Dr Catherine Kimber

I am a senior Lecturer in Psychology and early career researcher (ECR) in the College of Health and Life Science at London South Bank University, London, UK. I have key leadership roles including the University ECR Ambassador, Deputy Lead of the Nicotine, Tobacco and Vaping research group and the Divisional Research Ethics Committee Lead; I am also a panel member of the Applied Sciences School Research Ethics committee.

I completed my PhD in 2018 at the University of East London. My PhD programme was one of the first to explore the theory of nicotine-titration and compensatory behaviours in vapers which contributed to a new body of knowledge around compensatory behaviours in vapers. I have over 10 years’ experience of working with smokers and electronic cigarette users and have published numerous academic papers in the field of tobacco control, these include remote randomised trials, experimental work around puffing behaviours, nicotine delivery and absorption, nicotine reward, public health messaging on vaping, harm perceptions, social identity of vapers. I have secured funding from CRUK as a Principal investigator (PI) and been named lead-researcher on a number of successfully delivered funded projects from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and CRUK, exploring pharmacokinetics of nicotine products, effective ways to communicate public health messages around the relative risks of nicotine and e-cigarettes and on developing intervention packages that promote smoking cessation.

• Smoking and Nicotine use with a focus on e-cigarettes (vapes), pharmacokinetics of e-cigarettes, risk behaviours, public health communication vis-à-vis smoking and e-cigarettes.
• Developing and testing health interventions that promote smoking reduction and cessation.
• On-going and past collaborative projects include i) Measuring the psychological and pharmacological effects of nicotine concentrations in pod-based e-cigarettes on puffing patterns, smoking and subjective smoking-related symptoms, ii) Identifying effective intervention components in a randomised optimisation trial to support smokers to quit using an electronic cigarette, iii) The development of health text messages to support smokers to quit using e-cigarettes, iv) The reinforcement value of nicotine on non-drug related rewards. Previous work include: i) Developing and testing health warning labels to communicate the relative risks of e-cigarettes and nicotine compared to tobacco smoking ii) exploring puffing behaviours, iii) Smoking cessation with the aid of e-cigarettes, iv) E-cigarette device types’ preferences in smokers and smoking-related symptoms, v) The effects of varying nicotine levels on diurnal e-cigarette users’ puffing topography, and vi) the effects of nicotine on smokers’ cognitive functioning.

I am currently reviewing for the following journals:
 Addiction Journal
 Nicotine & Tobacco Research Oxford University Press
 Scientific Reports
 Psychopharmacology
 Society for the Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Research (SRNT) Annual meeting
 Inhalation Toxicology Journal
 Addictive Behaviors Journal
 Addictive Behaviors Reports Journal
 Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology journal
 Elsevier publisher
 The American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM)