Nicotine Research Group

Established in 2013, the Nicotine Research Group (NRG) has quickly gained an international profile, particularly for research on vaping.

Our latest vaping evidence update, commissioned by the Department of Health & Social Care, was published on 29th September 2022. The report can be found at this link: Nicotine vaping in England: 2022 evidence update and here is the presentation we gave at the press briefing: NRG presentation on nicotine vaping in England, September 2022.

The NRG leads and collaborates on a variety of projects on tobacco harm reduction and e-cigarettes, and in wider consortia such as SPECTRUM and the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project.

Members of our group have been involved in, led or are reviewers for Cochrane Systematic Reviews in the Tobacco/Nicotine field, such as the Cochrane Review on Tobacco Standardised Packaging and the current Cochrane review, aiming to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) for smoking cessation and the impact of HTPs on smoking prevalence.

Other important areas of the NRG’s work and research include:

the development and implementation of evidence-based tobacco control policies at a local, national and global level
health inequalities in relation to smoking, in particular mental health
smoking cessation treatment in healthcare services

Our research is translational, collaborative, impactful and truly international, and you can find out more about our work via the project links below.

Members

Sarah Aleyan

Visiting Research Associate

Farzana Ali

Researcher

Leonie Brose

Reader in Addiction Education and Nicotine Research

Katie East

Research Associate

Rhian Jones

Research Coordinator to the NRG & PA to Prof. Ann McNeill

Ann McNeill

Professor of Tobacco Addiction

Maria Nikolaidou

Research Associate

Matilda Nottage

Research Assistant

Parvati Perman-Howe

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Debbie Robson

Senior Lecturer in Tobacco Harm Reduction

Erikas Simonavičius

Research Associate

Eve Taylor

Research Assistant

Bernadett Tildy

PhD Student

Hannah Walsh

PhD student

Harm Reduction

Aiming to reduce the harmfulness of nicotine use for those who wish to continue using it, or those who cannot stop smoking.

Policy

To reduce smoking in populations, a comprehensive strategy involving a number of different tobacco control policies is required.

Vulnerable Populations

Smoking is much more common among vulnerable populations in society. We have a number of projects which aim to reduce smoking among these vulnerable populations

Please see below a list of some of our latest publications.
Click 'View all publications' to see the complete list in KCL's Research Portal.

The Effect of Tobacco Control Mass Media Campaigns on Smoking-Related Behavior Among People With Mental Illness: A Systematic Literature Review
Perman-Howe, P., McNeill, A., Brose, L., Tildy, B., Langley, T. & Robson, D., 21 Mar 2022, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Nicotine and Tobacco Research. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Implementation strategies to increase smoking cessation treatment provision in primary care: A systematic review of observational studies
Tildy, B., McNeill, A., Perman-Howe, P. & Brose, L., 12 Jan 2023, (Accepted/In press) In: BMC Primary Care. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Nicotine vaping in England: An evidence update including health risks and perceptions, 2022
McNeill, A., Brose, L., Robson, D., Calder, R., Simonavicius, E., East, K., Taylor, E. & Zuikova, E., 29 Sep 2022 Research output: Other contribution
Vaping in England: an evidence update including vaping for smoking cessation
McNeill, A., Brose, L., Robson, D., Calder, R. & Simonavicius, E., 23 Feb 2021 Research output: Other contribution
Vaping in England: evidence update March 2020
McNeill, A., Brose, L., Robson, D., Calder, R. & Bauld, L., 4 Mar 2020 Research output: Other contribution
Non-cigarette combustible tobacco use and its associations with subsequent cessation of smoking among daily cigarette smokers: findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Smoking and Vaping Surveys (2016–20)
Li, L., Borland, R., Cummings, K. M., Hyland, A., Le Grande, M., Fong, G. T. & McNeill, A., 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: Addiction. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16023
Medium- and longer-term cardiovascular effects of e-cigarettes in adults making a stop-smoking attempt: a randomized controlled trial
Klonizakis, M., Gumber, A., McIntosh, E. & Brose, L. S., 16 Aug 2022, In: BMC Medicine. 20, 1, p. 276 276. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02451-9
Exposure to Negative News Stories About Vaping, and Harm Perceptions of Vaping, Among Youth in England, Canada, and the United States Before and After the Outbreak of E-cigarette or Vaping-Associated Lung Injury ('EVALI')
East, K., Reid, J. L., Burkhalter, R., Wackowski, O. A., Thrasher, J. F., Tattan-Birch, H., Boudreau, C., Bansal-Travers, M., Liber, A. C., McNeill, A. & Hammond, D., 1 Sep 2022, In: Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. 24, 9, p. 1386-1395 10 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntac088
The association between smokers’ self-reported health problems and quitting: Findings from the ITC Four Country Smoking and Vaping Wave 1 Survey
Li, L., Borland, R., O’Connor, R. J., Fong, G. T., McNeill, A., Driezen, P. & Cummings, M. K., 2019, In: Tobacco Prevention and Cessation. 5, December, 49. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.18332/tpc/114085
Protocol for a feasibility study of longitudinal surveys to assess the impact of policies on tobacco use among school-going adolescents in South Asia
Iqbal, R., Mishu, M. P., Siddiqi, K., McNeill, A., Kanaan, M., Jackson, C., Huque, R., Kanan, S., Abdullah, S. M., Fieroze, F., Garg, S., Singh, M. M., Borle, A. L., Deshmukh, C., Akhter, Z., Mazhar, L., Khan, Z., Rehman, K., Ullah, S., Han, L., & 1 othersReadshaw, A., 1 Mar 2022, In: F1000Research. 9, 1123. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.25796.2

View all publications

Highlighted Projects

Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA) Fellowship Projects

Current PhD Projects

Click here for a full list of the Nicotine Research Group's projects