EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR SMOKING PREVENTION

Their core work

ENSP is a Brussels-based NGO that coordinates European tobacco control policy research and advocacy. They specialize in evaluating the effectiveness of smoking prevention programs — from youth-targeted school interventions to EU-wide regulatory frameworks like the Tobacco Products Directive. Their core contribution is bridging epidemiological research with public policy implementation, connecting researchers across Europe to build an evidence base for tobacco regulation. They also facilitate researcher mobility and training through MSCA staff exchanges focused on tobacco regulatory science.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015-2018), ENSP focused on ground-level intervention research — evaluating youth smoking prevention programs, studying gender and socioeconomic differences in smoking behaviour, and assessing secondhand smoke exposure. Their recent work (2019-2025) has shifted upstream toward regulatory science and policy infrastructure, with emphasis on tobacco control as a policy discipline, epidemiology methods, and building a cross-border research workforce through staff exchanges. The trajectory is clear: from studying specific interventions to shaping the regulatory and research ecosystem itself.

ENSP is moving from evaluating individual prevention programs toward building the institutional and human capacity for European tobacco regulatory science — expect future work on policy harmonization and researcher networks.

How they like to work

ENSP splits evenly between leading and participating — they coordinated both EUREST projects while joining SILNE-R and TackSHS as partners. With 41 unique consortium partners across 16 countries, they operate as a genuine network hub rather than a repeat-partner organization. This makes them a strong connector: partnering with ENSP gives you access to a wide European tobacco control research community.

ENSP has collaborated with 41 distinct partners across 16 countries, reflecting their role as a pan-European network organization. Their reach spans Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe, consistent with their mission to coordinate tobacco policy research continent-wide.

What sets them apart

ENSP occupies a rare niche as a policy-focused NGO that both coordinates and participates in rigorous EU research projects on tobacco — most advocacy networks lack this research credibility, and most research groups lack the policy network. Their position in Brussels and their 41-partner network across 16 countries makes them an ideal consortium anchor for any project needing to connect tobacco science with European regulatory processes. For consortium builders, they bring both the research coordination experience and the policy access that funders want to see.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EUREST-PLUS
  Their largest project (EUR 526,650) as coordinator, directly tackling EU tobacco policy implementation to reduce lung disease — their flagship regulatory science initiative.
• EUREST-RISE
  Most recent project (2021-2025) and a MSCA-RISE staff exchange, signaling a strategic shift toward building long-term researcher networks in tobacco regulatory science.
• TackSHS
  Addressed the emerging challenge of e-cigarette emissions alongside traditional secondhand smoke, showing early engagement with next-generation tobacco product regulation.