Bram Sizoo was a naval officer in the Netherlands submarine service from 1982 to 1989. He holds a master’s degree in criminal law and medicine. As a tropical medicine physician, he served as director of Mulanje Mission Hospital in Malawi from 1999 to 2003. In 2008, he became a psychiatrist and specialised in developmental disorders in adults. In 2010, he obtained a PhD in medicine on the subject ‘correlates of substance use disorder in adults with ADHD or autism spectrum disorders’. Since 2015, he has been working with the Netherlands police force in the threat management of fixated individuals. In December 2023, Bram was appointed as a professor in the clinical psychology of radicalisation at the University of Amsterdam. The title of his Keynote is: Psychological Aspects of online COM-networks.

Alexis Quinn is a Psychotherapist, Associate at Anna Freud, and Manager of the Restraint Reduction Network. A former professional athlete and schoolteacher, she is the author of two influential books: the guide Autistic & Expecting and her ground-breaking memoir, Unbroken. Alexis brings a unique ‘inside-out’ perspective to the discourse on violence in psychiatry, grounding her clinical and academic expertise in her lived experience of being detained for nearly four years in inpatient settings. Her work critically examines the systemic mechanisms of “cultural restraint” and the “distress-coercion cycle,” challenging the therapeutic validity of punitive interventions. Drawing on her recent autoethnographic research, Manufacturing a Monster, Alexis articulates how enforced isolation and the denial of human connection within psychiatric systems can escalate distress and violence, rather than contain it. In her role at the Restraint Reduction Network, Alexis leads national initiatives to eliminate the unnecessary use of force and segregation. She advocates for a paradigm shift toward ‘experience-sensitive’ and relational approaches to care, urging practitioners to navigate the uncertainty of clinical risk without resorting to dehumanising interventions. Alexis speaks internationally on neurodivergence, trauma and human rights, championing a mental health system grounded in dignity, safety, and mutual recognition. The title of her Keynote is: Navigating Uncertainty without Restraint: An Inside-Out Perspective on Safety.

Richard Whittington is a psychologist and former mental health nurse who has conducted research on institutional conflict and systemic violence over the past 30 years. He was Chair of the COST-funded network ‘Fostering and Strengthening Approaches to Reducing Coercion in European Mental Health Services’ (FOSTREN) which ended in 2024 and his recent publications include “Violence Rewired” (2020, co-authored with J. McGuire) and “Violence in Mental Health Settings” (2024, co-edited with N. Hallett, D. Richter and E. Eneje). He is a Professor Emeritus at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and a Visiting Professor at the University of Chester, UK. He is currently looking into the psychology of certainty: why we sometimes need to feel certain and how feelings of certainty, often unjustified, might play a role in driving conflict in mental health systems and in wider society. The title of his keynote is: Cemented minds: unjustified certainty as a response to risk in psychiatry and politics

Agnes Higgins a nurse and academic with over forty years clinical and educational experience in the areas of mental health, palliative and hospice care and general nursing. She has played a pivotal role in the development of mental health nurse education in Ireland, leading its transition from a hospital certificate to a recognised academic discipline. In addition to having a sustained record for quality and innovative teaching, she has an excellent research profile. Her research is underpinning by a commitment to amplifying the voices of minority groups with a particular focus on service users and family members experience of mental health service provision and the development of psychosocial strategies that promote recovery and social inclusion. She has has published over 160 papers peer-reviewed journal articles, three books, thirteen book chapters and numerous research reports

Professor Higgins is widely recognized for her leadership in policy, research and advocacy. She has served on numerous national and international committees and groups in the area of mental health and is considered a champion in the area of service user involvement. She was instrumental in development of several organisations that have provided a critical voice for people who use the mental health services. She is a former chairperson of the Board of Mental Health Reform, Irelands leading service user organisation campaigning for improvements in mental health services and is currently a Board Member of Kyrie farm, an innovative initiative combining the benefits of nature, meaningful participation, community and therapy, to support mental health recovery.  She is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, and a recipient of the Horatio fellowship, from Horatio: European Psychiatric Nurses, in recognition of her contribution to mental health and mental health nursing across Europe. Title of her Keynote is: Being Heard or Harmed: Epistemic Injustice in Contexts of Violence, Risk and Trauma