UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has funded a total of 68 new Future Leaders Fellows from their latest £104 million eighth round.
One of these highly competitive Future Leaders Fellowships has been awarded to Dr Tom Freeman, from the Department of Psychology. The Fellowship will enable him to focus on reducing cannabis harms through state-of-the-art tools for consumers to quantify their intake. These tools could also inform dose-related guidelines for safer use of cannabis consumption and evidence-based drug policy.
Dr Tom Freeman says:
I am absolutely thrilled to receive this UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. This is a particularly exciting award because it will not only transform my own career, but also other members of my team in the Addiction and Mental Health Group and Bath Beacon on Harm Reduction.
My UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship will focus on cannabis – one of the most widely used drugs in the world. Unlike other drugs such as alcohol, there is no way for people who use cannabis to track how they are using to manage their health risks. Meanwhile, countries around the world are radically changing their cannabis policies. Yet we lack population surveys or testing of cannabis products to understand the impact of these policies.
Dr Freeman’s Future Leaders Fellowship is underpinned by a novel tool that he developed at the University of Bath – the standard THC unit. This is the first standardised unit of drug dose for cannabis, and it is now a reporting requirement for the National Institutes of Health.
Like the standard alcohol unit, the standard THC unit could unlock multiple strategies for reducing harms. In order to do this, Dr Freeman and his team will develop accessible resources to enable people to track their unit consumption and create safer use guidelines, similar to alcohol unit guidelines, for reducing harms. Cannabis use will be measured through regular surveys and testing the content of cannabis products. Finally, they will model the impact of different cannabis policies, using internationally harmonised datasets and policy maker engagement.
On highlighting the benefit of UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships, Dr Tom Freeman says:
I would advise people who are considering the UKRI Future Leaders Fellows scheme to explore how they might work with colleagues outside of their primary field to elevate their research programme. For example, I am based in Psychology and by working with University of Bath colleagues in Life Sciences, Health, the Institute for Mathematical Innovation, and the Institute for Policy Research I was able to develop a research programme that was more ambitious and interdisciplinary, with greater potential for impact.
I would also advise them to seek feedback from colleagues outside of their speciality throughout the application process, as the UKRI Future Leaders Fellows scheme includes panel members from a range of disciplines. I have felt incredibly supported by my University of Bath colleagues who helped me during the application process, including Research and Innovation Services (RIS).
Dr Sophie Collet, Director of Research and Innovation Services (RIS) at the University of Bath, says:
We are delighted for Dr Tom Freeman to be awarded a Future Leaders Fellowship and to have been involved in supporting him to secure his award from UKRI. There is a current lack of tools for assessing cannabis use and this Future Leaders Fellowship will enable Dr Freeman to have a transformative impact in reducing cannabis harms through improved measurement and self-monitoring.