Alcohol Policy & Societal Harm

This research area examines alcohol consumption as a major public health and public policy challenge, focusing on the societal harms that arise not only from health outcomes, but also from broader social and economic impacts. Alcohol-related harm contributes to preventable morbidity and mortality, places pressure on healthcare systems, and is associated with wider consequences such as injuries, violence, reduced productivity, and harms to families and communities. These impacts are unevenly distributed, often affecting vulnerable groups more strongly, and raise important questions of equity, prevention, and long-term resilience.

The research explores how regulatory frameworks and policy choices shape alcohol-related outcomes over time. It considers the design and effectiveness of key instruments such as taxation and pricing policies, marketing and availability restrictions, age-related measures, and targeted prevention strategies. A central theme is how policymakers can balance public health protection with individual autonomy, cultural norms, and market dynamics — and how alcohol regulation can remain proportionate, legitimate, and adaptable as patterns of consumption change.

In addition to regulation, this research area places strong emphasis on prevention and early intervention, including population-level prevention initiatives and evidence-based approaches such as screening and brief interventions in healthcare and community settings. These tools are increasingly recognised as cost-effective ways to reduce harmful consumption, especially when integrated into broader policy packages and supported by appropriate incentives and service delivery models.

A further focus is the economic evaluation of both regulatory and preventive measures. The research examines the costs, benefits, and distributional impacts of different policy options, including cost-effectiveness and broader societal value. This allows policymakers to assess not only whether an intervention works, but whether it represents good value for money, how it performs across contexts, and what unintended consequences may arise.

Overall, this research area aims to contribute to academic and policy discussions by providing a structured public policy perspective on alcohol-related harm, grounded in empirical evidence and aligned with better regulation principles — with a focus on practical learning about what works, under what conditions, and at what cost.