Irene Schlingensiepen and Maria Olga Kokornaczyk [Editorial]

ABSTRACT

The 2022 International Society for Low Dose and High Dilution Research -GIRI-meeting was a joint meeting held alongside the annual Science Meets Homeopathy -SMH -meeting organized by the International Academy of Science in Homeopathy and Integrative Medicine, founded by Irene Schingensiepen. The two meetings took place from June1st to 4th in Berlin/Germany. For the convenience of participants from other countries, the meetings also allowed online participation; while the live events gave the GIRI & SMH members, researchers from different Universities and hospitals from European countries and South America, and homeopathy practitionersthe opportunity to meet again for the first time after the pandemic restrictions. About 40 participants took part in the meetings.The quiet and beautiful location near the Havelsee enabled concentrated work in an inviting and friendly atmosphere.The scientific program included contributions on basic and clinical research, case reports, and theorieson homeopathy's mode of action. Furthermore, there was one presentation onthe Natura Academy [1] in Germany giving the possibility of obtaining the bachelor's degree in integrative medicine and another one ona new initiative for raising awareness for the potential offered byalternative and complementarymedicine. A total of 27 full oral contributions and eight short poster presentations were presented over the four days.This year the presentation of overview lectures summarizingthe main results archived by the different research groups or scientists was encouraged. Several such lectures focused on water research and reported, among other things, on the water structures and the fourth phase of water. There were also overviewpresentations on spectroscopic analysisof dilutions, application of the droplet evaporation method in homeopathyresearch, vitality of crops treated with homeopathic preparations,and veterinary biotypology. As with the last two GIRI meetings, this year there were several contributions dealing with the use of homeopathic treatments in COVID patients.Furthercontributionsintroduceda new experimental setup with immobilized solvatochromic dyes, electronic spectra and UV/VIS measurements of high dilutions, and theveterinary use of homeopathic remedies in snakes,catsanddogs. Important findings were presented on the role of the standard deviation in basic experiments with potentised substances.Regardingclinical research there were contributions on the methodology of drug prescription, long-time evaluation of case studies, and one on the periodic table and its importance in homeopathy. Finally, two lectures focused on homeopathy's possible mode of action and put it inrelationto anthroposophical conceptsand clinical research on hormesis.