Date: Monday 3rd Febuary 2020

Time: Wine reception 5.30pm, lecture 6pm

Location: GM LT2, Geoffrey Manton Building, Rosamond St West, Manchester

Tickets: Free - Available on Eventbrite

Sarah Galvani is Prof of Social Research and Substance Use, Dept of Sociology and Founder and Chair of SUAB Research Group – ManMet University

In this inaugural lecture Professor Sarah Galvani will offer reflections on the crucial importance of social research into substance use. Reflecting on lessons from professional practice, Sarah will present how her personal and professional experiences led to a career in social research and her role as the annoying social scientist in a medically dominated field.

Sarah will recount how her early work with Brian, Ruby and Billy, and her lifelong friendship with Emily, set her on the path to research; in particular, to question and move beyond RCTs and epidemiology to get to the lived reality of people’s experiences of substance use and attempt to reflect that reality in the results and outputs of her research.

Through examples drawn from over 20 years of research with groups of people on the margins of the margins… she will set out how systems and stereotypes often defeat innovation and good work in supporting people using substances and the constant need for holding such systems to account. She will talk of her failures and her possible successes in doing so.

Sarah will also talk of the challenges of creating an environment of support that considers the need for systemic change, the need to step around political agendas, and the need to develop for the best possible relationships with people to make a messy situation as supportive as possible.

Dr Sarah Galvani, DipSW

Professor of Social Research and Substance Use,

Dept of Sociology, Manchester Metropolitan University, England

Sarah’s currently leads work on end of life care for people using substances. This work has grown from an exploratory project to developing an improved model for practice using participatory action research.

Sarah particularly enjoys research relating to the use of substances by more marginalised groups of people. Her work has included the relationship between substance use and sight loss, and substance use in specific minority ethnic communities, for example the Punjabi community. She began her research career exploring alcohol’s role in violence to women and retains an interest in domestic and sexual abuse and child to parent violence. She is the UK’s leading expert on substance use in social work education and practice.

In addition to her academic role, Sarah is a registered social worker with a practice background in adult services, particularly working with people experiencing mental distress, homeless people, and people with alcohol and other drug problems. She has led research and policy work in the UK on substance use in social work education and practice including 'Alcohol and other drug use: the roles and capabilities of social workers'. She is widely published including practice guidance, pocket guides, online learning resources, peer reviewed journals, professional magazines and books.

Sarah has been a Trustee of Alcohol Research UK, Cumbria Alcohol and Drug Advisory Service and AVA (Against Violence and Abuse). Sarah founded the British Association of Social Work’s Special Interest Group in Alcohol and other Drugs which she chaired for 12 years from 2006-2018. She sits on the international editorial board of the journal Drugs: Education, Prevention and Practice.

In her spare time, Sarah dotes on her motorbike, partner, and two collies, but not necessarily in that order. As a resident of Cumbria, England (area includes the Lake District), she loves walking in the hills but is also a Formula 1 fan and a lapsed Liverpool FC follower.

Professor Robin Davidson will be the respondent to this lecture.

Professor Robin Davidson is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and has published widely in Addictions, Health Psychology and Psycho-oncology. He left the Leeds Addiction Unit in 1984 to become Head of Clinical Psychology Services for the Northern Health and Social Board and then in 1997, became Director of psychological services in the Belfast City Hospital Trust.

He has had editorial responsibilities for a number of academic journals including Addiction and Alcohol and Alcoholism. He is currently Chair of UK Smart Recovery. He was until recently Chair of Alcohol Research UK and GAIN ( the NI equivalent of NICE ). He has honorary appointments with Queens University Belfast, The University of Ulster and London South Bank University. He left the NHS several years ago and has a flourishing UK private practice, primarily providing psychological assessments for the criminal and family courts.

Professor Malcolm Press will introduce this lecture.

Professor Malcolm Press was appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University in 2015, having previously held positions at the Universities of Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester and UCL.

Malcolm is an ecologist with over 200 publications covering the impacts of climate and environmental change, tropical rain forest ecology, and subsistence farming in sub-Saharan Africa. He has studied plants and environments in a diverse range of ecosystems from the tropics to the high Arctic.

Malcolm is a trustee of WWF-UK, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), and sits on the Board of the Institute of Apprenticeships & Technical Education. Previously, he has served as president of the British Ecological Society, a trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, a council member of the National Trust, a council member of the Society of Biology, and as a deputy chair for a Research Excellence Framework panel.

Within Greater Manchester, Malcolm chairs the Memorials Advisory Group, established following the Manchester Arena attack of 22 May 2017. Additionally, Malcolm sits on the boards of Health Innovation Manchester, Corridor Manchester, Manchester Science Partnerships, and the Manchester International Festival. He is also a member of the North West Business Leadership Team.