SHLS Substance Use Professor clinches RSE Research Collaboration Award
Glasgow Caledonian's School of Health and Life Sciences (SHLS) Professor of Substance Use Research Elizabeth Hughes has been awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) grant to further her research into mental health illness and substance use.
The RSE’s Research Collaboration Grant will help set up the Acute Response to Emergency Mental Health and Substance use (ARMHS) Research Network, led by Dr Lisa Schölin, from the University of Edinburgh, in collaboration with Professor Hughes and Dr Gearoid Brennan, NHS Lothian/University of Edinburgh.
The RSE’s Research Awards Programme runs twice a year in spring and autumn. It aims to support Scotland’s research sector by nurturing promising talent, stimulating research in Scotland, and promoting international collaboration.
The pioneering work that Professor Hughes is undertaking in the area of emergency, unplanned and crisis care for people who have multiple needs, led to the development of a successful application to the RSE to establish the research network.
Professor Hughes said: “Unplanned crisis care for people with mental health, substance use and other vulnerabilities is a significant issue for the health service and emergency services.
“In addition, police and ambulance services are often the only service available, especially out of hours, and there is little option for them other than to take a person in distress to the local emergency department.
“This is a space that is not designed for mental health patients and can be highly distressing for the individual, and all concerned. We also believe that there are better and more compassionate ways of providing emergency care, as well as exploring interventions to reduce or prevent crisis.
“As this is a multi-faceted problem, this requires a multi-disciplinary approach and the aim of the research collaboration is to bring together topic and methodological expertise as well as those with clinical and practice experience, and those with lived experience, in order to prioritise research questions and develop applications for funded research.
“This research is especially important for Scotland given the focus on reducing drug-related deaths, tackling alcohol-related harm, and improving mental health of the population.”
She said the aims of the network also align with the Scottish Government Safe Spaces Scoping Report and the review of Psychiatric Emergency Plans,undertaken by the Mental Welfare Commission.
Professor Hughes recently completed an NIHR funded study RECO study, examining what works in terms of models of care for people who have severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use problems – story here on GCU Newsroom.
Following on from this work, Professor Hughes is also co-investigator in the ESRC funded Research Centre Vulnerabilities and Policing Futures, on policing and mental health, which will be reporting its findings later in 2025.
Professor Hughes has also been successful in obtaining a grant, led by SHLS psychology researcher Dr Martha Canfield, from the Scottish Institute for Policing Research, which aims to conduct a rapid review of best practices in relation to the transfer of care from police to mental health services.
Professor Hughes is based in the SHLS Department of Nursing and Community Health and is a researcher in the School's Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) Substance Use Research Group.
Photo shows Prof Elizabeth Hughes, Dr Gearoid Brennan and Dr Lisa Schölin.