Could enlightenment thinking help solve our alcohol problem?

Could the lessons of Scotland's Enlightenment hold the key to solving the problems that emerge from our long and complicated relationship with alcohol?

That is one of the questions that will be addressed when SHAAP (Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems) and Eurocare (The European Alcohol Policy Alliance) host the 8th European Alcohol Policy Conference (8EAPC) at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh on Queens Street on the 20th and 21st November 2018.

Book your place >>This is the eighth in a series of very successful European Alcohol Policy Conferences (Warsaw 2004, Helsinki 2006, Barcelona 2008, Brussels 2010, Stockholm 2012, Brussels 2014 and Ljubljana 2016).

Through the prism of humanist and rationalist views from the Scottish and European Enlightenment, which emphasised evidence-based scientific principles, the 8EAPC presentations will re-assert the importance of enlightened policies to bring practical benefits for the individual and society as a whole.

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Picture: Tony McGuire

The conference is expecting around 300 delegates, and presentations will be made by Government ministers and officials, representatives from the World Health Organization, the European Commission and leading NGOs, as well as top academics and authors.

The venue for the event, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE), was at the very centre of the 18th Century Scottish Enlightenment and continues to promote innovation in Public Health, in Scotland and at international level.