31st May to 2nd June 2013 saw the first homeopathy research conference organised by the newly created Homeopathy Research Institute (HRI). This event, held in Barcelona, was a timely opportunity for many homeopathy researchers from around the world to meet and share their findings.To put this event in context, 2005 saw the publication of the Shang et al. meta-analysis published in The Lancet and heralded by its editor as ‘the end of homeopathy’. 1 and 2 The negative conclusions drawn by this study were subsequently shown to be due to poor methodology. 3 Despite this, the effects of The Lancet study continue to be seen far and wide; the ‘Evidence Check 2’ 4 report by the UK Parliament's Science & Technology Committee in 2010 stated that homeopathy is placebo, an assertion repeated by the UK Chief Medical Officer in January 2013, 5 both based primarily on this one flawed study.The continuing influence of the 2005 Lancet publication highlights the need for objective, accurate reporting of the existing literature, as well as new high-quality homeopathy research to answer key questions such as what conditions can homeopathy treat and how do homeopathic medicines work? Founded in 2007, the HRI is a charity dedicated to addressing these needs (www.homeoinst.org).