#March 2026

SPACES Project: MARCH 2026 Newsletter

Storytelling Promoting Alcohol Change, Empowerment & Sharing (SPACES): supporting mid-life women who would like to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Welcome to the fourth issue of the SPACES newsletter! Every few months we have been sharing updates about progress with this project, and new information about mid-life drinking. 

You are invited to our end of project webinar.

Join our end of project webinar, where we’ll share how women’s stories, insights and lived experiences shaped every part of SPACES, from early focus groups and story development to co‑producing and prototyping the website and leaflet. You’ll hear what women told us, what they needed, and how these insights became compassionate, practical tools for anyone thinking about their drinking.

You can sign up for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stories-that-spark-change-developing-alcohol-support-for-mid-life-women-tickets-1983968164186?aff=oddtdtcreator

Final call for participants

In our project we have developing online and printed materials to use in our latest SPACES study ‘Your views on a new alcohol support tool’. In this study, we will be asking for feedback on mid-life women’s stories about how they navigated making changes to their drinking habits, and the evidence-based tools that they have told us worked for them in the past.  Click here or email spacesproject@brookes.ac.uk for more information.

We welcome interest in this study from all mid-life women, and in particular we would like to encourage views from people who tend to be underrepresented in alcohol research – including those who identify as being from a Black, Asian or any other non-white background, those who identify as LGBTQIA+, or anyone who feels that the voice of their community is not heard as often as it should be.

Who we are

The SPACES project team is a collaboration between researchers at Oxford Brookes University and Liverpool John Moores University.  In previous newsletters we profiled different team members. It is with great sadness that we report the death of Dr Fiona Matley, postdoctoral research assistant on the SPACES project, who passed away in November 2025. Fiona was integral to the project and was responsible for putting these newsletters together. We are working to remember her kindness, compassion and her legacy as we bring this project to a close. You can read our tribute here.

Who are we working with?

The SPACES project is funded by The Medical Research Council who work to improve the health of people in the UK. 

In the next issue

The final newsletter for this project will be sent out later in the Spring.

You are receiving this update because of previous participation or interested in the project.  You may also have subscribed to the SPACES newsletter or asked to be kept informed. If you do not wish to receive future updates, please let us know by emailing spacesproject@brookes.ac.uk. For more information on how we handle your data, please review our privacy policy.