Programme - 2023 Annual SRNT-E Conference

Keynote Speakers

Dr Deborah Robson

Senior Lecturer in Tobacco Harm Reduction & Mental Health Nurse, King’s College London

Dr Deborah "Debbie" Robson is a member of the Nicotine Research Group at the National Addiction Centre, King’s College London, with over 30 years of experience in clinical practice, education, and research. Her work focuses on addressing the needs of populations often excluded from mainstream tobacco control efforts while ensuring the voices of these underserved groups are central to the research process. Debbie has co-developed and evaluated tobacco dependence treatment pathways, staff training programmes, and smokefree and e-cigarette policies within mental health services and currently leads a programme of tobacco research across acute, mental health, and community settings. Her work includes exploring the effectiveness of vaping in helping people in high-prevalence smoking groups quit and understanding its potential harms compared to smoking. She is a co-author of the Public Health England/Office of Health Improvement and Disparities commissioned e-cigarette evidence reviews 2018-2022. She also collaborates with the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (UK) to develop training resources and is a Trustee for Action on Smoking and Health (England).

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Prof Maciej L. Goniewicz

Professor of Oncology at the Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, USA

Dr. Maciej L. Goniewicz is a Professor of Oncology at the Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, USA. His primary research area is in nicotine pharmacology and toxicity of alternative tobacco products, with a focus on nicotine dependence and respiratory health risks. Dr. Goniewicz’s current research is focused on the safety of nicotine vaping products, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches. These studies include the laboratory evaluation of the products, pharmacological and toxicological assessment, user surveys, and their potential application in harm reduction and smoking cessation.

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Prof Florin Dumitru Mihălțan

University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” in Bucharest, Romania

Prof. Mihălțan is a Senior Pneumologist, MD, PhD, FCCP at the Institute of Pneumophtisiology “Marius Nasta” and Professor & Head of the Pneumology Department (II) at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” in Bucharest. As a leading figure in respiratory medicine and tobacco control, his contributions have shaped national and international policies in smoking prevention, respiratory health, and sleep medicine.

Conference Programme

Conference opening debate and pre-conference workshops

On Monday, we will open the conference with a stimulating debate.

From all the propositions submitted in response to our call, the following was chosen:

"Is nicotine use rational?"

We have for you a great panel of experts who will discuss this proposition:

Dr Wayne Hall, Emeritus Professor, National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland
Dr Lynne Dawkins, Professor of Nicotine and Tobacco Studies, Centre for Addictive Behaviours Research, London South Bank University
Dr Yael Bar-Zeev, Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem -Hadassah Medical Center
Dr Lion Shahab, Professor of Health Psychology, Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London.

On Monday, there are two pre-conference workshops.

Pre-conference workshop 1: Meet the editor of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, with Marcus Munafo

Pre-conference workshop 2: The Addiction Ontology and how to use it when designing, reporting and using studies

Speakers: Robert West, Sharon Cox, Caitlin Notley, Kirstie Soar

Background: The field of nicotine and tobacco research needs more clarity, consistency, and coherence in the usage of terms and constructs. 'Ontologies' are computer-readable ways of achieving this. They are a way of representing knowledge whose use is growing rapidly in science, engineering, and commerce and underpin artificial intelligence programmes to improve the efficiency of science. The 'Addiction Ontology' (AddictO) and a key part of this, the 'E-Cig Ontology' (E-CigO), together with the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology (BCIO) have been under development for several years and are now sufficiently evolved to be able to be used in research, policy, and practice.

Aims: To provide participants with guided hands-on experience in using AddictO/ECigO when designing, reporting, and using studies, and to build a community of practice that can help evolve these ontologies over time.

Content: The workshop will begin with a recap on why the field needs to embrace ontologies as a matter of routine, giving examples of the huge wasted effort and resource that arises from a lack of clarity in the way that key constructs are defined and labelled. It will then introduce participants to the ontologies, including their scope and structure, including tobacco and nicotine use behaviours and products as well as details of factors influencing behaviours such as aspects of identity, motivation, and addiction. It will then introduce the online tools that have been developed to visualise, search and explore these ontologies for constructs that one wishes to include in protocols reports, and interventions. It will then guide participants through exercises to help them become proficient in easily referencing ontology entities in their papers using bibliographic tools such as Zotero and Endnote. Finally, it will include a discussion about next steps and how to get involved in a community of practice to further develop these ontologies