Substance Use, Gambling and Addiction Research (SUGAR)

The following people are involved with this project:

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  Professor Alan Emond Professor of Community Child Health Fax. (0117) 33 14088 Tel. (0117) 33 14099 alan.emond@bristol.ac.uk

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  Dr Jon Heron Research Fellow Tel. (0117) 3310104 jon.heron@bristol.ac.uk

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  Professor Matthew Hickman Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology Tel. (0117) 928 7252 matthew.hickman@bristol.ac.uk

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  Professor John Macleod Professor in Clinical Epidemiology and Primary Care Tel. (0117) 3313935 john.macleod@bristol.ac.uk

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  Professor Marcus Munafo Professor of Biological Psychology Tel. (0117) 954 6841 marcus.munafo@bristol.ac.uk

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  Miss Michelle Taylor Social Medicine (PhD) michelle.taylor@bristol.ac.uk

More about this project

SUGAR is an MRC Addiction Cluster based in Bristol led by Professors Matt Hickman, Marcus Munafo, John Macleod and Alan Emond. SUGAR is one of 11 MRC funded clusters.

Our cluster aims to develop public health interventions through understanding better the causal pathways to different substance use (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other drugs) and gambling trajectories in adolescence.  This will include analysis of the Avon Longitudinal Survey of Parents and Childbirth (ALSPAC), the largest birth cohort with detailed biological, behavioural and family data from before birth through to late adolescence in the world. The MRC and Wellcome has funded data collection of substance use of ALSPAC participants’ at age 17-20, and the analysis and identification of substance use trajectories or phenotypes during adolescence. Responsibility in Gambling Trust (RIGT) is funding measures of gambling in ALSPAC participants and their parents. Opportunities to measure the consequences of substance use/gambling using routine data obtained through linkage are being explored as part of The Wellcome Trust E-health initiative.

Expertise on genetic analysis is provided by MRC CAiTE (Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology). SUGAR also is linked to several UK Public Health Centres of Excellence:- DECIPHer (Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement) and the Centre of Excellence for Public Health in Northern Ireland NIHR School of Public Health Research.

Addiction research meetings are held as part of Bristol Addiction Research Forum, Mental Health and Addiction Research, Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group and Bristol Neuroscience.

Project director(s):

Professor Matt Hickman

Professor Marcus Munafo

Professor John Macleod

Professor Alan Emond

Project funder:

Medical Research Council