News & Media

Two researchers from the Sheffield Addictions Research Group (SARG), Esther Moore and Professor Hazel Squires, will present their latest findings at the annual conference of the European Chapter of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT-E).

The conference, which brings together leading experts from across Europe and beyond, will be held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from 10 to 12 September 2025. The SRNT-E aims to advance understanding of nicotine and tobacco with the ultimate goal of reducing the harms associated with their use.

Evaluating the 'Swap to Stop' programme

Esther Moore will present as part of a symposium entitled 'A national initiative to provide free vapes for smoking cessation – early findings'. Her presentation, 'Swap to Stop: Evaluation of proposals to provide vaping devices for smoking cessation in England and an initial return on investment calculation' will provide early insights from an evaluation of the government's 'Swap to Stop' programme, an initiative which aims to offer a million smokers a free e-cigarette starter kit to help them quit.

Esther's work focuses on the public health and economic implications of the scheme, and the findings will be crucial for informing future public health strategies on smoking cessation. The evaluation is led by King's College London as part of the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Addictions, a programme of work that SARG is a key partner in.

Modelling e-cigarette policies

Professor Hazel Squires will present at a symposium on the 'Scoping of Policy Impacts for Regulating E-cigarettes (SPIRE): a data and decision-analytic model mapping project'. This session will present the latest work from the SPIRE project, which aims to identify what data and research would be most useful for creating mathematical models to inform future e-cigarette policies.

The symposium will also include presentations from fellow SPIRE researchers Dr Loren Kock on evidence identification and Professor Lion Shahab on recommendations from the project.