Scottish Social Attitudes: Public Attitudes to Alcohol and Tobacco Use and Weight
Event
25 years of Scottish Social Attitudes
This year, the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) published the findings from 25 years of the Scottish Social Attitudes survey.
This year, the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) published the findings from 25 years of the Scottish Social Attitudes survey. Conducted annually since 1999, the survey provided a unique and independent record of changing social, political and moral attitudes in Scotland.
Marking a quarter century of devolution, this year’s report highlighted the key trends in public opinion since the creation of the Scottish Parliament. It explored how attitudes towards governance had shifted, whether Scotland was more left-wing than England, and how far devolution had influenced Scottish and British identity.
The event was led by Sir John Curtice, Senior Research Fellow at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, and long-time Co-Director of the Scottish Social Attitudes survey, who provided expert analysis of the findings.
With the 2026 Holyrood Elections approaching at the time, this research offered timely insights for analysts, journalists and opinion formers seeking to understand what changing public attitudes meant for Scotland’s political future.
Speakers
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Sir John CurticeSenior Research Fellow National Centre for Social Research
Sir John Curtice is Senior Research Fellow at NatCen, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, and Chief Commentator on the What UK Thinks: EU and What Scotland Thinks websites.
He has been a regular contributor to the annual British Social Attitudes report since 1986 and an editor since 1994. He has also been a Co-Director of the Scottish Social Attitudes survey since its foundation in 1999, and his analyses of Scottish public opinion in the run up to the independence referendum were frequently featured throughout the campaigns.
In 2018, he received a knighthood in the New Year's Honours list. Sir John is a regular media commentator on both British and Scottish politics.
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Ailsa HendersonProfessor of Political Science University of EdinburghAilsa Henderson is Professor of Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. Originally from Windsor, Ontario, she has degrees from the Université d’Ottawa (BScSoc) and the University of Edinburgh (MSc, PhD) and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto. She was an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Toronto before returning to the University of Edinburgh in 2007. From 2006-2007 she was the Working Groups Chair for the Ontario Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform and is currently a member of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Professor Henderson researches comparative political behaviour and political culture in sub-state regions as well as civic engagement. She has published four books and over 30 articles and book chapters, including Hierarchies of Belonging: National Identity and Political Culture in Scotland and Quebec (McGill-Queen’s University Press 2007) and Citizenship After the Nation State: Regionalism, Nationalism and Public Attitudes in Europe (Palgrave 2013).
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Lucy DeanSenior Researcher National Centre for Social Research
Lucy has been a Senior Researcher at ScotCen for ten years, delivering quantitative and qualitative research including nationally representative surveys and mixed method projects. She has managed key aspects of several large-scale surveys spanning a range of policy areas including the Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) survey, the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) and Realigning Children’s Services (RCS) as well as mixed methods projects, such as Behaviour in Scottish Schools (BiSS) and the Student Finance and Wellbeing Study. She has previously managed quantitative and evaluative projects in the criminal justice and media consumer sector and with families and children, having worked as a Research Manager for the Forward Trust (formerly Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) and at a media consultancy at the University of Sussex, Sussex Innovation Centre.
Chair
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Paul BradshawDirector of the Scottish Centre for Social Research National Centre for Social Research
Paul is Director of the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen), NatCen’s Edinburgh-based team. In a career spanning more than 20 years, Paul has worked on a wide range of studies involving quantitative and qualitative methods and across a number of policy areas. His interest and experience lie mainly in survey methods, particularly longitudinal surveys, and broadly in the areas of families, children and young people.
Paul’s principal research role over the last two decades has been associated with the leadership and delivery of the Growing Up in Scotland study, a large scale, multi-cohort, multidisciplinary prospective longitudinal birth cohort study commissioned by the Scottish Government, which he has led since the study’s launch in 2005.
In the last decade, he has overseen the delivery of several high profile Scottish and UK wide survey projects including the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, the Scottish Health Survey, the 1970 British Cohort Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. He has also contributed to significant UK-wide longitudinal projects and initiatives including the Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study and Population Research UK.
Paul regularly delivers presentations on survey findings and methodology to a wide range of audiences including policymakers, practitioners, academics and students. He has also given evidence to a number of parliamentary committees in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
