O'Gorman

Aileen

Aileen O'Gorman, Professor of Substance Use and Social Policy at the University of the West of Scotland with over 25 years’ experience in drugs research, education and advocacy in the UK, Ireland, and internationally. My research focuses on the intersection of social inequalities with drug-related harms, and the impact of drug and social policies on communities of place. Work that I conduct collaboratively with people who use drugs, civil society organisations, policy makers, practitioners and service providers to deliver inclusive research for social change.

Current research focuses on drug-related deaths – developing a social autopsy methodology and a social determinants framework to assess the social, structural, and systemic factors contributing to deaths. I lead an EU network on the Social Determinants of Drug-Related Deaths, am a board member of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) and the Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF), and lecture on the Contemporary Drug and Alcohol Studies programme at UWS.