Dr Martine Skumlien started as a postdoctoral research associate at King's College London in July 2024. She works with Professor Sir John Strang in the Addictions Department and the Policy Research Unit on measures to improve knowledge, access, and carriage of naloxone, a potentially life-saving medication in opioid overdoses, and contributes to experimental research on alternative methods of naloxone delivery.

Previously, she worked with Dr Tom Freeman, Dr Jenny Scott, and Professor Chris Pudney at the University of Bath on mixed-methods research exploring the need for drug checking and detection of novel psychoactive substances, particularly synthetic cannabinoids. Dr Skumlien's areas of expertise include cannabis and adolescent cannabis use, synthetic cannabinoids, opioids and naloxone, drug checking and detection, reward processing, and neuropsychopharmacology.

Her research combines quantitative methods such as fMRI, psychological/cognitive tasks, and experimental approaches with qualitative interviews to gain a comprehensive understanding of factors associated with drug use and harm, and how drug-related harm can be minimised. Dr Skumlien received her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2023. She was supervised by Professor Barbara Sahakian and Dr Will Lawn. Her thesis is titled: "The Association Between Cannabis Use and Reward Processing, and the Role of Adolescent Vulnerability." She also holds a MRes degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from University College London (2019) and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Oslo (2017).

Research Interests

• Cannabis
• Adolescent cannabis and drug use
• Synthetic cannabinoids and psychoactive substances
• Opioid use and overdose
• Drug checking services
• Point of care drug testing
• Harm reduction
• Policy focused research 

Dr Skumlien has undertaken a number of public engagement activities, including giving public talks and writing articles about cannabis use. Her research has been featured in national and international news and media outlets.