Team - IATSO 2025

Reinhard Eher IATSO President Reinhard Eher was born in 1963 in Vienna, Austria. He is a psychiatrist and clinical psychotherapist. He is a co-founder of the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO). He was its secretary general from 1998 to 2016 and president elect from 2016 to August 2021 and is now the IATSO president. Since 2001, he is the head of the Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual ffenders (FECVSO) in the Austrian Ministry of Justice in Vienna, Austria. He has written numerous original research papers and given numerous presentations on national and international conferences, mainly about sexual abusive behaviour and risk assessment in sexual offenders. He is professor for forensic psychotherapy at the Medical University in Ulm, Germany.

Sabrina Eberhaut Conference Organizing Committee Dr. Sabrina Eberhaut works as a clinical psychologist at the Federal Evaluation Centre for Violent and Sexual Offenders (FECSVSO) of the Austrian Ministry of Justice in Vienna, Austria. She works for the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO) since 2015. Her fields of expertise are risk assessment, sexual deviances and sex offense related cognitive distortions.

Sonja Etzler  Conference Organizing Committee Dr. Sonja Etzler works as researcher at the Goethe-University Frankfurt Main, Germany, and is in training as psychotherapist at the University Hospital Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. She has published research contributions about psychological diagnostics, risk assessment, and psychopathy and is interested in psychodynamic treatment approaches.

Filip Szumski Chair of the Local Organizing Committee Psychologist with specialization in psychosexology, lawyer. Assistant professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan where he is the head of the Criminological and Forensic Psychology specialization. Member of the bord of International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO) and Polish Sexological Society (PTS). President of the PTS’ Forensic Sexology Section. His research interests focuses on sexual violence and the impact of the legal context on the professional functioning of psychologists. Expert witness in the field of sexual offending. Trained systemic therapist.

Natalia Andrzejczyk Local Organizing Committee Psychologist in the certification process in clinical sexology of the Polish Sexological Society. During her doctoral studies in the field of online sexual offending and general pornography use at the Faculty of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Provides psycho-sexological support for clients in public centres in Poznan and works as an expert witness in the field of child sexual abuse offences.

Dominika Bartoszak Local Organizing Committee Psychologist in the certification process in clinical sexology of the Polish Sexological Society, special educator. Employed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. In 2021, she graduated with the PhD in psychology defending her thesis entitled "Emotions in child sexual abuse offenders". She conducts research on sexual violence and works as an expert witness in the same field.

Welcome to our next IATSO Conference in Poznań, Poland! 

August 26^th to August 29^th, 2025

Successes and failures in preventing sexual violence – Empirical findings, new concepts, and intercultural perspectives

On behalf of the Scientific and Local Organizing Committees, we would like to invite you to the 18^th conference of the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO) in Poznań. The conference takes place from August 26^th to August 29^th, 2025 at the Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM).

This time, we would like to highlight that the assessment, treatment and research about individuals who have committed sexual offenses are highly impacted by various context variables. One layer of the context is public policy. Our actions are often criticized by policy makers or the general public and they may be under heavy pressure. Public policies related to sexual violence require our participation but they are also evaluated by research efforts. Other layers of the context include cultural differences, knowledge gathered in various academic fields (such as psychology, law, medicine or general sexology) and requirements of the organizations within which we operate (eg. prison service or university). 

Taking these and other layers of the context into consideration, it becomes visible how complex the task of preventing sexual violence is. However, we believe that facing this complexity is a away to undersand our successes and failures and make our work more effective. 

We welcome you to four exciting days in Poznań!  

Filip Szumski, Chair of the Local Organizing Committee

Natalia Andrzejczyk, Local Organizing Committee

Dominika Bartoszak, Local Organizing Committee

Sabrina Eberhaut, Conference Organizing Committee

Sonja Etzler, Conference Organizing Committee

Martin Rettenberger, IATSO president elect 

Reinhard Eher, IATSO president

Conference Information  

IATSO 2025 will be a hybrid conference which can be attended on-siteor virtually. However, in contrast to our previous conferences, only the sessions of the main hall - this includes every keynote - will be live-streamed. The sessions of the main hall and some - but not all - of the other parallel sessions will also be recorded and stored in our video gallery. They will be accessible for 3 months (until December 1st, 2025) to all registered participants of the 18th IATSO conference 2025. IATSO does not provide any option for downloading and distributing them. 

On August 26^th, there will be the Prevent and Protect Through Support (2PS) Project Knowledge Transfer Workshop. The workshop is included in the on-site conference ticket. Please find more information about the 2PS workshop by clicking HERE!

On August 27^th, there will be our pre-conference workshops. Pre-conference workshops are also for on-site participants only. However, we need to charge a small additional fee (30 Euros) if they want to attend a pre-conference workshop. 

This means that only on-site participants have the full conference ticket. In addition to their access to the conference site, they also have access to the virtual conference and the recorded videos. For virtual participants, the conference starts at 1:00 PM on August 27^th with the opening ceremony. 

Presenters need to attend the conference on-site in order to give their presentations. Except for the keynotes, all presenters have to register for the conference and pay the conference fee for on-site participation.  

The address of the conference site is: St Szamarzewskiego 89, 60-568 Poznań

Conference Registration   

You can register for ON-SITE participation by clicking here!

You can register for VIRTUAL participation by clicking here!

Abstract Submission  

To submit an ABSTRACT, click here!

Keynote Speakers

PLENARY SESSIONS:

• Thore Langfeldt (Norway): The history and current state of our understanding of pedophilia 

• Anthony R. Beech (UK): How can an understanding of neuropsychology help in the assessment and treatment of individuals who have committed sexual offences? 

• Michał Lew - Starowicz (Poland): Hypersexuality and sexual offending

• Filip Szumski (Poland): Sex offenders registration, public notification, and civil commitment. Implementation in Poland

• Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme (Zimbabwe): The Economic Impact of Sexual Violence in Civil Conflict: Lessons from the DRC v Uganda ICJ Judgment 

• Kelly M. Babchishin (Canada): Working through the puzzle: Understanding dyadic and family roles in incest across different relationship types

• Maria Aparcero Suero (USA): Cultural considerations in sex offender risk assessment and treatment

• Sonja Etzler & Julia Sauter (Germany):  Psychoanalysis in the Treatment of Sexual Offenders - An Outdated Concept or an Underestimated Potential?

• Theresa A. Gannon (UK): Treatment for men who have sexually offended: Tips for success

• Elizabeth Letourneau (USA): Failed policies: US sex offenders registration, public notification, and civil commitment

• Michael Miner(USA): Research with adolescents who have engaged in harmful sexual behavior: What we've learned and implications for treatment and prevention

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS (for on-site attendants only) : 

• Thore Langfeldt (Norway): Strategies for treatment of sex offenses against children with relationship therapy 

• Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme (Zimbabwe) & Megan Cistulli (USA): Sexual violence in civil conflict: An overview of Africa's response

• Kelly M. Babchishin (Canada): From risk to rehabilitation: Best practices for supervising and treating individuals involved in child sexual exploitation materials 

• Michael Miner(USA): Changing the paradigm? Exploring implications of recent findings on treatment and assessment of adolescent males

• Filip Szumski (Poland): Wysokie czy bardzo wysokie ryzyko recydywy? Możliwości oceny ryzyka recydywy sprawców na potrzeby Ustawy z 22.11.2013 (Engl.: High or very high recidivism risk? The possibilities of recidivism risk assessment under the Polish SVP law (the Act of 22 November 2013)) -> This workshop will be in Polish!

Hotel Suggestions

This is a list of hotels that are close to the conference site. IATSO is NOT in charge of the quality of the hotels.