Current research with a priori specified health economics aims includes an NIH-funded Center with three multilevel behavioural intervention trials for improving blood pressure control in people with hypertension:

• a community-based intervention to increase the availability of healthy foods (American Indians);
• a provider- and patient-based intervention using home blood pressure monitoring and targeted physician alerts in a healthcare organization (Alaska Natives);
• and a peer-facilitated educational intervention that emphasizes low salt, healthy diets based on traditional foods (Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders).
• reduce alcohol-related morbidity and mortality in American Indian and Alaska Native people:
• an intervention to prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies among women of child-bearing age engaged in risky drinking behaviours;
• an intervention that incorporates a traditional cultural practice for reducing alcohol use among for individuals with alcohol use disorders;
• and an intervention to facilitate the transition from alcohol detoxification to appropriate outpatient treatment programs.

Turning Point are now seeking to recruit an enthusiastic, dynamic and passionate Independent doctor to join our multi-disciplinary team offering comprehensive specialist clinical prescribing services and a wide range of psychosocial interventions across hub and satellite locations. The role will be supporting the Regional Clinical Lead and Operations Manager to develop and embed robust practice and high quality performance across the East of the County.

The Research Assistant will provide support for research projects to develop and test a novel coding system of client language during brief alcohol interventions, applying knowledge and skills that are specific to the study under general supervision of the Principal Investigator (PI) and applicable senior research coordinator staff (supervisor).

The Research Assistant will primarily spend their time listening to and coding clinical interactions of young adult drinkers. Additional duties may include: managing and cleaning data, conducting literature reviews, attending team meetings, and completing other study-related tasks.

Applications are invited for the above post in the Division of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, based at the City Hospital Campus. The successful candidate will join a team of researchers in the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies.

The post holder will work on a Cancer Research UK funded project investigating the effects of Standardised Packaging legislation and European Tobacco Products Directive on tobacco products pricing, market and smoking behaviour.

We have an opportunity for a full-time Research Fellow in Conflict and Mental Health to work on the five-year Wellcome Trust funded project (CHANGE) which seeks to address alcohol misuse and mental health co-morbidities among conflict-affected populations in Uganda and Ukraine. 

The aim of CHANGE is to develop a new psychological intervention to reduce alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and co-occurring psychological problems in conflict-affected populations. The new intervention will build upon the World Health Organization’s (WHO) intervention “Problem Management Plus” (PM+). CHANGE seeks to complement PM+ with evidence-based strategies addressing alcohol misuse. We will test effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the new intervention (called PM+/AUD) through two randomised controlled trials in Uganda and Ukraine. Project partners include HealthRight International Uganda, the University of Copenhagen, and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla.

This position is located at the UNODC Brussels Liaison Office to the European Union (EU) and its institutions, to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), to the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and to the Belgian Government, in Brussels, Belgium. The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Representative of the UNODC Brussels Liaison Office (BRULO).

The incumbent will contribute to strengthening relations with all relevant EU institutions and services, in particular with the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Council, the Commission Services, the European Parliament and its relevant Committees and Delegations. 

Project Title: Co-designing alcohol Interventions in low income-counties

About the Project: "Background Alcohol use has been identified as the cause of approximately 3.3 million deaths worldwide every year, approximately 5.9% of all deaths (WHO, 2014). Harmful alcohol use is one of the four causes of Non-communicable diseases (NCD), and the risks from these are greatest in low- income countries. However, most NCD-related deaths could be prevented or reduced through cost-effective and feasible interventions, especially if delivered through primary health care which is likely to support early detection of harm and provide timely treatment. 

Student will have opportunities to apply Participatory Action Research to explore the health and social impact of alcohol use on individuals and communities from high and/or low-income countries. These findings will be used to co-design health interventions to determine its feasibility and level of engagement. 

Applications accepted all year round.

Project Title

Public health prevention within urban spaces: a citizen science enquiry.

About the Project

Advantages of living in cities, with relatively high population density, include: opportunities for social interaction, education, employment, access to health diagnostics and treatment, active travel and integrated modes of transport. However, negative aspects of population density can include: traffic congestion, noise, light and air pollution, industrial emissions, greater access to outlets that supply alcohol, tobacco and convenience foods, neighbourhood segregation and low public trust. 

If you are interested in investigating the burden of non-communicable diseases within urban areas in order to determine how to increase conditions that promote health, you may be interested in this interdisciplinary opportunity. 

Applications accepted all year round

Project Title

Narrative therapy, a potential intervention for student-athlete hazardous drinking.

About the Project

Hazardous alcohol consumption is the most prevalent public health concern on university campuses in the UK and Ireland. Student-athletes have been identified as being particularly at risk for hazardous drinking and, importantly, also highly resistant to current alcohol interventions. The proposed PhD will critically consider the utility of an alternative intervention approach, narrative therapy, to addressing this issue. 

Applications accepted all year round

Project: 

The epidemiology and associated burden of potentially serious alcohol-medication interactions in ageing populations in Ireland and the UK

About the Project: 

How the body handles alcohol changes as we get older. 

Alcohol-medication interactions may increase the risk of hypoglycaemia, hypotension, sedation, gastro-intestinal bleeding and liver damage. 

The proposed study plans to harness the rich longitudinal information on alcohol consumption and co-occurring medication use among older adults in Ireland and the UK using existing databases such as the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing (ELSA) and Whitehall II. 

This project involves collaboration between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Cambridge, and will involve a three-month placement at the University of Cambridge

Project Title: 

(MRC CASE) Breaking Free with Artificial Intelligence: using data-driven insights to improve digital health support for substance use disorders

Description:

Digital health technologies hold promise for transforming healthcare by expanding the ways in which health data can be used. From individual patient management to large-scale organisational planning, an evidence-based approach based on real world data-driven insights is seen as the way to optimise the delivery of healthcare. 

In this project, we will explore fully anonymized data from patients receiving digitally delivered SUD treatment to identify risk factors associated with SUD and the effectiveness of the digital treatment regime. This will be conducted in collaboration with Breaking Free Online (BFO) – a digital health and behavioural science organisation – which provides digital cognitive-behavioural therapy for SUD at scale. 

Consultant Psychiatrist in addictions and dual diagnosis.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the specialist addictions and dual diagnosis MDT which is provided by LYPFT as part of the Forward Leeds addiction service across Leeds.

Forward Leeds is a consortium arrangement of four partners, with Humankind acting as the lead provider and data controllers. The Specialist LYPFT NHS Team provide the following functions: Dual Diagnosis, Hospital In-Reach, Pregnancy, Primary Care Alcohol Dependence, & Specialist Psychological Interventions.

The essential role of the clinical service is to provide assessment, treatment and aftercare for people who misuse alcohol and other drugs and who have complex needs.

The clinical service is based within ‘Forward Leeds’, which is the integrated drug and alcohol service for the city of Leeds. Access to services is assured by having LYPFT Addiction Service staff located in locality based ‘hubs’ in Armley, Seacroft and the city centre.

The University of Minnesota seeks two postdoctoral fellows interested in conducting NIDA- supported and T32-funded innovative multidisciplinary research in domains including behavioral and clinical neuroscience, clinical psychology, and/or behavioral genetics. There is a particular emphasis on using large-scale neuroimaging and genetic datasets to address questions pertinent to addiction. More information about the position can be found here.  Applicants should submit a cover letter, current CV, 1-2 page research statement, up to 3 preprints/reprints, and a list of 3 referees. Review of applications will begin on July 1, 2020.

Role description:

Quit Genius looking for an experienced researcher who can lead the research function here at Quit Genius. In this role, you will be responsible for driving the research strategy to build on our evidence base for our tobacco cessation program as well as establish the evidence base for our newly launched addiction programmes for vaping, alcohol abuse and opioid abuse. This person will be responsible for all aspects of developing and building research operations to advance the clinical evidence of our programmes. 

Key Responsibilities:

Build and deliver a multi-year clinical research strategy to position the company to become leaders in digital therapeutics research, including the development, implementation, and management of clinical studies.

Manage and build a best-in-class research capability that provides Quit Genius a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Lead on the end-to-end management and delivery of clinical research studies for all our addiction management platforms (tobacco, vaping, opioid and alcohol).

The Health and Lifestyle Research Unit (HAL) wishes to recruit a Research Fellow in Statistics to support the Unit in developing efficient study designs, calculation of sample sizes, preparing statistical analysis plans, participation in trial management meetings and production of regular reports for data monitoring and steering committees.

The HAL is a leading research group focusing on tobacco dependence and its treatments and on weight management interventions. Its research has contributed to health care globally.

The School of Applied Sciences at London South Bank University is committed to its vision of academic excellence with a positive impact in the real world. The Centre for Addictive Behaviours Research is a nationally and internationally-recognized unit devoted to providing a psychosocial understanding of entry into, development of and change in substance-based and behavioural addictions.

This is a unique developmental opportunity for suitably qualified candidates to extend their current work and interests both individually and in collaboration with other Centre members. As such we are seeking to appoint a research fellow with a developing track record in addictive behaviours research for a period of 36 months.

Project Title: Mental health and cognitive impacts of cannabis use across the life course.

The University of Exeter and the University of Queensland are seeking exceptional students to join a world-leading, cross-continental research team tackling major challenges facing the world’s population in global sustainability and wellbeing as part of the QUEX Institute.

Project Description: Under the healthy living theme of the QUEX partnership this project will aim to understanding individual differences in risk of mental health and cognitive deficits associated with cannabis use, and how this differs for adolescents and older adults. It will examine individual differences in response to treatment for cannabis use disorder and barriers to accessing treatment and also explore how changes in legal status might affect mental health outcomes from smoking cannabis.

Title: The role of alcohol in the incidence of hospital-treated unintentional injury: a data linkage study

Supervisors: Assoc. Professor Janneke Berecki and Dr Angela Clapperton

Alcohol consumption increases the risk of injury. Although this is common knowledge, there is limited information available on the injury circumstances, causes and injury types associated with alcohol consumption. Data available for research in this area are limited: alcohol consumption is not well captured in administrative hospital data. This research aims to address this gap in knowledge through a series of studies into alcohol and unintentional injury in Victoria, Australia. This will help develop methodology to better capture alcohol involvement in injury cases presenting to hospital, as well as identify alcohol-related injury risks that can be addressed through prevention strategies.

Study 1

The aim of the first study is to develop ICD-10-AM (International Classification of Diseases) coding to identify alcohol involvement or history in injury-related hospital admissions data. The coding will then be validated by medical chart review.

Study 2

Using the hospital-admitted injury cohort selected in Study 1, the next study will aim to determine how injury admissions with alcohol involvement differ to those without, in terms of patient demographics, injury cause, type and severity, and injury outcomes such as complications and length of stay.

Study 3

The aim of Study 3 is to determine the injury risk profile of those exposed to alcohol. A cohort of patients with hospital-recorded alcohol exposure, intoxication or alcohol-related health problems will be followed over time using linked hospital data and death data. Injury incidence in this cohort (hospital admissions as well as injury deaths) will be compared to injury incidence in a matched control group.

Alcohol dependence is undertreated in Denmark and worldwide, and many patients relapse. There is a strong need for new treatments based on a better understanding of how alcohol, and abstinence after prolonged alcohol use, affect the brain. After alcohol ingestion, the brain partly switches its energy use from glucose to the alcohol metabolite acetate – and more so in heavy drinkers, in whom the switch persists after abrupt abstinence. This led to the hypothesis that when acetate levels suddenly drop, the brain may be “starved” despite normal blood glucose, and that this may contribute to withdrawal symptoms. We further hypothesized that ketone bodies, like acetate, can act as alternative fuel in the brain and alleviate withdrawal symptoms. We found that ketogenic diet or a ketone supplement to regular diet reduced acute symptoms in rats and mice.

Here we will test

1. whether ketogenic diet or ketone supplements can reduce prolonged alcohol withdrawal symptoms that contribute to relapse
2. whether they can reduce alcohol-induced brain damage
3. whether co-dependence on nicotine changes effectiveness of ketogenic treatments. 

The project combines extensive behavioral testing with neuroimaging and neurotransmitter analysis.