Research project

Therapeutic Life Story (TLS) practice as developed by Richard Rose grew from his social work with young people who had experienced toxic stress. Life Story work is widely used in UK social work teams, most specifically for adopted children. In November 2014, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which reports on English medical, social and health issues, but also makes recommendations for UK – wide awareness, stated that all children in the care of English local authorities have a right to have life story work.

In Rose’s 2012 book, ‘Innovative therapeutic life story practice’ it is noted that social work practice is usually life history work whereby a story of the child’s pre-existing family facts is constructed for their future reference. However, Richard has developed, through his understanding of trauma and attachment, the practice for the therapeutic benefit of the young person.

TLS was developed with children who had been removed from the care of their parent(s) allowing them to reconstruct their history. It is now being applied worldwide to children and young people with a range of adverse experiences and Oasis intends to work with young people (across the full range 11-24) who have experienced domestic abuse and other difficult life experiences (substance misusing parents for example) and are those that might be deemed to have ‘latent vulnerability’.

The aim of the research will be to independently analyse the impact of this therapeutic method for adolescents who might be considered to have lives filled with abuse.

The successful candidate will work closely with the academic supervisors and Oasis Domestic Abuse Service throughout the research process (developing methods, data collection, analysis, disseminating findings in various formats).

The University of Bath have an exciting opportunity in STOP, a global tobacco industry watchdog, for someone with a passion for public health to use their skills in partnership and project management to coordinate a dedicated expert team to expose and counter the misdeeds of the tobacco industry around the world. 

STOP's international partners bring decades of experience from the public, private and non-governmental sectors. We are researchers, investigative journalists, epidemiologists, former civil servants, advocates, lawyers, storytellers and more. Our interdisciplinary skill set strengthens our capabilities in industry monitoring, research, policy, advocacy and strategic communication.

Based in the University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group, STOP's Partnership Manager will bring international experience, strategic thinking, and leadership skills to manage and coordinate the fast-paced, responsive and impactful work of all four partners. Your experience of working with a variety of stakeholders across international, sectoral and disciplinary boundaries will be essential to supporting us to achieve our mission to expose big tobacco's deadly work to target the vulnerable and impede health policy.

The University of Bath are seeking a highly motivated individual to join the Tobacco Control Research Group. This individual will have significant experience in data science, using digital methods to conduct research on big data. We are looking for someone with experience in research methods such as machine learning, network analysis, data visualisation, text mining and analysis. Experience in using programming language using applications such as Python and R is essential.

The Team is looking to harness digital methods for exploring big data to answer important research questions on tobacco industry activity. This will involve collecting and analysing large data sets and writing up the findings for peer-reviewed papers, blog pieces and webpages on our TobaccoTactics.org website. Experience in social science research would be a strong advantage. The post holder will support the development of strategy and vision for large data analysis projects in the team involving data acquisition, processing and analysis.

The project objective is to assess the impact of whole population public health interventions (such as smoking/alcohol legislation) on perinatal, childhood and maternal outcomes, utilising a novel linkage of 14 national datasets and 2 million births.

The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to the formulation and submission of research publications and research proposals as well as help manage and direct this complex and challenging project as opportunities allow. Collaborations have resulted in high impact publications for previous members of the team. 

This post will be based within the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group at the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York. The group, in collaboration with the Tobacco and Alcohol Group at University College London, has been awarded a large research grant in the area of tobacco smoking and mental illness.

The overall aim of the project is to assess the feasibility, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation and reduction in people with mental illness. It will include a randomised controlled feasibility study, followed by a fully powered randomised controlled trial.

We are looking for a Research Associate to join the interdisciplinary research team of academics, clinicians and service user/carer representatives to work on the newly awarded and closely associated existing research programmes. The post presents an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and highly motivated person to develop their career in an excellent research environment, joining a large and highly successful multi-disciplinary department renowned for its methodological expertise and commitment to research with high impact on policy and practice.

This position is for a unit based psychologist,  working with patients committed under various Oregon Statutes.  Psychology department staff must operate as a highly productive member of the Interdisciplinary Team in a fast-paced environment to manage morning meetings, admissions, patient care plan meetings, and completion of admission suicide risk assessments.
This position will also provide clinical psychology services in the form of psychological assessment and testing within the limits of the psychologist's expertise and privileging, consultation, treatment (individual, group, milieu), participation in various treatment malls, direct patient care, participation in the IDT, consultation to and training of treatment care staff, and providing in-service continuing education to psychology staff. 

This position may also include supervising psychology residents, interns, and students. 

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced qualitative researcher to join Dr Polly Radcliffe’s team on an ESRC funded research project, “Governing parental opioid use: a relational ethnography”. The multidisciplinary study will critically examine how parents who use drugs and their families engage with health and social care services, with a focus on the quality of care that families receive, the extent to which their needs are met, and how the governance of parents affects trajectories and outcomes for families. The project has a strong focus on Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) and includes three phases: establishing a ‘learning alliance’ with stakeholders for the duration of the project, analysis of policy/practice guidance, and ethnographic research with families and services over a 21-month period.

The successful candidate will recruit and consent participants into the study; assist with the facilitation of stakeholder meetings; critically analyse policy/practice documents; conduct ethnographic fieldwork, including qualitative interviews and focus groups with families and professionals; undertake qualitative data analysis, including managing data using software such as NVivo; contributing to project publications, report writing, other dissemination activities; and research-related administrative tasks.

This position is located in the Programme Office in Mozambique (POMOZ) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Maputo, Mozambique.

The incumbent will work under the supervision of the UNODC Regional Representative, Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSAF) in Pretoria, South Africa, and the overall guidance of the Deputy Director of the Division for Operations (DO) at UNODC headquarters, Vienna.

The Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) is searching for a Senior Coordinator, Workforce Development for a regional substance misuse prevention centre working with states, jurisdictions, tribes, community coalitions, and other NGOs within a 10-state/jurisdiction region.

CASAT provides training, technical assistance, and other services to support substance misuse prevention, substance use disorder treatment, and recovery.  

The Senior Coordinator will be responsible for providing direct training and technical assistance services to build state, jurisdiction, tribal, and community capacity in the application of data-driven decision-making to the selection, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based programs and practices to prevent substance misuse.

The Substance Use Prevention, Evaluation, and Research Program within the Center for Behavioral Health Epidemiology, Implementation, and Evaluation Research at RTI International has an immediate opening for an applied Substance Use Prevention PhD-level Research Public Health Analyst. 

Areas of related potential methodological specialization include the use of epidemiological data for needs assessment and prevention decision making; innovative data collection and analysis for process and outcome program evaluation; and the novel use of communication to disseminate research findings and intervention strategies.

King's College London are looking for an experienced researcher to work as part of a UK team conducting a Realist Evaluation of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Injecting Equipment Provision (IEP) services across the UK. The aim of the study is to understand the contextual factors that impact on the use and effectiveness (engagement, retention and harm reduction) of opiate substitution therapy and needle and syringe service provision models for high-risk people who inject drugs in the UK as well as the cost of provision of these models. 

The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Program and is being led by The University of Dundee in collaboration with King's College London and the Universities of Bristol and Stirling. Key responsibilities of this 18-month position are to recruit and consent participants to the qualitative component of the project, conduct and analyse qualitative interviews with drug treatment and harm reduction service providers and people who inject drugs, and contribute to writing up the study reports, academic manuscripts and other outputs.

Project Title

Evaluating Therapeutic Life Story Work Among Young People with Multiple Disadvantages.

Research project

Therapeutic Life Story (TLS) practice as developed by Richard Rose grew from his social work with young people who had experienced toxic stress. Life Story work is widely used in UK social work teams, most specifically for adopted children. In November 2014, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which reports on English medical, social and health issues, but also makes recommendations for UK – wide awareness, stated that all children in the care of English local authorities have a right to have life story work.

The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary world-leading research group with a strong track record in delivering high impact research in the design and evaluation of public health interventions across areas of blood-borne viruses (BBVs), sexual health and substance use.  We are looking for an experienced researcher to support the delivery of the Needle Exchange Surveillance Initiative (NESI).

This is a national public health surveillance and research initiative lead by GCU in collaboration with Public Health Scotland. It involves a survey of people who inject drugs across mainland Scotland and collects intelligence to monitor infection with blood-borne viruses (such as HIV and hepatitis C), injecting risk behaviours and uptake of harm reduction services in this population.  The successful candidate will play a key role in the management and coordination of NESI, involving the implementation of the next national survey during 2021-2022.

The postdoctoral fellow will contribute to research and evaluation projects aimed at improving the system of care for substance use disorders. Responsibilities will vary but may include: collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, developing manuscripts, engagement with study academic, policy and practice partners, and contributing to new grant development.

Some travel to New York City and New York State project sites may be required (once allowable in the future).

Priority is for applicants with: documented evidence of scholarship in addiction/health services areas (e.g.,publications, presentations, grant submissions), experience working on federal grants, excellent scientific writing ability and strong oral communication skills, interpersonal skills that foster collaboration, and the ability to produce verbal and written communications appropriate for a range of audiences (e.g., scholarly, treatment providers, government partners).

Academic skills in the following areas required: knowledge of a range of research methodologies and analysis approaches including mixed methods, qualitative, and advanced quantitative analysis (e.g., multilevel modelling), and capability using statistical packages (e.g., NVivo, Atlas.ti, SPSS, SAS). Distinct interest and knowledge of substance use disorder intervention and treatment and implementation science frameworks/approaches is preferred.

The Public Health Research (PHR) Programme funds research to generate evidence to inform the delivery of non-NHS interventions, intended to improve the health of the public, and reduce inequalities in health.

Topic title: Alcohol interventions in secondary and further education for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities

Timescales: Proposals received by 1pm on 12 August 2021, and deemed within remit, will be assessed for their importance to public health by the Prioritisation Committee (PC) in September 2021.

Are you looking to make an impact in the international drug demand reduction field?

The International Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals (ISSUP) is a global, not for profit, non-government organisation to support the development of a professional drug demand reduction workforce.

Our work brings together stakeholders from the prevention, treatment and recovery fields to inform, connect and strengthen their research, practice and policy making to promote evidence-based, high quality and ethical approaches and practice to substance use prevention, treatment and recovery care.

Due to growth, we have created the new role of Research Associate, working within our newly formed ISSUP Scientific Support Team. The role of the team is to provide relevant and required input with respect to scientific and professional related issues to ensure that ISSUP can maintain a credible source of information and support both internally and externally to our members and followers.

The ideal candidate will have a degree or post-graduate qualification in a relevant discipline e.g. in the health, social service or education field, and will demonstrate appropriate experience in working or conducting research within the field of drug demand reduction, health education or promotion. You will have a working knowledge of the substance use prevention, treatment and recovery landscape, preferably internationally and keen to make a real impact within this growing area.

We are looking for someone who is keen to contribute to the field of drug demand reduction. You will be highly credible individual with the ability to capably offer advice and guidance in relation to scientific issues within this area. A self-motivated individual, you will be happy working within a close-knit virtual team and demonstrate good communication and organisational skills. You will be familiar with working with academic research. You must have an excellent command of spoken and written English (native or CEFR C2).

This role is part-time, 22.5 (3 days) per week, based remotely. We are willing to consider candidates from any location globally.

ISSUP is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity.

Salary range: up to £23,000 ($30,000). dependent upon experience

Interviews will be held online, in early May 2021

The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) is the Western Hemisphere's policy forum for dealing with the drug problem. The CICAD Executive Secretariat (ES-CICAD) supports the Commission by strengthening the human and institutional capabilities and channeling the collective efforts of its member states to reduce the production, trafficking, and use of illegal drugs. ES-CICAD assists member states in the implementation of CICAD’s Hemispheric Drug Strategy and its accompanying Plan of Action, and serves as Technical Secretariat for CICAD.

Project: Promoting the Smarter Use of Alternatives to Incarceration and Sentencing through Better Information in Colombia.

Location: Any OAS member state. (Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the selected person will work from their home country)

Junior wetenschappelijk medewerker

36 uur per week

Per mei/juni 2021 zijn we op zoek naar een enthousiaste junior wetenschappelijk medewerker. Ben je praktisch ingesteld, vind je het leuk om aan meerdere projecten tegelijk te werken en heb je zowel interesse in alcohol- als drugspreventie? Dan zijn we op zoek naar jou!

Waar kom je te werken

Het Trimbos-instituut is een inspirerende, informele en professionele werkomgeving met maatschappelijke impact. Je komt te werken bij een toonaangevend wetenschappelijk instituut. Wij maken onder andere vooruitstrevende (digitale) interventies, preventieprogramma’s en behandelmethoden en hebben daarbij een maatschappelijke rol om beleidsmakers, politici en professionals te informeren over middelengebruik, verslaving en de geestelijke gezondheid van de Nederlandse bevolking.

Het team alcohol- en drugspreventie werkt aan het ontwikkelen, toepassen en evalueren van kennis om met name jongeren, jongvolwassenen en hun omgeving te ondersteunen bij alcohol- en drugspreventie. Je komt te werken in een team met 20 bevlogen collega’s. Je werkt mee aan de ontwikkeling en implementatie van verschillende preventieprojecten.

Wat zijn je werkzaamheden

• Organiseren van werksessies voor jeugdprofessionals waarin je bespreekt hoe zij in hun gesprekken met jongeren een bijdrage kunnen leveren aan het voorkomen van problematisch cannabisgebruik.
• een bijdrage leveren aan de implementatie van het IJslandse preventiemodel, o.a. door het voeren van gesprekken met gemeenten.
• interventies ontwikkelen in het kader van het Experiment gesloten coffeeshopketen.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) is seeking to appoint a Director who will spearhead the collective and independent efforts of the Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland to reduce alcohol-related harm, including at national and international levels.

The SHAAP Director will lead advocacy and research activities, including developing and managing relevant projects, with a focus on achieving effective and cost-effective achievement of implementation of policies to reduce alcohol-related harms and related health inequalities.

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive of RCPE and responsible to the President of RCPE for policy and strategy and for implementation, the SHAAP Director is also advised by a Steering Group, which includes representatives of the Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland and co-opted experts.

Working with the SHAAP Steering Group, the Director will lead in enhancing links with health professionals and policy makers and the media. As well as developing and managing SHAAP’s strategy, operations and communications, the Director is responsible for financial management and reporting, including to the Scottish Government as a key funder.