Royal Society of Medicine, London, 14 July 2018

Dr Alexander Tournier (HRI Executive Director) and Ms Rachel Roberts (HRI Chief Executive) were delighted to represent HRI at the recent research event, ‘New Horizons in Water Science’, having been invited by Lord Aaron Kenneth Ward-Atherton to attend as VIPs.

Lord Atherton, the organiser of this seminar, hosted the event at prestigious venues – the House of Lords (official pre-event dinner) and the Royal Society of Medicine (the seminar itself).

Attendees at the one-day seminar, held on 14 July 2018, heard talks from a line-up of speakers that boasted two Nobel Laureates – Prof. Luc Montagnier and Prof. Brian Josephson, as well as other eminent representatives of their respective fields Prof. Jerry Pollack, Prof. Vladimir Voeikov, and Prof. Jayesh Bellare. All speakers contributed to an excellent occasion, raising awareness of high-quality research that directly or indirectly related to homeopathy.

A major contribution came from Prof. Pollack, who presented over 20 years’ worth of research on ‘Exclusion Zone’ (EZ) water – a phenomenon at the boundary between water and hydrophilic materials.  This topic is particularly pertinent to homeopathy as it indicates a possible structuring of water, as yet unexplained by conventional research, which could be key to explaining how homeopathic dilutions differ from pure water and control solutions.

The presentation of EZ water research was reinforced by Prof. Voiekov’s presentation of the work of his colleague Prof. Alexander Konovalov, which showed the presence of water-based nanostructures in homeopathic dilutions using a variety of conventional experimental techniques, along with demonstrating that persistence of these nanostructures required ambient electromagnetic radiation.

The presentation by Prof Montagnier – awarded a Nobel prize in Medicine in 2008 for the co-discovery of HIV – described a decade of experimental work suggesting that the molecular machinery responsible for copying DNA did not require the presence of physical DNA, but could also work from an ‘imprinted’ water template; such a possibility has exciting potential implications for novel diagnostic techniques.

Professor Josephson – the youngest ever winner of the Nobel prize for Physics in 1973 – gave a thought-provoking lecture on the linguistics underlying the current scientific paradigm. He also proposed that the current lock and key model of chemical interactions might need to be revised in light of more recent scientific findings, including quantum theory.

Finally, Prof Bellare presented an additional theory of homeopathy’s mode of action which centred around the presence of nanoparticles (i.e. nano-doses of the starting material) in homeopathic dilutions.

Attendees of the annual Water Research Conferences in Bulgaria (a forum for collaboration between specialist researchers in the field) and/or attendees of the biennial HRI research conferences (where homeopathy-related aspects such as water structures and nanoparticle research are discussed) may have been familiar with some of the material covered. Regardless, it was heartening to see these highly regarded scientists given such a prestigious platform to discuss this challenging topic, particularly in the UK. However, meticulous repetition of the studies featured at the ‘New Horizons’ seminar, and publication in reputable peer-reviewed journals, will be required to see these ideas embraced by mainstream science.

To complement the scientific discussions, Dr Robert Verkerk presented the valuable work of the Alliance for Natural Health in creating a new framework for discussing, assessing and integrating CAM modalities with conventional medical treatment. Dr Menachem Oberbaum announced the newly formed homeopathy research collaboration between Israel and India, whilst Dr Raj Manchanda – Director General of the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy – presented an insight into the current status of Homeopathy in India, where it has full Government support as part of their successful Integrated Healthcare model.

A particular success of the ‘New Horizons’ event was the wonderfully positive atmosphere felt by the seminar’s audience, many of whom may not have heard presentations on these topics by such eminent speakers before. It was encouraging to feel the heart-felt support of the homeopathy sector for this event, with attendees coming from far and wide to hear the impressive speaker programme.

Lord Atherton and his team are well-deserving of the widespread congratulations they have received for helping to continue to raise the profile of homeopathy research in the UK. These are exciting times for the homeopathic community, as year on year the gap between conventional research and homeopathy research is closing.

HRI is a charity dedicated to the promotion of high quality research in homeopathy and accurate dissemination of existing research findings. As such, it was a pleasure to be part of an event with that shared vision: the passion for homeopathy was evident throughout.

For those who are looking forward to the next homeopathy research event in the calendar, we are delighted to announce that the website for the 4th HRI International Homeopathy Research Conference in London (14-16 June, 2019) is now live.

We look forward to welcoming delegates to a full weekend of research presentations by six keynotes speakers and over 30 researchers from over 22 countries.

For further information about the HRI London 2019 conference, please contact events@hri-research.org