Addictions Department

Formed in March 2010, the Addictions Department brought together the addiction research unit and the sections of alcohol research, tobacco research and behavioural pharmacology. The Addictions Department is also known as the National Addiction Centre (NAC). We are one of the most productive addictions research groups in Europe. We represent one of the chosen areas of important health-related study as the newly created Addictions Clinical Academic Group (CAG) within King's Health Partners, and form one of the core areas of the Academic Health Science Centre that brings together university partners King's College London with the NHS from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King's College Hospital, and Guy's and St Thomas'. Substance Use Disorders is one of the main themes of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health which is based at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP).

The emphasis of our research is on 'what works' in the prevention and treatment of substance misuse: the NAC represents a network of clinicians, researchers and clinical teachers who have a shared commitment to excellence in prevention and treatment, and to supporting and strengthening national and international endeavours in their 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.

Our students participate fully in the induction & training programme offered by the IoP, and benefit from specialist training in drug and alcohol studies. Our lecturers and tutors come from both academic and clinical backgrounds, offering our students an opportunity to learn from a theoretical and practical perspective. Work placements in our partner clinical units, and opportunities for involving service users in student research projects are available.

Based at King’s Denmark Hill Campus, in the Addiction Sciences Building, the Department has dedicated workstations offering network access and printing facilities for all students, and in addition those accepted to our PhD programme have their own desk area allocated to them. The IoP offers the largest psychiatric library in Western Europe, holding 3000 print journal titles and allowing access to several thousand electronic journals.

Self funding; studentships available (limited).