Confirmed speakers and sessions

The SSA’s Annual Conference is the UK’s foremost gathering of addiction researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and experts by experience. Read about the confirmed speakers and sessions for the 2026 conference, and book your ticket now to ensure your attendance.

1. Keynote speaker

Professor Linda Bauld OBE will deliver the 2026 Society Lecture, ‘What’s evidence got to do with it? Providing scientific advice in policy contexts’:

“Governments around the world draw on scientific advice to inform policy in a range of ways. This includes through the analytical professions within government, providing placements or secondments for academics and other specialists, and building links with experts in research organisations, learned societies, or other relevant bodies. There is an extensive literature examining how evidence informs policy processes. But this is not always useful in understanding what happens in practice. This presentation will reflect on the research-policy interface within the UK, noting the increasing range of opportunities for academics in recent decades. Drawing on examples from addiction science advice but also much more broadly, it will highlight: how working with decision makers is important for research impact; why traditional ‘pathways to impact’ are insufficient and advocacy organisations play a key role; and how we need to build further capacity in the research community to navigate the (often challenging) research-policy interface.”

Professor Bauld is the Bruce and John Usher Chair in Public Health in the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, and Chief Social Policy Adviser to the Scottish Government. She is Principal Investigator for Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK), Vice Chair of Diabetes UK, and a board member of the Faculty of Public Health, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and the Academy of Social Sciences. She also chairs Cancer Research UK’s international cancer prevention advisory group and is a member of the scientific advisory group for the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health. Former roles include scientific adviser on tobacco control to the UK Government and as cancer prevention adviser for Cancer Research UK.

2. Invited speakers

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Addiction Biology

To mark three decades of Addiction Biology, Prof Rainer Spanagel will present on ‘The ever-changing landscape of publishing’. Addiction Biology focuses on advancing the understanding of substances and addiction from a neuroscience perspective. Accepted papers typically span behavioural, molecular, genetic, biochemical, neurobiological, and pharmacological fields of animal experimentation and clinical research.

Prize winners

Dr Anya Topiwala won the SSA’s 2026 Impact Prize. She is a clinician scientist who studied medicine at the University of Oxford and subsequently trained in old age psychiatry. She completed a DPhil in Psychiatry, investigating how alcohol affects brain health. Supported by two Wellcome fellowships, including her current work on alcohol-related dementia, she now leads a research group at Oxford’s Big Data Institute – bridging clinical insight and data science. The judging panel commended Anya’s work with the brain injury charity Headway to translate research findings into practical, public-facing advice. The panel also acknowledged her commitment to supporting and developing human capital in the field, for example through mentoring and supervising students and early career researchers, and through co-production with people with lived experience of addiction.

Dr Emmert Roberts was awarded the 2026 Fred Yates Prize for Early Career Researchers. He is a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Addiction Psychiatry at King’s College London and a Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist at the South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He is currently a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellow and a Commonwealth Fund Senior Harkness Fellow, exploring ways to reduce harm due to drug and alcohol use by harnessing administrative data. The judging panel noted that Emmert’s record of collaborations and involvement in national guideline development have shown a clear pathway from research to policy impact, and his public engagement activities, such as podcast appearances, have demonstrated commitment to wider societal benefit. The panel also praised Emmert’s trajectory as an early career researcher, saying that his career to date has been marked by significant methodological innovation and meaningful contributions to addiction research.

3. Plenaries and special sessions

From policy to practice: realising the promise of the UK’s smokefree generation law

Sarah Jackson, Nathan Davies, Ailsa Rutter, Sue Mountain

4. Symposia organised by members and associates

Digital gambling ecosystems

Ioannidis Konstantinos, Jeremy E Solly, Andres Roman-Urrestarazu

Sex, drugs, and the brain

Stephen Naulls, Ben Kaye, Owen Bowden-Jones

Addressing complex needs in drug addiction treatment

Karen Ersche, Mathias Luderer, Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick

Culturally-competent support

Sarah Fox, Aunee Bhogaita, Stacey Jennings