Measuring perceived risk across populations
Survey instruments, affect heuristics and the stability of judgements over an epidemic curve.
Fourth international conference on
Health, risk and crisis communication
We study what institutions say under pressure
ICHRC gathers researchers and practitioners working on health, risk and crisis communication — outbreak response, environmental risk, misinformation and the institutional voice of hospitals and ministries. The fourth edition runs over two days in Bloomsbury and online, with 180 papers, sixty posters and four keynote lectures.
01
Double-blind review
02
Open-access proceedings
03
Equal hybrid sessions
04
Twenty doctoral bursaries
Before you submit
Who reviews the abstracts?
Every abstract is read double-blind by two members of the scientific committee, drawn from the six track chairs and their reviewers. Scores and comments return with the notification on 30 April.
Can I present remotely?
Yes. Remote presenters are scheduled into the same parallel sessions as those in the room, with a chair and a technician in each seminar room. There is no separate online track.
Is a full paper required?
No. Presenting requires only the accepted abstract. Authors who want to appear in the proceedings submit 6,000–8,000 words by 30 June.
Are there bursaries?
Twenty fee waivers are available for doctoral researchers presenting first-author work, with priority for participants travelling from low- and middle-income countries.
What language is used?
All sessions are in English. Slides may carry a second language, and live captions run in every room and on the stream.
180
Papers expected
6
Thematic tracks
4
Keynote lectures
42
Countries represented
Six tracks
01
Risk perception
How publics form and revise judgements about health risk — numeric and verbal formats, affect and dread.
02
Outbreak communication
Practice in acute events: the opening statement, rumour management, community feedback loops.
03
Misinformation and trust
Circulation of false health claims, the design and limits of correction, and what restores credibility.
04
Health equity
Reaching publics official channels miss: language access, disability, migration status, intermediaries.
05
Institutional crisis
Hospitals, ministries and regulators under scrutiny — disclosure, timing, apology and accountability.
06
Data and AI
Machine-generated and machine-targeted messaging, dashboards, and the audit trail behind advice.
Programme highlights
Field communication in fast-moving outbreaks
Case studies from cholera, mpox and seasonal influenza responses.
Correcting the record: retraction and rebuttal
Experimental work on correction formats, credibility and continued influence.
Who is not being reached
Community-partnered studies on language access, disability and local intermediaries.
The first forty-eight hours
Press officers, epidemiologists and a broadcaster on the opening statement of an emergency.
Generative models in public messaging
Drafting, translation and the audit trail behind machine-written advice.
The only conference where the press officer, the epidemiologist and the person who studies rumour are all in the same room, arguing about the same sentence.
Dr Claire Devlin — Delegate, ICHRC 2025
Northgate University
National Institute of Health Research
European Risk Forum
Wellcome Communications Fund
London Public Health Board
Journal of Risk Communication
Can we help?
+44 20 7946 0812
Next step
Latest announcements
Call for papers opens for the fourth edition
The portal accepts 500-word abstracts across all six tracks from 3 November, with review criteria published alongside the full call.
Second keynote confirmed: Henrik Sølvberg
The Norwegian Institute of Risk Studies' director will speak on numeric risk formats and the limits of probability in public advice.
Doctoral consortium returns with twenty waivers
A half-day consortium on day two pairs doctoral researchers with senior discussants, accompanied by twenty registration waivers.