Professor Matthew Hickman
B.Sc.(Lanc.), M.Sc.(Aberd.), Ph.D.(Lond.)
Current positions
Professor in Public Health and Epidemiology
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I am the co-director with Isabel Oliver (Public Health England) and Richard Amlot (Public Health England) of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioural Science and Evaluations, and a member and co-investigator of NIHR School of Public Health Research and DeCIPHER (UKCRC Public Health Centre of Excellence for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement).
My research programme focuses on infectious disease control and the epidemiology and public health consequences of drug use – with active research grants on prevention of Hepatitis C Virus, drug related mortality, and alcohol related harms.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Evaluating supervised opioid antagonist treatment consumption
Principal Investigator
Description
Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) is used to treat people who are dependent on opioids – usually heroin. Opioids are also a type of drug commonly used in medicine to relieve…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/01/2024 to 30/06/2025
Opioid overdose deaths: Understanding the lethal interactions between benzodiazepines and opioids to develop new harm reduction strategies
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/07/2022 to 30/06/2025
RC Co-production of an educational package for the universal HPV vaccination programme tailored for schools with low uptake: A participatory study - EDUCATE
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/04/2021 to 30/06/2021
8074 (EZW) MRC via LSHTM Harriet Forbes Fellowship OAFI
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/07/2020 to 30/06/2021
Co-production of an educational package for the universal HPV vaccination programme tailored for schools with low uptake: A participatory study
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/04/2020 to 31/03/2021
Thesis supervisions
Investigating glassware as a choice architecture intervention to reduce alcohol consumption
Supervisors
Investigating the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in different settings around the world
Supervisors
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in young adults
Supervisors
Investigating the Relationship between Anxiety and Alcohol Use
Supervisors
Suicide prevention in clinical populations with substance use problems
Supervisors
Surveillance of lower respiratory tract infections within UK care homes, in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Supervisors
“Holding on by the Seat of Their Pants” A Mixed Methods Exploration of Retention, Completion and Recovery in Opioid Substitution Treatment
Supervisors
Quantifying the neurophysiological effects of 5-HT2A receptor activation on cortico-limbic and cortico-striatal network dynamics in rats
Supervisors
Mapping associations between early life adversity and alcohol use disorder through human epidemiology and rat neurobiology
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
27/02/2025A qualitative study of Benzodiazepine/Z-drug and Opioid co-use patterns and overdose risk
Harm Reduction Journal
A qualitative study of healthcare professional views on appropriate prescribing interventions for people who are co-dependent on opioids and benzodiazepines / z-drugs
Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
Association of volatile substance, nitrous oxide and alkyl nitrate use with mental health in UK adolescents
British Journal of Psychiatry
Characterising benzodiazepine use and the association with non-fatal overdose among people who inject opioids in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
International Journal of Drug Policy
Delineating trajectories of alcohol consumption and alcohol problems from adolescence to young adulthood
Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research
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