New Directions 2026: New Thinking, New Directions, took place in Stirling from 6-7th October.
Dr Richard Purves, one of the organisers of the conference on behalf of The Institute of Social Marketing & Health, Stirling University, said in a Linkedin post:
“I’m reflecting on the openness, curiosity and empathy that people brought to the conference.
In public health, it’s easy to become absorbed in population trends and headline numbers. Those numbers matter, but behind them are people, relationships, and human stories. Understanding alcohol consumption means listening to what drinking means in people’s lives: pleasure, belonging and identity, alongside harm, loss and recovery. A thread running through our discussions was the role of values. What do people who drink, policymakers and researchers consider normal, acceptable or desirable? Where do those views come from, and how do our own assumptions shape the questions we ask and the solutions we favour?
Across conversations about communicating risk, stigma, alcohol in sport and the future of pubs, we kept returning to some fundamental questions: What shapes drinking culture? What are we ultimately trying to achieve when we seek to change behaviour? And whose priorities inform those goals?
For me, these discussions reinforced the importance of being clear about our aims – reducing harm, improving wellbeing and addressing inequalities – while taking people’s experiences seriously and examining the social and commercial environments that shape their choices. Marking 50 years of the New Directions in the Study of Alcohol Group made this a particularly fitting moment to challenge assumptions and reconsider established thinking. The encouragement to “be curious, be generous, be willing to reconsider” captured the spirit of the two days beautifully. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and to our organising colleagues at Stirling, the New Directions group and the Scottish Alcohol Research Network. It was a privilege to help create a space for thoughtful disagreement, human connection, and new ideas.”
Get in touch if you are interested in future New Directions conferences.
