History and Philosophy of the European Opioid Conference
The European Opioid Conference (EOC) was founded by the current Chairman, Professor Ian Kitchen in 1996 and the inaugural meeting was held at the University of Surrey in April 1997.
The EOC was established to enable meetings of European opioid scientists on a regular basis and the format of the meetings was based on the format established in the former British Opioid Colloquium. The philosophy of that group was to provide a meeting at Easter, so as not to compete with INRC, the major international forum of opioid scientists which meets in the summer. The EOC has brought together opioid scientists and clinicians from across Europe and has greatly strengthened the role that Europeans play in opioid science. The conference provides opportunities for exchange and collaboration between European groups.
The EOC grew out of the success of the British Opioid Colloquium, a meeting established in the early 1980's to foster scientific exchange in the opioid field in the UK, with the particular intention of encouraging postgraduate and young postdoctoral participation. The EOC retains this philosophy in setting the cost of the meetings at a level that enables as many PhD students and postdoctoral fellows to attend as possible and this consideration is taken into account in the choice of venues. All meetings have been successful in gaining sponsorship from pharmaceutical companies, charitable trusts and societies as well as from the EC. This grant support has enabled us to offer substantial travel bursaries to young scientists. We have also had success in obtaining targeted funds to support scientists from emerging European nations.
Meeting frequency and participants
When the EOC was established it was decided to hold a two day meeting during the Easter period on those years when the major international opioid forum (INRC) was not being held in Europe. The EOC is still viewed as a feeder organisation for INRC and not a competing forum. However, to ensure the regular nature of meetings a decision was taken in 2000 to hold the EOC biennially throughout the 21st century. All meetings run from Sun evening (registration and reception) to Tues evening (conference dinner) and a pre-meeting excursion during Sunday has been held at each conference. Typically, between 120 and 150 delegates attend from more than 15 European countries. The meeting is open to any international scientists and clinicians and some participants have come from the US, Japan and other non-European countries.
Meeting Venues and Publications
The venues for the EOC meetings and chairpersons of the local organising committees are shown below. Electronic abstracts are available as downloadable pdf files from 2000 onwards. The 1999 meeting abstracts were published in Dolor, 14, Suppl. 1.
1997, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK (Chair, Ian Kitchen)
1999, University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain (Chair, Rafael Maldonado)
2000, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK (Chair, Ian Kitchen)
2002, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (Chair, Ingrid Nylander)
2004, Visegrad, Hungary (Chair, Anna Borsodi)
2006, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain (Chair Raquel E. Rodriguez )
Meeting format
The exact nature of each meeting is determined by the local organising committee. Typically each of the two days includes a plenary lecture, symposia, oral and poster communications. A clinically orientated workshop has also been held.
A list of former Plenary speakers is shown below. We attempt to attract speakers from outside the opioid field as well as eminent scientists within it.
Jean-Claude Meunier, France
Geoffrey Burnstock, UK
Lars Terenius, Sweden
John Hughes, UK
Mary Jeanne Kreek, USA
Tomas Hokfelt, Sweden
Meeting information and website
Further information about the EOC and requests to be placed on the database for electronic communication about the meeting should be made to the EOC Chairman, Professor Ian Kitchen (i.kitchen@surrey.ac.uk).
The EOC website (www.eocweb.com) was established in 2000. It is sponsored and maintained by InterFocus Imaging Ltd and is the primary route for communication about the organisation and future meeting. The EOC is most grateful for the support provided by InterFocus to the development of the society.