12 October 2016. SFP organised a roundtable on Research, Surveillance and Exchange of Information (FCTC Art 20) hosted by MEP Linda McAvan. The overall objective of the roundtable was to raise awareness of and support for Article 20 of the FCTC in order to ensure this important article is no longer overlooked and gets the attention it deserves amongst all policy makers in charge of research within the European Union.

More specifically, the participants were able to identify gaps at country level, opportunities and barriers that facilitate tobacco control policy research between countries and research funding mechanisms, including Horizon 2020 that could support such policy research programs. During the roundtable, participants had the opportunity to have a moderated and in-depth discussion with leading researchers about their experience of tobacco control policy research.

Speakers were:

• Dr Karim Berkouk, Deputy Head of Unit, Non-Communicable Diseases and the challenge of Healthy Ageing, DG Research, European Commission
• Professor Linda Bauld (Professor of Health Policy, University of Stirling, Chair in Behavioural Research for Cancer Prevention, Cancer Research UK, and Deputy Director, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies)
• Professor Geoffrey T. Fong (Founder and Chief Principal Investigator of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (the ITC Project)
• Professor Marc Willemsen (Endowed Professor in Tobacco Control Research at Maastricht University)

More specifically, the aim of the roundtable was to:

• Raise awareness of FCTC Article 20 amongst key policy makers at EU and national level
• Identify all key players in Europe producing evidence-based research to inform tobacco control legislative changes at national and EU level
• Identify gaps at country level (which countries participate and which country do not)
• Identify opportunities and barriers that facilitate research work between countries 
• Identify research funding mechanisms, including Horizon 2020
• Prepare the grounds for high level conference on FCTC Article 20 in 2017