2025 Annual Conference
On the 5th June 2025, DRNS hosted its Annual Conference at Dundee University. The day focussed on knowledge exchange and provided an opportunity for academic researchers, practitioners and clinicians, third sector representatives, and people with living/lived experience to hear and share research.
A warm thank you to all those that attended: it was inspiring to see knowledge shared on key areas such as maternity and treatment, what community interventions involve, and how low threshold services and a focus on mental health and wellbeing are key to creating hope and meaningful engagement.
Connection not correction, and the relationship being the intervention are concepts that emerged as core to ‘what’s next’ in terms of Scottish drug policy.
The event started with an opening address from Neil Grey MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care at the Scottish Government, followed by a welcome note from Pamela Dudek OBE, independent chair of the Dundee Drug and Alcohol Partnership (ADP).
Listening to feedback from our conference last year, we reduced the number of keynote speakers to leave more room for connection building in between panels. This year we had two keynote speakers:
- Professor Julia Buxton, Professor of Justice at John Moore’s University, Liverpool: Global Trends and Lessons to Learn.
- Rob Calder, Chief Executive officer for the Society for the Study of Addiction: The Society for the Study of Addiction: Addressing New (and old) Challenges in Addiction Science.
The event also incorporated four parallel sessions themed as the following:
- Parental and Gender Perspectives on Substance Use and Recovery chaired by James Mitchell
- Treatment and Recovery chaired by Anna Ross
- People Experiencing Incarceration or Homelessness chaired by Lisa Schölin
- Forensic Science, Drug-Related Deaths, and Harm Reduction chaired by Jonathan Brett
During each parallel session presenters had an opportunity to share current research on each topic. A full list of presentation titles can be found here.
We also had space for poster presentations featuring a range of interesting research. The winner was Paul Toner of The University of Dundee with his research Post-Traumatic Growth in Adults in Recovery from Problematic Substance. Alongside the posters there were stalls, including Scottish Drugs Forum, Strive, Crew 2000 and Simon Community
The afternoon session included a panel discussion, chaired by Dr Anna Ross, entitled Taking the Longer View: Evidence Informed Policy in future Strategic Drug and Alcohol Approach. This was an interactive panel exploring ‘what next’ in terms of drug policy research in Scotland. The panel included:
- Maggie Page of the Scottish Government Drug Policy Research Team
- Roy Robertson, retired G.P, Edinburgh University and experience of long-term engagement in Scottish drug policy
- Kirsten Horsburgh Chief Executive of the Scottish Drugs Forum
- Tara Shivaji of Public Health Scotland
- Tracey McFall CEO of Scottish Recovery Consortium
Finally, in addition to the lives lost to drug related deaths in Scotland, 2024-25 saw the passing of many people involved in drug policy, both in Scotland and internationally. All of these deaths lay heavy on the communities’ hearts, and we would like to extend our warmest condolences to those who were, and are, directly affected.
