Find out more about the research projects we are currently funding and how they are transforming the evidence-base around alcohol harm.
Our funded projects
We are committed to funding high-quality research into alcohol-related harm and to promoting a better understanding of the evidence.
Current list of funded projects
Research and Development Grants
| Supporting solutions for South Asian women: Developing models for substance use support
Manchester Metropolitan University This project will explore the lived experiences of alcohol use and help-seeking from the perspectives of South Asian women; understand how non-alcohol-using women from the South Asian community respond to problematic alcohol use; and investigate if and how alcohol practitioners offer support to South Asian communities. £64,812 over two years |
| Exploring communities of belonging around drink
Sheffield Hallam University This is a joint project between Sheffield Hallam University, ARC Research, and Leeds, Hull, Doncaster, North Lincolnshire local authorities along with delivery organisations in Doncaster and Kirkless. It will explore whether, and how, being a member of a ‘community of belonging’ impacts on drinking behaviour and engagement with services, and asks if it is possible to reduce drinking and maintain your links with your original community of belonging. £48,461 over two years |
| Telling our own stories: an exploratory study of alcohol use and harm by people who identify as Roma, Gypsies and Travellers
Swansea University and University of Salford This project will investigate cultures of alcohol use among Gypsies, Roma and Travellers. It will identify similarities and differences in drinking cultures between both ethnic and nomadic Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and their perceptions of alcohol harm. A key outcome will be the co-creation of digital stories for use as a resource to raise awareness about alcohol use and harm among these communities. £65,000 over 20 months |
| Understanding the association between mental health and alcohol use in Black, Asian and Minority ethnic groups
University of Liverpool and Kings College London This project will determine the prevalence of alcohol use and ‘binge-drinking’ and associations with psychological distress among racial and ethnic minority groups in eight UK secondary data sources. It will offer a better understanding of the experiences of drinking and not drinking, and of seeking help, among racial and ethnic minority groups who have a mental health problem. It will also include a rapid appraisal study of the treatment of drinking in community mental healthcare settings and the role of ethnicity. It will develop individual stories for different ethnic minority groups around alcohol use in the context of their mental health for use as health promotion materials. £62,840 over 18 months |
| A Feasibility Study of the Effectiveness of ‘Moving On In My Recovery’ Bangor University £74,953 over twenty months |
| Trends and Inequalities in Prescribing for Alcohol Dependence in Scotland University of Glasgow £74,871 over eighteen months |
| Evaluation of an early intervention programme for young persons with alcohol and drug misuse in Sunderland University of Sunderland £60,499 over fifteen months |
| Exploring pathways through and beyond alcohol treatment among Polish women and men in a London Borough Middlesex University £56,612 over eighteen months |
| Staying ‘Better than Well’: an exploration of the experience and ‘active ingredients’ of sustaining recovery within a supportive social environment University of Edinburgh £57,511 over eighteen months |
| Local alcohol treatment and recovery service commissioning practices and their perceived outcomes for service provision: an in-depth exploration ScHARR, The University of Sheffield £56,091 over one year |
| Faith in recovery? Service-user evaluation in faith-based alcohol treatment Cardiff University £59,797 over one year |
| Online support forum for children and young people affected by substance misuse Adfam £15,000 over one year |
| Screening and Brief Intervention Programmes: do they improve or worsen health inequalities? ScHARR, University of Sheffield £59,269 over eighteen months |
| The cost of alcohol to Primary Care in England ScHARR, University of Sheffield £59,402 over eighteen months |
| Distribution and Consumption of Counterfeit Alcohol: Getting to Grips with Fake Booze University of Manchester £58,907 over two years |
| The Alcohol Policy Blog The Alcohol Academy £30,000 over thirty months |
Our co-funded projects
| Alcohol Misuse: Electronic Longitudinal Alcohol Study in Communities (ELAStiC) – co-funded with the ESRC Cardiff University Alcohol Change UK contributing £97,810 over 3 years |
| Excessive drinking and alcohol related harms in Adulthood: ALSPAC at 24 – co funded with the MRC The University of Bristol Alcohol Change UK contributing £138,918 over four years |
| Alcohol Harms: The relationship between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular risk: A life-course perspective – co-funded with the MRC Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London Alcohol Change UK contributing £32,139 over three years |
| Drug and Alcohol Findings Drug and Alcohol Findings provides the largest library of evidence on drug and alcohol treatment and prevention in the UK. It produces regular summaries of the latest research and is widely recognised as an invaluable resource for both practitioners and researchers in the field. Co-funded with the Society for the Study of Addiction. Alcohol Change UK contributing £96,568 over three years. |
Small Grants
Research Studentships
| PI/Grantholder | Institution/Organisation | Project |
| Natasha Clarke | University of Liverpool | PhD: Identifying Factors which Influence Heavy Drinking within a Framework of Learning Theory and Behavioural Economics, and Improving Dissemination of Evidence-based Research to the Public. |
| Linda Sommerville | Middlesex University | PhD: Alcohol licensing at local level: stakeholders' roles in decision making (working title) |
| Lucy Anne Dorey | Southampton University | PhD: The experiences and recovery needs of alcohol dependent patients following detoxification programmes (POST DETOX): an exploratory qualitative study |
| Marianne Erskine-Shaw | Edge Hill University | PhD: Group regulation of alcohol consumption behaviours |
| Hannah Rose | KCL | PhD: The impact of alcohol consumption on adolescent neuropsychological development |
| Emma Geijer Simpson | University of Newcastle | PhD: Developing family-involved interventions for young people with alcohol use disorders and other linked mental health problems |
| Justin Moorhead | Liverpool John Moores University | PhD: The role of alcohol misuse in veterans' violent offending |
| Beth Collinson | Sheffield Hallam University | PhD: Mapping individual recovery pathways from problem alcohol use in the context of an emerging therapeutic landscape of recovery and assessing differences by gender |
| Jane Oyston | Manchester Metropolitan University | PhD: The role of alcohol in child sexual exploitation: developing a model to inform practice |
| Clare Sharp | University of Stirling | PhD: Nalmefene prescribing in the UK: Patterns and influences |
| James Morris | London South Bank University | PhD: Exploring the identities of harmful drinkers as problem drinkers: Can we remove barriers to behaviour change and engagement with intervention? |
| Sam Burton | University of Liverpool | PhD: Inhibitory control in heavy drinking: improving our understanding to optimize behavioural treatments |
| Jordan Soondar | Middlesex University | PhD: Peer mentors and volunteers within specialist alcohol treatment services: role development, wellbeing and career progression |
| Alexandra Bakou | University of Exeter | PhD: The therapeutic effect of Brief Adaptive Coping Training (BACT) on relapse to alcohol provoked by negative emotional experience |
| Cassandra Hogan | London South Bank University | PhD: Identity Transition in Recovery from Alcohol Addiction: An Exploration of the Underlying Implicit and Explicit Processes and Mechanisms of Change |
| Patricia Irizar | University of Liverpool | PhD: How common are alcohol problems in the UK Police Service and what is the level of comorbidity with mental health problems |
| Olivia Sexton | University of Sheffield | PhD: Developing and validating a methodology for collecting occasional-level data on alcohol consumption |