Could some people be born with a gene that predisposes them to suicide? Should websites which promote and discuss suicide, sharing advice on how to end your life, be banned? And what strategies can schools use to help prevent young suicide?

These are some of the intriguing and urgent questions which will be addressed at a major conference in Glasgow this summer.

The 12th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour (ESSSB12) is expected to attract a who's who of world-leading mental health specialists, clinicians, researchers and policy makers working in the area of suicide prevention.

Organised jointly by the Universities of Edinburgh and Stirling, its aim is to stimulate new thinking in all aspects of suicidology and to share insights and expertise that may help those at risk of engaging in suicidal behaviour. The universities say the event will highlight Scotland's place at the forefront of suicide prevention efforts.

Worldwide, there is one suicide every 40 seconds. In Scotland, more than two people die by suicide every day.

The subject is regularly in the news. Last week, a father from Cornwall called for a ban on so-called suicide chatrooms on the internet and for a law change so that those behind them can be prosecuted, after his 18-year-old son killed himself using advice found online.

Meanwhile, a study by community health researchers in Sweden claimed to have identified a link between the length of babies at birth and risk of suicide in later life.

The study, based on 320,000 Swedish men, demonstrated that those born less than 47cm in length were twice as likely to make a violent suicide attempt as an adult born more than this length.

But Professor Stephen Platt, director of Edinburgh University's Research Unit in Health, Behaviour and Change and co-president of ESSSB12, says such studies may or may not be plausible, and that "there may be 101 or 1001 risk factors. What matters is which of these are really very helpful in explaining suicide, or helping you to intervene successfully."

While studies such as the Swedish one may be interesting, there are much clearer risk factors, Platt says. "There is a very strong risk associated with any time spent in psychiatric care and you have an elevated risk if you have ever taken an overdose. We're not very good at dealing with these very high risks."

The conference will look at other explanations for suicides, including, according to Platt, "genetics and society and everything in between."

Some researchers believe they are closing in on genes which may be responsible for predisposing people to suicide, but Platt is cautious. "I wouldn't say at the moment there have been big breakthroughs in this area," he says. "I know some geneticists might disagree.

"What we do know is that there are genetic links with psychiatric illnesses which put people at risk. There is a genetic loading' for depression, and depression can put people at risk of suicide. Whether there are direct genetic markers for suicide is an interesting question and that will certainly get debated."

Another area where risk of suicide can be better managed is among school pupils, according to one conference contributor. Dr Madelyn Gould, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at New York's Columbia University, has devised suicide prevention protocols for schools.

It is a setting where some young people will act on suicidal tendencies, Platt explains - but as somewhere where they spend a lot of time, it is also a good arena for stepping in to manage risk.

Where it is more difficult to intervene is online. Platt describes as pernicious' some of the websites and chat rooms which provide information and encourage participants in suicidal thoughts and actions. "They seem to know exactly how to recruit very vulnerable people and make them even more vulnerable," he says.

But he concedes that previous symposia have been divided over how best to deal with the problem. "We are just beginning to get research into the role of the internet, but there are big debates about the limits to freedom of expression, and so far there has been very little agreement.

"The libertarian approach is that you need to redirect people from these extreme websites towards help, but others would ban them."

Dr Rory O'Connor, head of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Group at the University of Stirling and co-president of ESSB12 with Platt, said it was a great coup for Scotland to be hosting the bi-annual European symposium on suicide and suicidal behaviour.

"This is the most prestigious suicide prevention conference in Europe. It highlights that Scotland is leading the way in all areas of suicide prevention and research."