Professor Carol Emslie is the co-Director of the Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) and leads the Substance Use research group (@SubMisuseGcu) at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU). After joining GCU in 2012, she was selected for Scottish Crucible, a development programme for Scotland's research leaders. She now leads GCU's ReaCH Crucible which aims to develop outward-facing early career researchers who can communicate their research to the public, policy makers & practitioners. Her research focuses on gender and alcohol consumption. Recent projects involve translating complex findings about gender and alcohol into infographics (funded by Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems), a social media campaign with Alcohol Focus Scotland higlighting the cynical marketing of alcohol to women (#dontpinkmydrink) and a qualitative project exploring the impact of lowering Scotland’s drink drive limit (funded by CSO). Current work includes a project exploring alcohol and tobacco availability in Scottish neighbourhoods over time (funded by ESRC: lead Prof Niamh Shortt), the impact of minimum unit pricing on homeless people (CSO), and experiences of alcohol services among LGBTQ+ people in Scotland (SHAAP). 

Carol's research includes a content analysis of newspaper representations of men and women’s 'binge' drinking which highlights the disproportionate focus on women's' drinking (also featured in The Conversation) and exploring the social context of drinking in LGBT communities in Scotland.  Other work includes a gender-sensitive scoping review of population level interventions which influence alcohol-related harm (working with the University of Stirling and Glasgow Centre for Population Health) and MRC-funded research focusing on drinking in midlife.

She has held three research grants with the National Institute for Health Research. A current project (led by Prof Niamh Fitzgerald) explores the impact of extending the opening hours of bars and clubs on emergency services, crime and health.  Past projects include a multi-centre RCT exploring whether texting innovative messages to men in deprived areas would reduce their binge drinking, while the other was a qualitative study across four cities in the UK exploring barriers and facilitators to immunisation in Traveller Communities.

Carol is co-Chair of the Scottish Alcohol Research Network, currently facilitates the SSA Qualitative Methods Journal club and is an assistant editor for the journal Addiction . Previously she was one of the Convenors for the British Sociological Association Alcohol Study group, and on the Grants Advisory Panel for Alcohol Research UK (Now Alcohol Change UK).  

Carol graduated from Glasgow University (First Class Honours, Sociology) and gained her PhD from the MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit. Her quantitative thesis examined the health of men and women within a British Bank in order to explore whether gender differences in minor morbidity persist amongst men and women working in similar jobs. She then worked as a Research Fellow in the Department of General Practice, Glasgow University on a qualitative project which investigated people's perceptions of a family history of heart disease, before returning to a Senior Investigative Scientist post in the Gender & Health programme at the MRC Social & Public Health Sciences Unit. 

Instragram clip for alcohol awareness week 2023

WHO webinar on gender and alcohol

Clip (c1 min) about LGBTQ+ people's experience of alcohol services- Link

New York Times article on women and alcohol - Link

Interview on the feminisation of alcohol for BBC Radio’s Women’s Hour  - Link

 Podcast about work on gender and alcohol - Link 

#dontpinkmydrink social media campaign - Link

How alcohol companies use International Women’s Day to sell more drinks to women - Link