Cross-Sector Collaboration
The breadth of participation at the conference reflects the interdisciplinary nature of Centre-UB’s work.
Attendees included third-sector drug and alcohol treatment providers from across the UK, private companies offering blood testing and harm reduction support and NHS professionals from both England and Scotland.
Academics from the University of Birmingham, Imperial College London, Liverpool John Moores University, Swansea University, and University of Nottingham all attended, as well as expert witnesses, including former police officers with experience in drug-related cases
This diverse representation highlights the Centre’s commitment to fostering partnerships across sectors to drive meaningful change.
Setting the Gold Standard for Service Provision
The conference was designed to bring together a wide range of stakeholders to co-develop a shared vision for the gold standard in IPED service provision, ensuring that research from Centre-UB can have maximum real-world impact. The conference underscored several key recommendations for improving services for IPED users:
- Commissioner Support: Enhanced service provision must be backed by commissioners, with decisions grounded in robust research evidence.
- Staff Training: Frontline professionals need targeted training to understand IPED use, including health risks, usage patterns, and harm reduction strategies tailored to different funding levels.
- Clinical Access: Improved access to blood testing and mental health services is essential.
- Stigma Reduction: A major barrier remains the stigma IPED users face when engaging with healthcare professionals. Addressing this requires cultural change and trust-building.
- Community Engagement: Collaborating with influential figures in the IPED community, bodybuilders, gym owners, coaches, can enhance outreach and credibility.
- Applied Research: There is a pressing need to explore the diversity within IPED-using populations, their engagement barriers, and long-term health outcomes to inform future funding and service design.
Impact and Reflections
Feedback from attendees revealed the tangible impact of the conference:
“It has led to several collaborative plans with new contacts, and new areas of research that are more 'applied' to have a wider reaching impact than my existing academic work.”
“I have changed the way I discuss IPED and hopefully will be able to adapt offers in our service and tailor them to IPED users.”
“This learning can be passed onto other members of the team… It has given me a lot to think about and has already spurred discussions with our team about how we can do things differently/better!”
These reflections demonstrate how Centre-UB’s research is not only advancing academic understanding but also transforming real-world practice.
