Diageo announces €1.5 million sponsorship for major study on drinking behaviour and alcohol misuse

10/04/06 Diageo Ireland has announced funding of €1.5 million to University College Dublin’s Geary Institute. The support will contribute to the funding of a major 3-year study on the health risk and behaviours of hazardous drinking in young adults with the objectives of identifying and testing methods of addressing this behaviour. The funding of this important research is part of a broad commitment and range of initiatives supported by Diageo to promote responsible drinking and reduce alcohol harm in society.

“This research will provide needed insights into the motivations, the ‘why,’ in alcohol misuse by young adults and will enable the development of more effective science based interventions to target this problem,” said Michael Ioakimides, Managing Director, Diageo Ireland. ‘We are pleased to provide funding for this important research by the Geary Institute at UCD.

This independent scientific study, which also has additional investment from UCD, is a groundbreaking initiative to create scientific evidence on health risk behaviour, particularly in relation to drinking, and motivations in 18-25 year olds in Ireland. Crucially this study will move beyond simply knowing how much, where and when young adults are consuming alcohol and will for the first time, focus on why this behaviour has become increasingly prevalent in society. The findings of this evidence-based research will complement work undertaken by other agencies and will contribute to the debate and development by policymakers of intervention options to reduce alcohol misuse.

“We welcome the financial contribution of Diageo to this important study” said Professor Colm Harmon, Director of the UCD Geary Institute and one of the principal researchers on the programme.  “The work will, I hope, be an important example of how scientific work to the highest standards can be fed through into debate and dialogue on key issues.  This is a hallmark of what can be achieved at UCD Geary Institute – making serious science useful and useable to a wide range of stakeholders.  By doing this work we are also building our expertise in risk and behaviour – the investment by Diageo will support a team of immensely talented young scholars who will shape agendas in the future.”

The aim of the research programme is to study current literature and develop new research on drinking behaviour and motivations in 18-25 year olds in Ireland using pioneering survey methodologies, to identify the drivers of different patterns of alcohol use among this age group and the particular contexts and settings associated with these consumption patterns. Through wide dissemination and publication of the findings – to academic peers, to the policy community and beyond – the research team aims to provide useful scientific evidence that can inform policy decisions and specific intervention responses to reduce alcohol harm.

The study will be lead by Professor Patrick Wall of the School of Public Health Population Science at UCD, a noted authority on these issues, bringing to bear his vast expertise and experience as former CEO of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.  The programme also boasts a range of academics including economists, social psychologists and sociologists around this theme with strong international collaboration including RAND, one of the largest economics research institutes globally, as core partners in this work.  The study is also supported by a panel of national and international advisory experts including Professor Howard Parker (Professor Emeritus at the University of Manchester) and Professor Arie Kapteyn (Professor of Econometrics at the University of Tilburg and Director of the RAND programme on Labour and Population).

Diageo Ireland is committed to the responsible innovation, marketing and promotion of our brands.  As a company, Diageo Ireland has invested more than €5 million in the promotion of the responsible enjoyment of our products through various initiatives and activities including the sensible drinking  ‘Don’t See a Great Night Wasted’ advertising campaign and the creation of the ‘Choice Zone’ learning centre in the GUINNNESS Storehouse which promotes consumer knowledge about alcohol. All Diageo advertisements carry responsible drinking reminders and most recently the Diageo Alcohol Brand Information Policy (DABIP) was launched globally.  DABIP provides consumers with information on all packaged products to better assist them with making sensible choices on responsible drinking.

The UCD Geary Institute was established at UCD in 1999 following a successful bids for research funding under the Higher Education Authority Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions, part of the National Development Plan 2000-2006.  The Institute is named in honour of Roy Geary (1896-1983), a UCD graduate and great social scientist whose seminal research in the area of statistics, economics, demography and national accounting remains to this day central to study in these fields. This aligns us more closely with our sister Institutes at UCD (such as the Conway Institute) and reaffirms the basic scientific mission of the Institute.

http://www.diageo.com/en-row/NewsAndMedia/PressReleases/2006/PressRelease6April2006.htm