Exploring the impact on emotional wellbeing of having a spouse or cohabiting partner with elevated Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional health survey data buff.ly/IPZyUGS @uofgsocsci.bsky.social @shwardle.bsky.social

New paper on changes in sales of alcohol and alcohol-free/low-alcohol products in January, and whether these changes drive longer term trends! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Led by @aishamoolla.bsky.social @jholmessheff.bsky.social @voodooeconomics.bsky.social @jamiebrown.bsky.social

This is a great discussion of generational change, risk, anxiety and drinking behaviours featuring @amypennay.bsky.social and @jholmessheff.bsky.social from the @ias.org.uk podcast. open.spotify.com/episode/1avJ...

The Government's big new 10 year health plan has finally been published. In spite of lots of talk about moving towards prevention rather than treatment, there is basically no meaningful alcohol prevention policy here. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/686638...

Opportunity for Sheffield people to get involved in research led by my colleague @mervemolla.bsky.social

Our latest paper led by Oscar Rousham finds three trajectories of diet quality across adolescence and early adulthood. We find independent contributions of both parental SEP and individual education years to odds of following different trajectories in data from Western Austr. doi.org/10.1016/j.ap...

Why is youth drinking in decline? Listen to our latest podcast to hear why it's more than any one cause, and needs to be understood from a broader sociological position of generational change. Ft. @jholmessheff.bsky.social and @amypennay.bsky.social Listen here: www.ias.org.uk/podcast/why-...

A new book explores why young people in high-income countries are drinking less, linking the decline to growing health consciousness, closer parental relationships, and a broader culture of caution. In our latest blog, the authors discuss the findings. www.ias.org.uk/2025/05/28/y...

The latest 'Alcohol Explained' video from @ias.org.uk focuses on Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol, with contributions from me and @victimofmaths.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3EX...

'Young People, Alcohol and Risk: A Culture of Caution' | @amypennay.bsky.social @gabrielcaluzzi.bsky.social @soc-researcher.bsky.social @jholmessheff.bsky.social et al @ias.org.uk www.ias.org.uk/2025/05/28/y...

Written by @amypennay.bsky.social, @gabrielcaluzzi.bsky.social, @soc-researcher.bsky.social, @jholmessheff.bsky.social, Michael Livingston, Jonas Raninen and Jukka Törrönen

We have a new paper out today in Lancet Public Health looking at increases in alcohol-specific deaths in England. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Important short article explaining why the NAS report on alcohol consumption and health uses a flawed approach to understanding the risks of low levels alcohol consumption. In short, claims that low levels of drinking are associated with reduced health risks are not robust.

SARG Director @jholmessheff.bsky.social and Research Fellow @abi-stevely.bsky.social will be presenting at this free @instalcstud.bsky.social webinar on Minimum Unit Pricing on 29th May. Find out more and sign up to attend 👇 #alcohol #publichealth

New paper out today, led by Anna Butters with me, Inge Kersbergen, and @jholmessheff.bsky.social "‘Knowing how it works for me’: a qualitative interview study of the use of personalised approaches to manage common challenges during Dry January" www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

📢 New SARG paper 📢 This qualitative study explored the strategies 'official' and 'unofficial' UK Dry January participants used to overcome common challenges, and how these evolved post-January. Led by Anna Butters with @fieldmatt.bsky.social @jholmessheff.bsky.social & Inge Kersbergen.

If you're currently working on a PhD in the field of Addiction, you should consider signing up for the SSA PhD symposium, a fun, friendly one day event before the main conference, where you can present your research and meet your peers working across Addiction research.

The alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks market in the UK is growing, but slowly. In this new blog post Luke Wilson talks about key trends identified in a study he led with @abi-stevely.bsky.social. He also considers the wider implications of these trends for public health. #alcohol #nolo

Join our webinar on 29 May to learn everything you need to know about Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) of alcohol. Leading experts will explore the theory behind the policy, its impact in Scotland and Wales, & crucially, what England can learn from their experiences. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/minimum-un...

📢 New SARG paper 📢 Led by Luke Wilson and @abi-stevely.bsky.social this paper was published as part of our ongoing No/Lo Project and reports on trends in alcohol-free and low-alcohol drink consumption in Great Britain. They found that consumption is increasing but predicted to remain low in 2025.

New paper out today showing the rise in alcohol-free and low-alcohol products and forecasting future trends! Includes interesting graphs 👀 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @jamiebrown.bsky.social @jholmessheff.bsky.social

A systematic review of adolescent alcohol-related harm trends in high-income countries with declines in adolescent consumption by Emma Vieira and colleagues @nic-alcohol.bsky.social @amypennay.bsky.social @jholmessheff.bsky.social buff.ly/uaIqVS9

@nihr.bsky.social wants senior #publichealth people to help them decide what research to fund. Apply for the Prioritisation Committee to help us fund the research you need in your public health work. @adphuk.bsky.social @local.gov.uk @pubhealthjobsuk.bsky.social www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved...

The meat of this editorial is about the increasingly insane processes universities are creating for doing simple tasks. And the ever-greater auditing demands funders (and ultimately governments) place on universities. It's worth a read if only to know that someone else feels your pain.

Fantastic new article by our PhD student Emma Vieira examining how alcohol-related harms among adolescents have shifted in countries that have seen a decline in adolescent drinking onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

As we continue to expand our research into the consumption of alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks, here are details of a new project focusing on young people. It's funded by @alcoholchangeuk.bsky.social and led by @soc-researcher.bsky.social and @melissaoldham.bsky.social #alcohol #publichealth

Adding #AlcoholFree beer to lunchtime meal deals does nothing to encourage substitution for alcoholic alternatives as generally, the days of lunchtime drinking are thankfully long gone. But it may help normalise alcohol products in these settings. ⚠️ www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...

Research Practitioner In my team Grade 11 £56 to £61k 0.5 WTE ce0369li.webitrent.com/ce0369li_web...

***New SARG report*** Our review of Northern Ireland's alcohol licensing system led by colleagues at ISMH at University of Stirling is now out. You can read the full report here: www.communities-ni.gov.uk/publications... And there's a nice write-up on the BBC here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

We're part of the Local Health and Global Profits programme @lhgp.bsky.social which involves working with local governments, local populations, public health practitioners and civil society groups to understand the building blocks, including commercial factors, impacting on communities' health.

Our independent review of the licensing system in Northern Ireland has been published. A key feature is the ‘surrender principle’: a 1-in-1-out system for pubs and off-licences, so this a major focus of the study – but lots of other novel features as well. www.communities-ni.gov.uk/publications...

There's been lots of articles on David Nutt's (and others') synthetic alcoholic drinks. This one is more interesting than most as the second half gives input from other researchers on some of the science behind these products. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

This new SARG study led by Luke Wilson is the first to examine solitary drinking in Great Britain. It identifies key characteristics of solitary drinkers and drinking occasions and provides useful insight into this under-researched area of British drinking culture. @jsadjournal.bsky.social #alcohol

Solitary Drinkers in Great Britain: How Do Their Sociodemographic Characteristics, Consumption Patterns, and Drinking Occasions Differ From Those Who Drink With Others? (new in @jsadjournal.bsky.social 86/1) @jholmessheff.bsky.social @pmeierprof.bsky.social www.jsad.com/doi/full/10....

Re-posting a visualization of indirect cost rates as a pdf to share with others, also added a bit more to explain that by cutting the IDC to 15%, it is likely that Universities will have only 8-9% effective IDC, or even lower. abqresearch.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

A new @who.int report on 'Alcohol health warning labels: a public health perspective for Europe' has been released today. SARG's Inge Kersbergen was part of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol Labelling (TAG-AL) who gave input on the content and structure of the report #alcohol #publichealth

Useful comments from @fieldmatt.bsky.social at the end of this Science Media Centre expert reaction on a recent study suggesting potential benefits of semaglutide for treating AUDs www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react...

This will be the culmination of a lot of work, thinking, conversations and debates over the past several years. Incredibly impressed by Amy, who not only led/pulled this together, but has driven research on young people and alcohol forward so much!

Zero alcohol beer as part of your lunch deal at Sainsbury’s? #priming

The Northern Territory has officially removed their MUP. It is hard to say exactly what will happen from here. There will likely be a rise in alcohol-related harm, but the magnitude is hard to estimate. When introduced the policy covered roughly 20% of the market, inflation has likely reduced that.

Enjoyed working with my colleague @drduncgillespie.bsky.social on this blog post which talks about the government's Smokefree Generation policy and some of the ways universities could have an influence on how effective it is.

When deaths from alcohol increase by over 40% in just five years, how can anyone seriously claim our current approach to controlling this problem is anything other than inadequate?

***Job Opportunity*** Join King's College London's work on the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Addictions, focusing on tobacco/nicotine. You'll have the chance to work on research directly impacting government policy (and collaborate with our team at Sheffield). www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLR998/r...

New on the SARG website - details of a project funded by the Institute of Alcohol Studies @instalcstud.bsky.social Small Grants Scheme which will investigate barriers to the use of alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks among individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. #publichealth #sheffield

We used the Sheffield Alcohol Policy Model to look at the long-term impact of promoting the Drink Less app through a mass media campaign or GP recommendations. We found that both options could significantly reduce alcohol-related harm and save the NHS millions of pounds #publichealth #alcoholharm

** New SARG paper ** published today in Tobacco Control and led by our Research Fellow Luke Wilson.

Join Lucy Burke and @victimofmaths.bsky.social at a free webinar exploring the links between why we drink alcohol, who is drinking alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks, and the implications for health inequalities. 📅 Wed 5 Feb at 12pm, part of the @sheffielduni.bsky.social Bright Minds series.

***JOB OPPORTUNITY*** Looking for some research experience in psychology or public health? We have a short-term, part-time post on a small project about use of alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks by low-income groups. More information below and at the link: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLM054/r...

People sometimes claim alcohol mostly causes 'rare' cancers. This simply isn't true. Alcohol causes both breast and bowel cancer, two of the most common forms. These also aren't rare alcohol-related cancers; they account for a third of all cases. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

www.gov.wales/review-intro... This is the final evaluation of Pricing for Alcohol for Wales. A pleasure to work with USW and F8C on this. Personally I have been actively evaluating this for nearly a decade across Scotland and England. A big chunk of my life, has been in this space