This year the annual NDSAG conference is held in Norwich for the first time and incorporates a symposium featuring research funded by the Alcohol Education Research Council.

The 2010 conference will address contemporary challenges facing alcohol treatment services and commissioners. At the time when there are signs that the first comprehensive national UK  alcohol strategies are beginning to be implemented locally, the political consensus is that public spending must be cut. NICE alcohol guidance is imminent on providing better, evidence-based alcohol interventions and treatment, but can under resourced alcohol treatment systems really make a difference without new investment?

The New Directions in the Study of Alcohol Group conference programme is designed for practitioners, managers, researchers, commissioners and anyone else interested in the alcohol field. This year’s conference in Norwich will feature the usual mix of erudition, hard work, robust debate and informality: a proven formula that promotes high quality learning and networking.