News and events

‌The MARC Spring event will deliver a programme of training and talks about clinical academic addiction activities in the UK from leading experts and current MARC fellows.

Thursday afternoon will deliver training and skill development in publishing your work. Speakers include Niall Boyce, Editor of Lancet Psychiatry and Dr David Kessler, Reader in Primary Care at University of Bristol.

YOU are eligible to attend if you are interested in applying to the MARC scheme to undertake a PhD.

PhD students undertaking a PhD in addictions at any of the MARC collaborating centres, plus trainees and fellows already attached to the MARC scheme will also be attending.

To apply to attend the Thursday please fill out this form: THIS EVENT HAS TAKEN PLACE‌.

On Friday, a series of lectures will showcase the cutting edge research in addiction in the UK from leading experts and MARC fellows.

This is an open event for anyone interested in hearing about clinical addiction research.  

Speaker include: Prof John Strang, Prof Graeme Henderson, Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, Dr Tony Goldstone

To register your interest for the Friday please email marc@imperial.ac.uk

On:          28th and 29th March 2019
At:           Engineers House, Bristol

Click here for the MARC Spring School schedule‌‌‌‌

PLEASE NOTE THAT REGISTRATION WILL BE CLOSING ON 12TH JULY

We're pleased to invite you to our first MARC Summer Meeting.

Please join us to hear about the latest research and opportunities available in clinical addiction from those working in the MRC Addiction Research Clinical (MARC) Training programme:

DATE: Wednesday 25th July 2018

TIME: 1pm – 8pm

At: Sir Alexander Fleming Building, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London.   Following the BAP Annual Summer Meeting morning session.

FEE: £50 includes lunch and evening reception. Bursaries available to cover registration and appropriate travel - particularly if you are a student.

The plenary lecture by Professor David Nutt will be followed by a reception.

There will opportunity to meet with MARC leaders, supervisors current students and associates.

Draft Programme:

12.00-1.00      Light Lunch & Registration
1.00 – 1.15       Welcome Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes 
1.15 – 1.30       Update on clinical training in addiction Professor Colin Drummond
1.30 – 3.10       Presentations from current MARC fellows including Emmert Roberts,  Prianka Padmanathan, and Sam Turton
3.10 – 4.00      Coffee/tea networking + posters presentations
4.00 – 5.20      Presentations from current MARC fellows
5.20 – 6.10       David Nutt plenary “Addiction – from neuroscience research to new treatments"
6.10 – 8.00       Reception

REGISTER HERE

Please register by 12th July.

Registration will cost £50 and bursaries are available to support attendance at both the meeting and BAP meeting. MARC Event Bursary Application

This MARC event will follow on from the morning session of the British Association for Psychopharmacology’s (BAP) annual summer meeting entitled: “The opiate system in addiction: Latest findings from substance and behavioural addictions.” For full details please see the BAP website (please register separately).

About MARC

The vision of the MRC Addiction Research Clinical (MARC) Training programme is to develop the future UK clinical research leaders in addiction to build and sustain capacity in this vital area of clinical neuroscience and address the gap in clinical research capacity in the addictions field in the UK. It is led by Prof Anne Lingford-Hughes at Imperial College London, with Prof Colin Drummond at King’s College London and Prof Matt Hickman at University of Bristol.

MARC can support clinicians (eg psychiatrists, psychologists etc) to undertake a PhD to train in a range of research approaches and techniques to effectively translate basic and epidemiological evidence into the clinical environment using early (T1, T2) experimental medicine studies in patients for the benefit of clinical populations and their treatment.

We are pleased to announce that we are now taking applications for our MARC PhD clinical posts.

Applications are invited for this prestigious clinical PhD training programme in clinical addiction research to commence in the 2018. Successful applicants are likely to be psychiatrists or psychologists however we welcome applications from other clinical specialties working in addiction e.g. public health, general practice. Support includes a clinical salary, PhD fees, research expenses, training funds, travel and meeting costs. The posts will be based at one of the MARC institutions, Imperial College London, King's College London or Bristol University.

Interested candidates are required to contact individual supervisors prior to submitting their application and should and will have included details of their research proposal on the application.

The job application form can be found HERE*

Further details can also be found on our PhD Call Out page. Closing date for applications is 31st January 2018.

*Please note this link may not work in Safari - please refer to the Imperial Website job pages reference MED00084.

NIHR CLAHRC National Conference 2017: Tackling alcohol and addictions through applied health research 12th December 2017

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) South London and the Medical Research Council Addiction Research Clinical training programme (MARC) are pleased to invite you to a conference: Tackling alcohol and addictions through applied health research.

This half-day conference will showcase current work in alcohol and addictions research and will include examples of innovative applied health research. It will also provide a platform for PhD students working in this field to discuss the challenges of completing a PhD and to present their projects to an audience of senior researchers. The aim of the conference is to inspire and promote applied health research to prevent and treat alcohol and drug addiction.

Who is this conference for:
The event is relevant to PhD students, people considering doing a PhD, health service commissioners, researchers and practitioners working in the drug and alcohol fields and patients and the public with an interest in addictions research.

Topics include:
• Alcohol screening and brief interventions in different settings
• Assertive outreach treatment for frequent hospital attenders
• Opioid analgesic addiction
• ‘How to survive a PhD’– from the perspective of students and supervisors
• Presentation of PhD projects in alcohol and addictions research

When:
Tuesday 12 December 2017
12.30pm – 5.30pm

Where:
Wolfson Lecture Theatre
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN)
Main Building
King’s College London Denmark Hill
16 De Crespigny Park
London SE5 8AF

How to register: Tickets for this event are free and admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register through Eventbrite. Lunch will be available from 12.30pm on the day, and the conference is from 1.30pm – 5.30pm.

MARC's newest Clinical Research Fellow talks to MRC Insight about why he has chosen a career in Addiction.

Interview with Dr Emmert Roberts MRC Insight

Emmett will be undertaking an MARC funded PhD under the supervision of Professor Colin Drummond, and Prof Matthew Hotopf at King's College London. He will also be undertaking a fully funded MSc in Epidemiology prior to starting his PhD training.

A key vision of MARC is to promote opportunities for specialist addiction research, this includes funding for two PhD students at each participating university, Imperial College, King's College London and University Bristol.

The six selected researchers will have an opportunity to develop their research under the guidance and support of some of the country's leading specialists in addiction research.

We expect to announce our first call in early 2016. For initial enquiries please contact our administrator, Celeste Miles at marc@imperial.ac.uk, or:

• Imperial College - Anne Lingford-Hughes (anne.lingford-hughes@imperial.ac.uk)
• King's College London - Colin Drummond (colin.drummond@kcl.ac.uk)
• University of Bristol - Matt Hickman (matthew.hickman@bristol.ac.uk)

We are pleased to announce that we are now taking applications for our MARC PhD clinical posts.

Applications are invited for this prestigious clinical PhD training programme in clinical addiction research to commence in the 2016-2017 academic year. Successful applicants are likely to be psychiatrists or psychologists however we welcome applications from other clinical specialties working in addiction e.g. public health, general practice. Support includes a clinical salary, PhD fees, research expenses, training funds, travel and meeting costs. The posts will be based at one of the MARC institutions.

Interested candidates are required to contact individual supervisors prior to submitting their application and should and will have included details of their research proposal on the application.

The job application form can be found HERE*

Further details can also be found on our PhD Call Out page. Closing date for applications is 19 September 2016.

*Please note this link may not work in Safari - please refer to the Imperial Website job pages reference HM2016106

Update: Applications now closed. Please keep a eye on our website for details of upcoming opportunities.

We are pleased to announce that Marc lead Anne Lingford Hughes will be a speaker at the MRC Summer School in Brain Disorders Research.

This free four-day course hosted by the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University will cover topics including epidemiology, neuroimaging, molecular biology and genetics through lectures, interactive sessions and informal discussions.

The course will take place 11-14 July 2016 at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University.

This Summer School aims to provide clinical trainees and non-clinical (MSc, PhD, first post-doc) scientists with a grounding in brain disorder research, and to inspire and inform the researchers of tomorrow.

In February ALICE RAP (Addiction and Lifestyles in Contemporary Europe Reframing Addictions Project) will be holding an exciting online and onsite debate on the concept, nature, consequences, business and governance of addictive products deriving from the ALICE RAP project.

Discussions will be stimulated by short scientific presentations on key topics - these will present the latest evidence and knowledge on drug use, harms and mechanisms and examine policy and programme options, prevention and treatment, to mitigate the harm caused by addictive products.

MARC's very own Anne Lingford-Hughes will be presenting at the event on "Dopamine and the failure of pharma treatment". Professor Lingford-Hughes will be among high-level scientists, policy actors from national and international organisations and expert civil society actors, and the debate is expected to shape the messages from multidisciplinary addiction science for drug policy influencers and implementers. A-Debate programme.

The event can be attended in person or online. The online A-Debate will be streamed live and can be viewed by anyone, without registration. Online participants can register to receive the draft A-Debate Science Summary Document and to actively participate actively (by sending comments and questions to the discussions). 

ALICE RAP is a European research project, co-financed by the European Commission, which started in April 2011 and aims to stimulate a broad and productive debate on science-based policy approaches to addictions. This will be an opportunity

Find out more about ALICE RAP

We had a great day on the 3 December 2015 as the MRC Addiction Research Clinical Training (MARC) project was officially launched at The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London.

The day was attended by over 60 addiction enthusiasts including members of the lead institutions, King's College London (IoPPN) Imperial College London, and University Bristol as well as health care professionals.

It was an opportunity to hear the goals and visions of the MARC as well as hearing from specialist researchers in the area including Dr Suzi Gage (speaking on 'Cannabis, tobacco and psychosis in ALSPAC' and Professor John Strang (speaking on 'Naloxone in the prevention of opioid death').

It was also our pleasure to welcome Professor van den Brink, University of Amsterdam, to complete the day speaking on his research into alcohol dependence and personalised treatment. Professor van den Brink is a world leading addiction psychiatrist and researcher. His research aims at uncovering neurobiological processes involved in the development of addictive behaviours.

The day also gave attendees the opportunity to network with other researchers and workers across the country with a specialist interest in addiction research.

It is hoped that this event marked the start of many opportunities to promote the work and vision of MARC.

For more information on MARC contact marc@imperial.ac.uk