Dr. Cristina Martínez, senior researcher at the Tobacco Control Unit (TCU), has started in December her short-term secondment at the European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention (ENSP). This collaboration is conducted in the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme-RISE project, EUREST-RISE is an initiative that aims to support an integrative series of research studies to facilitate the training of researchers in tobacco regulatory science.
Within this collaboration, Cristina Martínez will receive training in advocacy under the mentorship of ENSP representatives. Advocacy is a key skill for tobacco control researchers who should inform the public of the dangers of using tobacco, unveil the dubious practices of tobacco companies, and communicate with policymakers on moving forward with several endgame strategies. In particular, Dr. Martínez will use her gained advocacy skills to foster smoking cessation training into the curriculum of health science degrees across Europe. This work will be built on the basis of INSTrUCT Project, that has designed several open e-learning materials for introducing smoking cessation in the Higher Education. The INSTrUCT project is intended to become a solution to teach students from all healthcare Higher Education and or Universities how to support smokers to quit before graduation, and consequently help them to contribute to tackling the tobacco epidemic. Through this secondment, ENSP and the TCU will move beyond the current state-of-the-art in this area.
