The alcohol industry, public health sciences and policy (360G-Wellcome-200321_Z_15_Z)

Society benefits from evidence informed public health policies. Effective and cost-effective policies are needed to ameliorate the large societal and public health burdens of alcohol. Alcohol policy making is undermined by the influence of vested interests, which results in ineffective policies lacking evidential support. This research will develop our understanding of the roles the alcohol industry plays within the UK policy making context and more broadly in influencing global research agendas, science and policy. This research encompasses study of how industry actors influence the processes of evidence production, how evidence is managed within the political strategies of industry actors, and the impacts evidence management has within the policy making process. The research will initially develop a new platform to capture publicly available data and undertake a series of systematic reviews. These will inform subsequent interview, documentary and multi-method studies investigating corporate actors, public health sciences and the science-policy interface. Ethical implications for research will be explored. A public engagement project will be developed with UK policy makers and civil society organisations. The programme will advance global research agendas on vested interests, science and policy, and inform national and international alcohol policies, contributing more broadly to effective population-level prevention strategies.