Dissemination

Together, we can produce great research. At the DRNS we want you to feel part of a bigger community. There are lots of ways to get involved. Here is a list of things you might want to try:

Share your knowledge at DRNS events

DRNS sometimes run events where we are looking for teams or individuals to share their work with other people. At those times, we invite people to share short summaries of their proposed contribution to the event – an abstract. If an event is running which offers an opportunity for you to take part, it will be advertised here, in our newsletter, and on Twitter. If you want to write an abstract, you can find the guidelines here.

Write a blog for the community to read

Journal papers, conferences presentations/posters, and study reports are how research is often communicated, but to have a wider conversation about the field, blog posts can be useful. There are many things that posts might cover, for instance:

• Views on research that has been published
• Hopes for research that needs to take place
• Information about a great field-specific book you’ve written or read
• Reports about events that have recently taken place
• Sharing what you do during your working day

DRNS has already published posts from a range of people on a variety of topics, including a series on ‘the importance of evidence’. We will continue to publish articles that we think are of interest to the community, and we hope you continue to enjoy them.

If you have an idea for a blog/vlog/podcast or a series of blogs/vlogs/podcasts that you’d like to see on our website, check out the author guidelines and get in touch with us.

Share information with the wider community

Tell us about events, workshops, meetings, special interest groups, or training you are offering, tell us about a new paper or report you’ve published, make a call for participants in a study, or share news about a new source of funding. If your plans are of interest to the wider research-interested community, we will publish information about it on our website, tweet about it, and include it in our newsletter.

Work with DRNS to create an event or training, to organise a special interest group, or to make a suggestion for training that you believe would be useful for others

DRNS can help you to set up, promote, and run a variety of events. There are several reasons you may wish to do this:

• You want to gather all the people who are interested in a specific part of the field so that you can talk about what you could do to increase knowledge in that area. In the event that the special interest group decides to develop an idea into a bid, DRNS can support that too. Example ideas might be a lived experience/peer research group, or a group interested in research regarding the use of illicit drugs and its ties to homelessness.
• You want to start a conversation about a research idea you’ve had with a variety of people who may have a useful contribution to make.
• You want to share the findings of the research you’ve already done with a wider audience.
• You have skills and expertise you feel would be of benefit to our members and want to run a training event.

If you want to organise an event, simply get in touch. we would normally have a conversation with you to ensure that we are able to help you. DRNS can help you to advertise for interest through our member newsletter, our website and out networks, and we can help you to organise meetings.

Share your expertise with policymakers

DRNS are eager to hear from academics within the substance use field who may be interested in sitting and advising on Government Committees/Working Groups, as well as funding bodies boards and advisory groups. If you would be interested in getting involved, get in touch with details on your main areas of interest and expertise within the field.

Contribute to forum discussions

• Members will have access to the DRNS intranet where they can connect with others on forum boards, and continue conversations inspired by the DRNS events that they have attended.
• If you want to have further discussion about a blog you’ve read, become a member and start a conversation on our forum boards.