Nicotine Research Group News (2017)
December
Alcohol Master's Module 2018
Registration now open for the UKCTAS 30 Credit Master's module in Alcohol, Problems, Policy & Practice as part of the MSc in Addiction Studies.
Date: 5-9 February 2018
Venue: Addiction Sciences Building (ASB), 4 Windsor Walk. Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London. London. SE5 8BB
Contact sadie.boniface@kcl.ac.uk for more information.
Dr Sally Mallow introduces the 'Alcohol, Problems, Policy & Practice' module
November
Prof Ann McNeill, whose research ranks amongst the top 1% of cited works, is named a 2017 Highly Cited Researcher.
Dr Leonie Brose giving a talk on 'Different smoking cessation options and their effectiveness, including Stop Smoking Services and e-cigarettes' at the 2017 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) conference held on 5-8 November.
Mr Rob Calder and colleagues discuss addiction research and drug policy in the latest episode of the What's The Crack podcast. Listen here
Profs John Britton (University of Nottingham), Ann McNeill, Robert West (University College London) and Linda Bauld (University of Stirling) talk e-cigarette safety as part of the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT) 'SWITCH' campaign.
October
Prof Ann McNeill gives keynote speech on 'Challenges ahead for tobacco policies' at the Lisbon Addictions Conference held on 24-26 October.
The highest rates of smoking are among those that the Addictions 2017 conference was set up to discuss – people using other substances. Ann requested help from the Addictions audience with communicating to substance misusers and the wider population that the risks of smoked tobacco are from the other components of tobacco smoke and not the nicotine. This would build on the understanding of those working in the Addictions field of the importance of separating the drug from the delivery device. Ann highlighted strategies that might help to make the tobacco cigarette obsolete in our lifetime.
Publications, projects and reports of relevance:
- Hiscock, R., Branston, R. J., McNeill, A., Hitchman, S., Partos, T. & Gilmore, A. B. (2017). Tobacco industry strategies undermine government tax policy: evidence from commercial data. Tobacco Control. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053891.
- European Regulatory Science on Tobacco: Policy implementation to reduce lung diseases (EUREST-PLUS)
- The International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (the ITC Project)
- The Public Health England (PHE) report on e-cigarettes and harm reduction.
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As part of a collaborative arts and science research project led by Dr Sally Marlow, Professor Sir John Strang, Miss Catherine Elzerbi and pianist Christina McMaster hosted a music and psychedelia concert entitled 'Sound Mind', which took place on Tuesday 31 October at the Chapel, KCL Strand Building.
The Sound Mind project is part of the King's Arts in Mind Innovative Scheme.
September
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The UK Electronic Cigarette Research Forum (UKECRF) held a meeting on 15 September to discuss e-cigarette research, policy and practice. The UKECRF holds three meetings per year which are chaired by Prof Ann McNeill, co-hosted by Professor Linda Bauld (University of Stirling) and Martin Dockrell (Public Health England), and coordinated by CRUK’s Tobacco Control Policy team.
August
The Guardian, The Telegraph and numerous other media outlets report findings from a two-year collaborative study conducted between UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies (UKCTAS), Public Health England (PHE), Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), and the DECIPHer Centre at the University of Cardiff looking at e-cigarette use among 11-16 year olds in the UK. Results from the study suggest that use of e-cigarettes does not lead to regular smoking in young people.
June
A publication by researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), University of Nottingham and University of York feature in the BMJ's article 'Smoking ban in psychiatric hospital led to drop in violent assaults'. MedPage Today also reports 'Smoking ban appeared to cut violence in British mental hospitals', and Dr Debbie Robson features in the BMJ's 'Five minutes with...Dr Debbie Robson'.
May
April
Prof Ann McNeill and Dr Sara Hitchman recently led and published a Cochrane review to assess the impact of tobacco standardised packaging on smoking attitudes and behaviour.