Addictions

The Addictions Department, also known as the National Addiction Centre (NAC), is one of Europe’s leading research centres in addiction science. 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 Instituteof Psychiatry.

The emphasis of our research is on ‘what works’ in the prevention and treatment of substance-related problems: the NAC represents 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 40 years, the NAC has developed a body of research evidence that has informed the evidence base for theUK treatment system and development of new treatment services for alcohol, smoking and drug problems. This work ranges from trials of new therapies and preventative treatments to studies seeking to understand the genetic and biological basis of addictive behaviour.

PhD projects are available in areas related to the development and evaluation of new treatments for alcohol, smoking and drug problems and includes studies seeking to understand the underlying psychological and biological bases and change processes of addictive behaviours, as well as policy-driven and workforce development projects and treatment trials.

Professor John Strang who heads the Department is one of theUK’s leading experts in addiction and one of only six Addiction Research scientists outsideNorth Americawho is listed in http://www.isihighlycited.com.

Graduate research students work closely with their supervisors and enjoy regular meetings to discuss their progress. They also liaise with other members of staff with relevant research interests and are encouraged to attend and participate in departmental research presentations and other Institute seminars. There is a full induction for new graduate students on commencing their studies. Each full-time graduate research student is allocated their own workspace at the National Addiction Centre; facilities for part-time students can be arranged according to their needs.

Training courses run by the department, the Institute or through the Graduate School can be utilised as required to provide training in a wide variety of topics, from transferable skills to academic areas directly relevant to the student's thesis. King's runs an outstanding Researcher Development Programme which is designed to meet the individual training needs of research students. The programme has been developed to ensure we produce the most qualified, experienced and employable researchers.