INNOVATIVE work of public health specialists and researchers in Lancashire to tackle vaping in young children was showcased at a major national conference.

Dr Alison Moore PhD, Public Health Specialist at Blackburn with Darwen Council and Honorary Researcher at Lancaster Medical School, presented the creative newspaper pilot project at the Prevent Research 2026 – Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice for Health Equity – at the Vox, Birmingham, on March 4th and 5th.

In partnership with Paula Wheeler, EPHC Theme Manager for ARC North West Coast at Lancaster University and Lucie Higham, Director of News Academy, it is aimed at transforming primary school children into “junior reporters” to investigate and research vaping in order to raise awareness among their peers.

The children were taught real research and media skills by a real-life journalist, interviewed family members and their peers, before creating powerful peer-led messages in a variety of mediums including newspaper articles and presentations.

It is hoped the pilot, which is being delivered in three primary schools in Blackburn with Darwen, will be rolled out across the borough.

The News Academy is passionate about using journalistic projects to improve young people’s literacy, communication, critical thinking, research and self-confidence skills. They bring real life journalists into the classroom to work with schoolchildren to co-produce resources to address a range of educational, health and environmental themes to support the curriculum including personal, social, health and economic education.

The conference, which is organised by the Population Health Improvement UK, UKPRP Prevention Research Network and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, explores the latest research and collaborative strategies for preventing non-communicable diseases and reducing health inequalities across the UK.

Dr Moore said: “Early education and awareness of the dangers of vaping is crucial. But we wanted to look at it in an innovative new way. Rather than the usual health presentation during an assembly for instance, we wanted to empower the children to create the messages for other children.”

Paula Wheeler added: “The project is about testing whether a more participatory, child-led approach has a much deeper and lasting effect on the children.”