Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry /
Addiction Research Unit
The Addiction Research Unit works hand in hand with the Addictions Division (part of the Specialist Services Directorate) of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) to improve understanding of addiction to drugs, alcohol and tobacco, and to develop effective preventative and treatment interventions. Together, they are known as The National Addiction Centre (NAC): Professor John Strang is both Head of the Addiction Research Unit and Director of the NAC.
Much of the research is carried out with the help of people with addictions who have been referred for treatment to services run by SLaM’s Addictions Division and is supported by the charity Action on Addiction, the only independent UK research charity dedicated to seeking new ways to prevent and treat nicotine, alcohol and drug abuse. Action on Addiction also funds research fellows who are based within the Addiction Research Unit.
The emphasis of the research is on ‘what works’ in the prevention and treatment of substance misuse: the NAC is a network of clinicians, researchers and clinical teachers who have a shared commitment to excellence in prevention and treatment work, and to supporting and strengthening national and international endeavours in this field.
Over the last 30 years, the NAC has developed a body of research evidence that has informed the development of new treatment services for alcohol, smoking and drug problems in the UK. This work ranges from trials of new therapies and preventative treatments to studies seeking to understand the genetic and biological basis of addictive behaviour.
Professor Strang is one of the UK’s leading experts in addiction and influences policy on a national and international level by acting as a Consultant Advisor to the Department of Health.
The Addiction Research Unit runs two Masters degree courses: Clinical and Public Health Aspects of Addiction and the International Programme in Addiction Studies. Senior academics in the Unit supervise PhD students working on a variety of addiction-related studies.
The National Addiction Centre Seminar Series brings together addiction specialists and researchers from the UK and around the world to discuss the latest findings in the field. The series features regular presentations from visiting international speakers and covers a broad spectrum of topics, from neurobiological research to public health and policy.
Members of the NAC team are contributors to many specialist journals, including
Four of the senior staff of the Addiction Research Unit sit on the executive of the Society for the Study of Addiction, a learned organisation that promotes the coming together of professions in the field of addiction. The Society publishes Addiction and Addiction Biology.
The Addiction Research Unit is based in the Addiction Sciences Building in Windsor Walk , behind the IoP main building and The Maudsley Hospital.
The Addiction Research Unit is a principal member of the Addictions Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG), one of nine specialist groups that bring together research teams and individual researchers from different departments and disciplines in the IoP and SLaM, to work together in a common field.
It is part of the Department of Psychiatry within the Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry.
Addiction Research Unit
Division of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, PO48
4 Windsor Walk
London SE5 8BB
Contact: Dawn Mellors
Email: d.mellors@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Phone:
Fax: 020 7848 0818
Bob Patton
(Health Services Research Co-ordinator for SLaM Addictions Division)
Email: r.patton@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Phone: