European Institute of Studies on Prevention

EU Legislative Interests

IREFREA's core activities are closely aligned with and aim to support the implementation of the European Union's Drug Strategy and Drug Action Plan. The organization's mission of advancing the science base of prevention aimed at preventing adolescents drug use at family ana community level to reduce drug demand and its associated risks/harms. The work of the Society supports the Strategy's key objectives and the actions outlined in the Drugs Action Plan designed to promote research on the effectiveness of interventions to create a basis for policies, and the dissemination of results, to impulse high quality drug prevention, assess and collaborate with policy makers at national level (Spanish National Plan on Drugs) informing their strategic and action plan; and at EU level. Since March 2026, IREFREA is responsilble for the coordination of the Spanish Best Practice Portal to increase quality of the drug demand interventions.

Communication Activities

IREFREA is a network of prevention experts that organizes meetings and encounters to share experiences, project findings and transference of knowledge. These meetings enable researchers, practitioners and policymakers from across the EU to share research findings, discuss prevention policy implementation and develop new collaborations with the aim of building capacity within the field and strengthening the links between academic researchers, programme implementers and policymakers. Through the organization websites (www.irefrea.eu; www.irefrea.org; www.ferya.es), social media updates and newsletter IREFREA ensures that these activities are disseminated and sustained throughout the year. IREFREA maintains stable collaboration with the EUDA (formerly EMCDDA), UNODC, the EUSPR, ISSUP, etc. Also has a close collaboration with Universities as the Liverpool John Moores, Oxford Brooks, Charles University in Prague, etc. The Society collaborates also with other European networks within Civil Society Forum on Drugs,

Interests Represented

Does not represent commercial interests

Member Of

IREFREA has strong links with organisations working in the field of Prevention Science and Public Health. IREFREA works closely with the European Society for Prevention Research actively contributing in the development of its annual conference. The organization has benefitted from collaboration with the EUDA (formerly European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) and is supporting EUDA's work in developing Xchange - an online registry of evidence-based prevention programmes; and contributing to de development of the Spanish Best Practice Portal -http://www.buenaspracticasadicciones.es/- as part of its collaboration with the Spanish National Plan on Drugs. We also work with other pan-European prevention initiatives. IREFREA is a founding member of the European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) and it has been represented since then in the Board of Directors. IREFREA members are also actively involved in the dissemination and implementation of the Universal Prevention Curriculum (for practitioners involved in the delivery of prevention interventions) having three members of the organization qualified as trainers. We have strong ties with a number of academic institutions and have undertaken collaborative research and capacity building work with the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University (http://www.cph.org.uk/), Oxford Brookes University (https://www.brookes.ac.uk/), the Karolinska Intitutet (https://ki.se/en), the Leibniz-Institut für Präventionsforschung und Epidemiologie - BIPS (https://www.bips-institut.de/en/index.html), and the Department of Addictology at Charles University in Prague (https://www.adiktologie.cz/en) and works closely with the University of Santiago de Compostela (https://www.usc.gal/es), the University of Oviedo (https://www.uniovi.es/), the Univesity of the Balearic Islands (https://www.uib.cat/) and the Valencia International University (https://www.universidadviu.com/es/) among others.

Organisation Members

European Society for Prevention Resarch - EUSPR - https://euspr.org/ International Society of Substance Use Professionals - ISSUP - https://www.issup.net/es Club Healht Conference - https://www.theclubhealthconference.com/ Pompidou Group - https://www.coe.int/en/web/pompidou Associação Brasileira de Pesquisa em Prevenção e Promoção da Saúde - BRAPEP - https://brapep.org.br/