PhD: Addicted to Research

Society for the Study of Addiction
PhD: Addicted to Research

'PhD: addicted to research' is a podcast created by PhD students funded by the Society for the Study of Addiction and is for anyone doing a PhD or thinking about doing a PhD. We are all at different stages of our studies, from starting off to writing up, and will release a podcast every 2 weeks. In the episodes, we discuss our experiences and fears about going through 3 (and more) years of study. We also interview experts to get the best tips and advice for making it to the final graduation ceremony. We are very grateful to George Verrall for producing the music for this podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Mendelian Randomisation

    04/04/2022

    Mendelian Randomisation

    In this episode, Chloe Burke and Saba Ishrat introduce you to the basics of Mendelian Randomisation. They talk about how and why Mendelian Randomisation is used in addiction research to look at causal relationships, as well as its limitations.   They speak to two experts in the field. First, Dr Anya Topiwala talks about her experiences of using Mendelian Randomisation, including research assessing the relationship between drinking and telomere length. And second, to Dr Robyn Wootton who talks about using Mendelian Randomisation in studying the relationship between mental health and substance use. The second interview also covers the potential pitfalls of Mendelian Randomisation, and some practical tips to avoid them.   Chloe and Saba have compiled a selection of open-access links below: Assessing and addressing collider bias in addiction research: the curious case of smoking and COVID-19. By Harry Tattan-Birch and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2020).Assessing causal relationships using genetic proxies for exposures: an introduction to Mendelian randomization. By Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2017).Mendelian randomisation for psychiatry: how does it work, and what can it tell us? By Robyn E. Wootton and colleagues. Published in Molecular Psychiatry (2022).Making sense of Mendelian randomisation and its use in health research: A short overview. By Sean Harrison and colleagues. Published by Public Health Wales NHS Trust & Bristol University.MR Dictionary. Published by University of Bristol.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    44 min
  2. From PhD to post-doc

    12/21/2021

    From PhD to post-doc

    Merve Mollaahmetoglu talks to Dr Carol-Ann Getty and Dr Basak Tas about the time immediately after your PhD. They discuss funding, how to look out for a permanent position and how to choose your post-doc university. They also talk about how competitive fellowships are and when you should start applying for them. “I’m in my final year and in the writing up process. but I can’t image doing that alongside writing up a fellowship or a grant application” They also cover the impact of the pandemic and how to look after yourself during and after your PhD. “There’s this idea in academia that, because we like what we do, we have to sacrifice our personal life for it…. Yes, you know you do also need to think about your personal life and that can be an important priority in terms of choosing what type of route or what career you do take in academia” At the end, Merve interviews Professor Sir John Strang about the SSA’s post-doc transitional scheme and about his own reflections on working in addictions. “It probably does involve having an approach to [an academic career] where you’re much more willing to listen and to look around you at how both the nature of the problem one’s talking about, but also societal responses might be changing. And I think you have to be prepared to change your own thinking and change the type of work that you do over time. Some people would find that unsettling and view it negatively. Personally, I think it’s what makes the addictions field or substance misuse field endlessly fascinating.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 2m
  3. 11/23/2021

    Ketamine and alcohol use disorders

    Chloe, Merve and Zoe talk about recent research into ketamine treatment for alcohol use disorder. They cover the background of this area before taking an in-depth look at the results published in Merve's recent paper. The team discuss how the experiences that people had on ketamine changed their relationships with alcohol. They discuss the role of qualitative research in understanding the impact of psychedelic therapies particularly when people have different goals. They also cover some of the challenging and positive experiences that people had during the trial. "One aspect of the ketamine experience was that there were some inherent contradictions in it. The biggest were around the contradiction between the highly positive and highly negative experiences that people had and then also between the strong dissociation versus the feelings of connectedness and the unity with other beings that people reported."   The original paper can be found here: Frontiers | “This Is Something That Changed My Life”: A Qualitative Study of Patients' Experiences in a Clinical Trial of Ketamine Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorders | Psychiatry (frontiersin.org) and here is a link to the AWAKN Clinic mentioned this the podcast Awakn Clinics - The Effective Treatment Alternative (awaknlifesciences.com). There is also an episode on ketamine by Suzi Gage that is worth checking out Ketamine | Say Why To Drugs on Acast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min

About

'PhD: addicted to research' is a podcast created by PhD students funded by the Society for the Study of Addiction and is for anyone doing a PhD or thinking about doing a PhD. We are all at different stages of our studies, from starting off to writing up, and will release a podcast every 2 weeks. In the episodes, we discuss our experiences and fears about going through 3 (and more) years of study. We also interview experts to get the best tips and advice for making it to the final graduation ceremony. We are very grateful to George Verrall for producing the music for this podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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