Conference at European Parliament – press release

On 14 October 2026, MEP Tilly Metz will host the conference “A United Europe for Psychiatry: From Research to Care” at the European Parliament in Brussels. The conference is organized by the French Program in Precision Psychiatry (PEPR PROPSY), co-led by Inserm and CNRS and supported by the Fondation FondaMental, as part of France 2030. Led by its scientific director, Professor Marion Leboyer, the conference is organized in coordination with the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), the European Psychiatric Association (EPA), as well as the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Network (GAMIAN) and the European Federation of Associations of Families of People with Mental Illness (EUFAMI), associations representing relatives and people with lived experience.

Driven by the combined efforts of researchers, healthcare professionals and public decision-makers, this event aims to lay the foundations for an ambitious European strategy in research, innovation and the translation of these advances into the care of mental disorders. These particularly disabling illnesses affect nearly 80 million people in Europe.

While Europe has world-leading scientific expertise in psychiatry, the fragmentation of research policies, regulatory frameworks and reimbursement systems across Member States continues to hinder the translation of scientific advances into concrete care for patients.

It is in light of this observation that this conference was conceived, in order to foster a European mobilisation around psychiatric research and improved care for patients.

Designed as a key moment of dialogue between the various stakeholders in psychiatry, the conference will successively give the floor to:

● Emmanuelle Remond, president of the UNAFAM and member of EUFAMI’s board (France)

● Tin Pongrac, member of GAMIAN’s Board of Directors (Croatia),

● Pr Martien Kas, leading figure in behavioral neuroscience research and former President of the ECNP (The Netherlands),

● Pr Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, Director of the Department of Psychiatry at the Central Institute of Mental Health (Germany),

● Pr Paris Alexandros Lalousis, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health, King’s College London (United-Kingdom),

● Pr Laurent Boyer, coordinator of the European project EUropean Meeting on Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases (EU-MIND) (France),

● Albino Oliveira-Maia, Director of Neuropsychiatry at the Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal),x

● Pr Philippe Courtet, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Montpellier, and Head of the Department of Psychiatric Emergency and Post-Emergency Care at Montpellier University Hospital (CHRU) and member of the EPA (France),

● Pr Marion Leboyer, Professor of Psychiatry (University Paris-Est Créteil, Inserm, AP-HP), CEO of the Fondation FondaMental and Scientific Director of the PEPR PROPSY precision psychiatry research program (France 2030) (France),

● Ignazio Roberto Marino, Member of European Parliament (Italy),

● Dr Marta Temido, Member of European Parliament (Portugal).

The ambition is clear: we must overcome the current fragmentation of research policies and healthcare systems in order to build a coordinated research network, harmonise the assessment and reimbursement of diagnostic and therapeutic innovations, and place patients and carers back at the heart of defining research priorities.

“While we have, across the various European countries, scientific expertise of the highest level that places our countries on the world stage, we must more than ever structure our ambitions at the European level through a united approach, a program, objectives and the fertile legal framework to achieve this.” Professor Marion Leboyer.

This meeting will make it possible to develop a common roadmap, in order to structure an ambitious European strategy, from research to innovation, and then to their implementation for the benefit of patients. It could lead to the launch of a “Brussels Declaration for Research in Psychiatry,” aimed at making Europe a world leader in precision psychiatry.

“People living with mental health conditions cannot afford for Europe to remain fragmented. We need to connect research and innovation together so that progress in science translates into better care and better quality of lives for all patients and their families.” – MEP Tilly Metz

📍 European Parliament, Rue Wiertz 60, 1047 Brussels

📅 14 October 2026, from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

🔗 Registration via this link.

Vanessa Ralli – vanessa.ralli@ext.inserm.fr – +33 06 61 18 06 52