Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Advanced Research Issues in Addictions

Course Description

The aim of the course is to provide a broad perspective on addictions research by focusing on specific research projects in several areas. This course will provide students with an appreciation of the value of interdisciplinary approaches to addictions research; introduce students to ‘grantsmanship’, the process by which researchers develop research proposals for funding by external granting agencies; provide students with exposure to active scientists in the addictions field who will describe their general field of research, discuss the process of preparing a specific research proposal for funding, and describe the results of the research project; and permit students to develop and present a proposal on a topic of personal interest.

This course is designed to follow PAS 3700, although students do not have to have completed PAS 3700 prior to taking this course. This is not a course on research methods, but assumes that students have sufficient grounding in appropriate methodologies in the areas of specialization to develop their proposals. The course aims to provide students with exposure to the process of science, so that they will have a better understanding of how knowledge is created, in addition to the content of science.

Course Objectives

By the end of the term, students will:

• Have an appreciation of the multidisciplinary nature of addictions research.
• Understand some of the challenges involved in obtaining funding for research, and have an understanding of some of the strategies that can assist in obtaining research funding.
• Have been alerted to the types of problems encountered and strategies used by several researchers in the process of proposal preparation and submission.
• Have been able to view several examples of the research process from the proposal development stage.
• Have worked through similar issues in the preparation of their own proposal.