Meet the Experts / Campfire Session
Session Room: M2/3
Session Room: M2/3
Monday, June 29, 12:15 PM – 01:30 PM
Interactive International Symposium: Digital Innovations for Trauma, Mental Health and Recovery - Ukraine and Beyond
LIMITED SEATS
LIMITED SEATS
The war in Ukraine has highlighted the immense mental health needs that arise when entire societies are exposed to prolonged adversity, uncertainty, displacement, injury, loss, and trauma. At the same time, rapid advances in digital technology, artificial intelligence, telehealth, digital therapeutics, wearable sensors, and precision mental health are creating unprecedented opportunities to improve prevention, assessment, treatment, and recovery at both individual and population levels.
This international symposium brings together leading experts from Ukraine, Europe, North America, Israel, and Japan to explore how digital innovation can strengthen mental health systems in times of crisis and recovery. Drawing on expertise from trauma psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, public health, military medicine, humanitarian response, data science, and digital health, speakers will discuss innovative approaches to supporting mental health across diverse populations, including veterans, active-duty personnel, healthcare workers, first responders, displaced persons, families, and civilians affected by conflict.
The symposium is designed as a dynamic carousel of concise, high-impact presentations. Rather than traditional keynote lectures, speakers will provide focused perspectives on emerging technologies, implementation strategies, and lessons learned from real-world applications. Together, these presentations will offer a unique overview of the rapidly evolving digital mental health landscape and its potential to transform care delivery in both conflict and civilian settings.
The meeting builds upon the work of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop Digital Innovations for the Prevention and Treatment of PTSD in Military Contexts, held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Many of the speakers participated in this landmark workshop, which brought together international experts to examine how digital technologies can improve resilience, mental health outcomes, and trauma care. The workshop subsequently resulted in the publication of the NATO volume Digital Innovations for the Prevention and Treatment of PTSD in Military Contexts (NATO Science for Peace and Security Series, IOS Press).
This symposium extends those conversations beyond PTSD and beyond military settings. It focuses on how digital tools can support broader mental health goals, including early detection of distress, resilience promotion, personalized care, sleep and recovery, population-level interventions, scalable psychological support, and the development of sustainable mental health ecosystems.
Particular attention will be given to Ukraine's ongoing efforts to strengthen mental health services during wartime while simultaneously building the foundations for long-term recovery. The Ukrainian experience offers valuable lessons for many countries facing the psychological consequences of conflict, disaster, humanitarian crises, and social disruption.
Topics will include:
• Artificial intelligence and mental health
• Digital diagnostics and personalized assessment
• Digital biomarkers and physiological monitoring
• Trauma, PTSD, and stress-related disorders
• Telehealth and scalable mental health interventions
• Sleep, resilience, and recovery technologies
• Digital therapeutics and immersive technologies
• Population mental health and public health approaches
• Implementation science and health system integration
• Ethical, legal, and regulatory considerations
• International collaboration and innovation ecosystems
By bringing together researchers, clinicians, policymakers, technology developers, humanitarian organizations, military leaders, and mental health professionals, this symposium seeks to foster collaboration across disciplines and sectors. More than a discussion about technology, it is a conversation about how innovation can help create accessible, effective, and sustainable mental health support for individuals, communities, and societies facing adversity.
As Ukraine continues to rebuild and innovate, the lessons emerging from this experience may help shape the future of mental health care far beyond its borders.
Discussion Topics:
How can we (better) identify and predict mental health needs through digital innovation?
How can we deliver effective, scalable digital mental health interventions?
How can we sustainably implement and scale these solutions in Ukraine and beyond?
This international symposium brings together leading experts from Ukraine, Europe, North America, Israel, and Japan to explore how digital innovation can strengthen mental health systems in times of crisis and recovery. Drawing on expertise from trauma psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, public health, military medicine, humanitarian response, data science, and digital health, speakers will discuss innovative approaches to supporting mental health across diverse populations, including veterans, active-duty personnel, healthcare workers, first responders, displaced persons, families, and civilians affected by conflict.
The symposium is designed as a dynamic carousel of concise, high-impact presentations. Rather than traditional keynote lectures, speakers will provide focused perspectives on emerging technologies, implementation strategies, and lessons learned from real-world applications. Together, these presentations will offer a unique overview of the rapidly evolving digital mental health landscape and its potential to transform care delivery in both conflict and civilian settings.
The meeting builds upon the work of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop Digital Innovations for the Prevention and Treatment of PTSD in Military Contexts, held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Many of the speakers participated in this landmark workshop, which brought together international experts to examine how digital technologies can improve resilience, mental health outcomes, and trauma care. The workshop subsequently resulted in the publication of the NATO volume Digital Innovations for the Prevention and Treatment of PTSD in Military Contexts (NATO Science for Peace and Security Series, IOS Press).
This symposium extends those conversations beyond PTSD and beyond military settings. It focuses on how digital tools can support broader mental health goals, including early detection of distress, resilience promotion, personalized care, sleep and recovery, population-level interventions, scalable psychological support, and the development of sustainable mental health ecosystems.
Particular attention will be given to Ukraine's ongoing efforts to strengthen mental health services during wartime while simultaneously building the foundations for long-term recovery. The Ukrainian experience offers valuable lessons for many countries facing the psychological consequences of conflict, disaster, humanitarian crises, and social disruption.
Topics will include:
• Artificial intelligence and mental health
• Digital diagnostics and personalized assessment
• Digital biomarkers and physiological monitoring
• Trauma, PTSD, and stress-related disorders
• Telehealth and scalable mental health interventions
• Sleep, resilience, and recovery technologies
• Digital therapeutics and immersive technologies
• Population mental health and public health approaches
• Implementation science and health system integration
• Ethical, legal, and regulatory considerations
• International collaboration and innovation ecosystems
By bringing together researchers, clinicians, policymakers, technology developers, humanitarian organizations, military leaders, and mental health professionals, this symposium seeks to foster collaboration across disciplines and sectors. More than a discussion about technology, it is a conversation about how innovation can help create accessible, effective, and sustainable mental health support for individuals, communities, and societies facing adversity.
As Ukraine continues to rebuild and innovate, the lessons emerging from this experience may help shape the future of mental health care far beyond its borders.
Discussion Topics:
How can we (better) identify and predict mental health needs through digital innovation?
How can we deliver effective, scalable digital mental health interventions?
How can we sustainably implement and scale these solutions in Ukraine and beyond?
Panel Discussion:
- How can we (better) identify and predict mental health needs through digital innovation?
- How can we deliver effective, scalable digital mental health interventions?
- How can we sustainably implement and scale these solutions in Ukraine and beyond?
- How can we (better) identify and predict mental health needs through digital innovation?
- How can we deliver effective, scalable digital mental health interventions?
- How can we sustainably implement and scale these solutions in Ukraine and beyond?
- Speaker: Eric Vermetten (Leiden, Netherlands)
- Speaker: Iryna Frankova (Leiden, Netherlands)
- Speaker: Joseph Zohar (Ramat Gan, Israel)
- Speaker: Arieh (Arik) Shalev (Jerusalem, Israel)
- Speaker: Sofiia Lahutina (Berlin, Germany)
- Speaker: Adam D. Brown (New York, United States)
- Speaker: Viktor Komarenko (Kyiv, Ukraine)
- Speaker: Isaac Galatzer-Levy (New York, United States)
- Speaker: Jun Shigemura (Saitama, Japan)
- Speaker: Anne Germain (Pittsburgh, United States)
12:55 PM – 01:30 PM
35 min
35 min