What’s happening with women’s drinking? Understanding gender inequalities in alcohol consumption and harm in England

Levels of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm are higher among men, but this gap has been narrowing over time, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when alcohol deaths have risen significantly more among women than men. However, relatively little is understood about changes in women’s drinking and how these changes may have influenced trends in alcohol-attributable harm. We also do not have a clear understanding of how the overall harm profile of alcohol differs between men and women and how these differences may have changed over time.

This project will make use of a wide range of survey, market research and epidemiological data to quantify and understand trends and patterns in women’s drinking in recent decades and how these relate to shifts in drinking culture in England over the same period. You will develop new methods to quantify gender differences in the overall impact that alcohol consumption has on hospital admissions and mortality and how these have changed since 2001, use leading epidemiological modelling tools to forecast how these trends may play out in the future and consider the implications of these trends for future gender inequalities in health.

The results of this project will provide a deep understanding of gender differences in alcohol consumption and harm and the role that alcohol plays in gender inequalities in health. The findings will help to inform future alcohol policy decisions.

Team webpage: https://sarg-sheffield.ac.uk/publications/

Research environment: The successful candidate will join the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, an internationally-leading centre of excellence for alcohol policy research. We are a friendly, supportive and interdisciplinary group of researchers with backgrounds in public health, psychology, operational research, mathematics, systems engineering, behavioural science, social policy, demography and economics. The group attracts significant grant income, publishes in leading academic journals and works closely with policy makers in the UK and internationally. In addition to Sheffield’s excellent doctoral training programme, the candidate will have the opportunity to engage in a wide range of research activities of the group, contributing to publications, gaining experience of writing funding applications and developing their teaching experience.

Entry Requirements:

Essential: Candidates must have a first or upper second class honors degree, and a Merit at masters or significant research experience. At least one of these degrees should be in a relevant discipline (e.g. public health or a social science)

Desirable: This PhD project would suit candidates with a strong mathematical or statistical background and an interest in large datasets, trend analysis, typological models or modelling of complex social change. We particularly encourage applications from students aiming to use their PhD as a springboard to a scientific career.

How to apply:

Please complete a University Postgraduate Research Application form available here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying. Please clearly state the prospective main supervisor in the respective box and select ‘School of Medicine and Population Health: Population Health’ as the department.