resilience
- Reproductive safety of psychiatric treatments
- Biological psychiatry across reproductive transitions
- Sex- and gender-informed precision psychiatry
- Neurobiological mechanisms of suicidal behaviour
- Genetic, inflammatory and neurocognitive correlates of suicide risk
- Biomarkers and predictive models of suicide and self-harm
- Impulsivity, aggression and behavioural dysregulation
- Suicide prevention and early intervention
- Pharmacological and neuromodulation interventions
- Violence, aggression and their neurobiological correlates
- Ethical and clinical limitations of suicide risk prediction
- Longitudinal and population-based studies of suicide prevention
- Innovative clinical trial designs
- Adaptive, pragmatic and platform trials
- Biomarker-stratified and precision medicine trials
- Early-phase and proof-of-mechanism studies
- Comparative effectiveness research
- Real-world evidence and registry-based studies
- Systematic reviews, meta-analyses and network meta-analyses
- Trial methodology, statistics and causal inference
- Patient-reported outcomes and functional recovery
- Translational barriers between discovery and clinical practice
- Clinical practice guidelines and treatment algorithms
- Safety, tolerability and long-term outcomes
- Biological psychiatry research in low- and middle-income countries
- Population diversity and global representation in neuroscience
- Cross-cultural validity of biological and clinical measures
- Global collaboration and equitable research partnerships
- Access to innovative psychiatric treatments and technologies
- Implementation science and health systems integration
- Task-sharing and scalable models of mental healthcare
- Ethical, legal and societal implications of precision psychiatry
- Data governance, privacy and responsible AI
- Lived-experience involvement and patient-centred research
- Capacity strengthening and research leadership development
- From scientific innovation to equitable global mental healthcare