The 50th Annual Symposium of the Kettil Bruun Society (KBS) was a five-day event held in Glasgow from 9-13 June 2025, which allowed researchers from all over the world to present on their alcohol-related research. During the symposium, SHAAP hosted a workshop on Minimum Unit Pricing.
It has been said that MUP of alcohol is the most thoroughly evaluated public health policy in Scotland and the policy itself, while shown to be effective, has not progressed without controversy. The aim of this event was to learn from the people on the inside about what it was like to oversee and to input to such an extensive and heavily scrutinised evaluation programme. Participants were invited to discuss what went well, what researchers and programme managers would have done differently if they were to do it all again, and how it played out in the media.
Speakers at the event were: Dr Grant Wyper1, Prof John Holmes2, Prof Carol Emslie3 and Jennifer Trueland4. It will be chaired by Dr Alastair MacGilchrist, Chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP)’s Steering Group. A partnership of the medical royal colleges and Faculty of Public Health in Scotland and the original proponents of MUP in Scotland, is hosting this event.
1) Principal Epidemiologist at Public Health Scotland; 2) Professor of Alcohol Policy and Director of the Sheffield Addictions Research Group (SARG), University of Sheffield; 3) Co-Director Research Centre for Health (ReaCH) and Lead Substance Use Research Group, Glasgow Caledonian University; 4) Freelance Health Journalist.
You can access the presentations from the workshop here:
“MUP, harmful drinks and alcohol dependence” by Prof John Holmes
“Minimum Unit Pricing and people with experience of homelessness” by Prof Carol Emslie
“Health impacts of alcohol minimum pricing legislation” by Dr Grant Wyper