Programme
Arrival refreshments will be available in the Stephenson reception
Owen Bowden-Jones and Sarah Welch
Chair: Sharon Cox
Speakers: Nathan Davies, Sarah Jackson, Ailsa Rutter, Sue Mountain
From policy to practice: Realising the promise of the UK's smokefree generation law
This symposium examines the UK’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which aims to create a ‘smokefree generation’ by progressively raising the minimum age of sale for tobacco.
Simulating the smokefree generation policy in England: Impact on health equity and smoking in pregnancy
Nathan Davies
A smokefree generation is not the end of the road
Sarah Jackson
Maximising the smokefree generation policy rationale to build a mass quitting opportunity: Effective system working with the person who smokes at the heart
Ailsa Rutter
Tea, coffee, and sweet treats will be served in the Stephenson reception and Mezzanine
Chair: Rob Calder
Speakers: Carol-Ann Getty, Emmert Roberts, Anya Topiwala, Rainer Spanagel
Celebrating the SSA
App-based contingency management for heroin abstinence: Feasibility, engagement, and learnings from the CM4OUD trial
Carol-Ann Getty
Prediction of six-month individualised mortality risk in opioid use disorder
Emmert Roberts
Alcohol and brain health: From evidence to impact
Anya Topiwala
The ever-changing landscape of publishing: Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Addiction Biology
Rainer Spanagel
Chair: Amanda Roberts
Speakers: Konstantinos Ioannidis, Jeremy Solly, Andres Roman-Urrestarazu
Digital gambling ecosystems: Measurement, harm, and global policy responses
Assessment and measurement of online gambling
Konstantinos Ioannidis
Digital gambling harm ecosystems
Jeremy Solly
Policy mapping for problematic use of the internet
Andres Roman-Urrestarazu
Chair: Lucy Troup
Speakers: Nadine Heckel, Camille Alexis-Garsee, Sophie Orton, Caitlin McClure-Thomas, Leon Xiao
Prevention, education, and behaviour change
Improving lower-risk cannabis use knowledge and behaviour: Longitudinal evidence from Züri Can
Nadine Heckel
Understanding the drug education needs of students aged 13–15 years in England: A mixed method investigation
Camille Alexis-Garsee
Does nicotine replacement therapy reduce smoking when pregnant people cannot quit abruptly? A within-person analysis
Sophie Orton
Co-designing and evaluating youth cannabis health literacy materials under public attitude shifts
Caitlin McClure-Thomas
Missing the target: Young adults were wrongfully targeted by gambling ads on social media despite UK and Dutch regulation
Leon Xiao
Food will be served across three locations: Hawthorns restaurant, the reception area, and the Gin Bar
Chair: Melissa Oldham
Speakers: Sarah Fox, Aunee Bhogaita, Stacey Jennings
Culturally-competent support for South Asian women who use alcohol
This symposium will explore the barriers faced by South Asian women, and present new evidence, lived experience insights, and practical tools for improving culturally responsive support.
Izzat, alcohol use, and support seeking
Sarah Fox
The impact of stigma and shame on help seeking and accessing support
Aunee Bhogaita
Cultural competency and prevention resources
Stacey Jennings
Chair: Emmert Roberts
Speakers: Joshua Bird, Kirsten Rock, Shuoqi Chen, Caroline Copeland, Matt Hickman
Drug-related deaths and harms
Impact of drug scheduling on detection of bromazolam in the unregulated opioid supply: An interrupted time series analysis
Joshua Bird
Mirtazapine in cocaine-related deaths: Toxicological interaction or differential prescribing and use?
Kirsten Rock
The overlap between prescribed and illicit opioid use in fatal poisonings
Shuoqi Chen
Analysis of methadone-related mortality after COVID-19 service changes in England: Lessons for future opioid substitution treatment delivery
Caroline Copeland
Trends in the burden and cost of injecting-related hospitalisations due to limb- and vascular-related complications in England 2014–2023
Matt Hickman
Facilitators: Emma Smith and Polly Radcliffe
Beyond words: Creative methods in addiction health research
Creative methodologies can engage participants, generate rich data, and amplify lived experience, yet remain underused in UK addiction health research. This interactive workshop, led by Dr Emma Smith and Dr Polly Radcliffe, introduces researchers to the potential of creative approaches in this field.
Facilitators: Andrea Stoltenberg and Mohammad Lalji
Enhancing clinical confidence in addressing compulsive sexual behaviour in young adults
Compulsive sexual behaviour overlaps with behavioural addictions, yet many practitioners lack confidence in recognising and treating it, including problematic pornography use. Drawing on experience and research from the NHS-based CUBE Clinic, this interactive workshop, led by Andrea Stoltenberg and Mohammad Lalji will explore assessment, clinical presentations and targeted psychological interventions for people experiencing compulsive sexual behaviour.
Refreshments will be available in the Locomotion Room and on the Mezzanine
Chair: Owen Bowden-Jones
Speaker: Linda Bauld
Society Lecture: What’s evidence got to do with it? Providing scientific advice in policy contexts
Professor Linda 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.
In the 2026 Society Lecture, Professor Bauld will talk about 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.”
Sarah Welch, conference chair
Network with colleagues and fellow delegates, and enjoy a selection of non-alcoholic beverages
Arrival refreshments will be available in the Stephenson reception
Chair: Basak Tas
Speakers: Faith Matcham, Felix Naughton, Olga Perski
Digital interventions and the use of AI in addiction treatment
This plenary brings together leading researchers to explore how AI and digital technologies could transform addiction treatment. It will showcase approaches combining psychological theory, data-driven methods and lived experience, while considering challenges around safety, privacy, equity, transparency, engagement and clinical utility.
From prediction to prevention: How AI and digital phenotyping could transform addiction science and care
Faith Matcham
Building AI chatbots for addiction counselling: lessons from smoking cessation
Felix Naughton
Focusing on the person, not the substance: Combining theory- and data-driven methods to build transdiagnostic relapse prevention just-in-time adaptive interventions
Olga Perski
Tea, coffee, and sweet treats will be served in the Stephenson reception and Mezzanine
Chair: Kyla Thomas
Speakers: Karen Ersche, Mathias Luderer, Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick
Addressing complex needs in drug addiction treatment
This symposium explores the complex and interrelated clinical needs of addiction treatment populations, including comorbid psychiatric disorders, trauma exposure, and cognitive deficits, highlighting research into underlying mechanisms to inform more tailored psychological interventions and improve treatment effectiveness and clinical outcomes.
Chair: Louise Sell
Speakers: Stephen Naulls, Ben Kaye, Owen Bowden-Jones
Chair: Inge Kersbergen
Speakers:
Jennifer Newbould, Kayleigh Sharp, Ellen McGrane, Kaisha Benjamin, Nathan Critchlow
Policy, systems, and public health
Implementation of the treatment and recovery portfolio of the ‘From Harm to Hope’ drug strategy in England: Results from a process evaluation
Jennifer Newbould
Implementation and early impacts of the housing support grant for people who use alcohol and/or other drugs in England
Kayleigh Sharp
The effect of minimum unit pricing on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related health and social outcomes: A systematic review of evaluation studies
Ellen McGrane
Drug and alcohol testing in children’s social services: A mixed-methods exploratory study
Kaisha Benjamin
Exploring the relationship between awareness of alcohol marketing and frequency of drinking among adults in the UK: findings from a two-wave longitudinal survey
Nathan Critchlow
Food will be served across three locations: Hawthorns restaurant, the reception area, and the Gin Bar
Chair: Gemma Taylor
Speakers: Lee Middleton, Nicola Metrebian, Tricia McQuarrie, Martha Whitfield, Lauren Halsall
Treatment and harm reduction interventions
Residential harm reduction and overdose outcomes in Glasgow: A retrospective cohort study
Lee Middleton
Improving treatment attendance, engagement, and outcomes for people with dual diagnoses of psychosis and substance use problems: A cluster randomised feasibility study of contingency management and peer support (COMPEERS)
Nicola Metrebian
Implementing contingency management in England: A case study investigation
Tricia McQuarrie
Understanding buprenorphine prescribing hesitancy among rural nurse practitioners: Potential barriers to equitable oud treatment access
Martha Whitfield
How does co-occurring alcohol use disorder impact secondary mental health referral pathways for people with bipolar disorder? An investigation using national electronic healthcare records
Lauren Halsall
Chair: Matt Field
Speakers: Janni Leung, Raquel Nogueira-Arjona, Chenji Gu, Ethan Knight
Mental health, decision making, and addiction mechanisms
Co-occurring mental health and substance use problems in people with gaming disorder: Findings from the International Gaming Study
Janni Leung
Interoception as a mechanism linking cannabis use and anomalous experiences: Evidence from longitudinal self-report and experimental task-based assessment
Raquel Nogueira-Arjona
Behavioural economics of gambling harm: Gambling purchase demand and drift-diffusion modelling of value-based decision-making
Chenji Gu
Acute post-quit mood and early relapse to smoking or vaping: a systematic review
Ethan Knight
Chair: Sophie Orton
Speakers: Chelsea Shover-Darling, Audrey Buelo, Shirley Lewis, Mayyada Wazaify, Ross Thomson
Lived experience, families, and vulnerability
Participant and client perspectives on a hypothetical overdose prevention centre in Bristol: Results from qualitative interviews during a local spice overdose crisis
Chelsea Shover-Darling
‘My need for alcohol was greater than food and the basics’: Understanding affordability during the cost-of-living crisis with people who are alcohol dependent and living in deprivation in the UK
Audrey Buelo
Pre-birth assessments in the context of substance use: The experiences of women and social workers
Shirley Lewis
Understanding female substance use in Jordan: A qualitative study of lived experiences, family roles, and treatment challenges
Mayyada Wazaify
Understanding barriers and facilitators to NHS adoption of nicotine replacement therapy-assisted smoking reduction for pregnant women unable to stop smoking
Ross Thomson
Tea, coffee, and sweet treats will be served in the Stephenson reception
Chairs: Tom Freeman, Joan Marsh
Speakers: Xander Robinson, Jack Wilson, Janni Leung, Rachel Lees Thorne
Lancet Psychiatry Collection on Cannabis and Mental Health
While there have been long-standing concerns about cannabis as a cause of mental ill-health, cannabis is increasingly being prescribed as a cure for mental disorders. Meanwhile, the availability of cannabis is being radically shaped by policy changes around the world. In this session, we will draw on international experts from academia and lived experience to understand the complex relationship between cannabis and mental health.
Sarah Welch, conference chair
