Professor Lynne Dawkins

I am a Professor of Nicotine and Tobacco Studies and lead the Nicotine, Tobacco and Vaping Research Group in the School of Applied and Health Sciences. I joined LSBU in 2016 having previously worked in the Psychology Division at the University of East London where I led the Drugs and Addictive Behaviours Research Group. I currently teach research methods and addiction across the BSc and MSc courses in Psychology.

My research interests are nicotine addiction, smoking cessation and tobacco harm reduction and I have published over 80 research articles on the subject. Since so many attempts to quit smoking end in failure, I am particularly interested in understanding the psychological mechanisms that prevent successful quitting and the role that novel reduced risk nicotine products such as e-cigarettes can play.
Through grants funded by Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health Research and the Medical Research Council, my recent projects are exploring how best to support smokers to switch to e-cigarettes and use them in the safest and most effective way. These include: an exploration of the most effective health messages on e-cigarette packs; how different nicotine strengths influence user behaviour (including exposure to potentially harmful chemicals); and what levels of tailored support and advice around purchasing and using e-cigarettes is associated with the best quit rates. In a related line of empirical enquiry, I am exploring whether and how e-cigarettes offered to people accessing homeless support services can support smoking cessation.
My work has directly fed into the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s inquiry into e-cigarettes and the subsequent recommendation from the UK Government to review e-cigarette legislation.

REF UoA4 Coordinator and Psychology Research Lead

Senior Editor - Addiction

Committee Member - Drug Science

Fellow of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

Cochrane Member

Advisory Council Member - Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)

Research Methods, Addiction