2026: 10-11 March (on campus), 17 March (online), 9 April (online), 23 April (online), 6 May (online), two days in week 24 (on campus).
10 March: 11.00-17.00
11 March: 08.30-14.00
Online sessions (17/3, 9/4, 23/4, 6/5): 09.30-12.30
Two days in week 24: TBA
Esben Houborg, Geoffrey Hunt, Sidsel Karsberg, Torsten Kolind, Sinikka Kvamme, Maj Nygaard-Christensen, Thomas Friis Søgaard, Kristine Rømer Thomsen, Birgitte Thylstrup, Lotte Vallentin-Holbech.
Studies of drugs and alcohol do not constitute a discipline in their own right, but rather comprise a wide range of social science disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, criminology, history and public health. Individual PhD projects in the field of drugs and alcohol often take their starting point in one of these disciplines. However, it is important to be aware of the central areas, debates and concepts that cut across the individual academic disciplines. Often, one's PhD project will touch upon or directly address some of these debates and areas. The purpose of this PhD course is therefore to introduce these central debates and areas from an interdisciplinary perspective. The goal is to enable PhD students to reflect critically on their own subject matter and to equip them to establish themselves as drug and alcohol researchers.
Even though the drug and alcohol field is fundamentally interdisciplinary, many researchers primarily focus within their own disciplines and use the types of methods they are most comfortable with, such as quantitative, qualitative, or historical methods. This is understandable, as it is important to immerse oneself in one’s subject and become an expert within a limited area and discipline. At the same time, it is important to be aware of other perspectives and approaches within the field, as this helps to strengthen one's critical academic sense, place one's own research area and results in a broader perspective, and thereby be better able to reflect on one's subject matter. Furthermore, knowledge of other disciplines and approaches can improve competencies in interdisciplinary research. For example, 'addiction' is understood differently within different disciplines, just as one will often study different aspects of the phenomenon within the different disciplines. But at the same time cross-disciplinary addiction research may produce new insights that single disciplinary research cannot.
Furthermore, there are a range of certain key areas in the field that it is important to be familiar with as a drug and alcohol researcher, including knowledge of: societal interventions like treatment, prevention, and harm reduction; intoxication and recreational drug consumption; drug and alcohol policy; drug markets; and more. The course will therefore enable participants to understand how their own approaches and use of concepts in their individual research projects are situated within the overall multi-disciplinary field of drugs and alcohol research. The course will include not only the most recent approaches and understandings operating within the field but also the 'classic' approaches that still influence current debates and understandings.
In addition to academic objectives, we also aim for the course to give PhD students specialising in drug and alcohol studies an opportunity to get to know each other better and build important professional networks with fellow PhD students and established researchers.
The course will begin and end with joint gatherings over two days. These gatherings will include lectures, group work and workshops, and PhD students will present short working papers based on their own projects, followed by feedback sessions from both other PhD students and established researchers. There will also be social events aimed at strengthening professional networks.
In between the two gatherings, there will be a series of online lectures followed by online group work and exercises with guidance from the teachers, where central concepts and themes are discussed. The exercises will be announced before the sessions for the students to prepare themselves. There will also be discussions in plenum based on the curriculum, the lectures, and the students' own work. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions during the lectures through structured Q&A sessions.
The course lectures will be given by various experts in the field with backgrounds in different academic disciplines, to ensure the course's interdisciplinary focus. The lectures will focus on central concepts and approaches in the drug and alcohol field and include empirical examples from the researchers' ongoing research.
At both the physical and online gatherings, the course organizers will be present to ensure continuity of discussions throughout the course, coherence in the learning outcomes, and to manage group work.
PLEASE SEE DETAILS ON COURSE CONTENT (PROGRAMME).
English.
Pre-course preparation includes reading the course curriculum. Relevant texts will be made available to participants in advance to help enhance their understanding throughout the course.
To obtain 7 ECTS, the student must actively participate in classes, read the literature on the curriculum, actively participate in discussions, group work, exercises and workshops, and write a brief working paper of approx. 5 pages that relate their own projects to course content of their own choice. The paper is to be presented and discussed at the final gathering.
This course is designed for PhD students specialising in drug and alcohol studies. However, we expect there to be variation in how central these issues are to each student's individual project. PhD students will typically come from backgrounds in sociology, psychology, criminology, public health or anthropology. The course is open to both national and international students.
Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 8, building 1322, room 224.
Esben Houborg and Torsten Kolind.
2 February 2026.
25
Please complete the online application form.