Developing a national alcohol risk index: preventing future alcohol-related harms

Alcohol consumption is the fifth highest contributor to burden of disease in Australia and a major avoidable risk factor for disease and injury. Despite stable per-capita consumption over the past two decades, 3-in-4 Australians regularly drink alcohol, with 1-in-4 adults exceeding the NHMRC’s single occasion risky drinking guidelines at least monthly.

Hence, there is a need at the population level to: monitor harms associated with alcohol; identify locations and sociodemographic groups most at risk; understand the types of harm caused; work with stakeholders to contextualise these harms. This will be achieved through identifying times, places, situations, and development stages that elevate alcohol risks. This work will result in the development and validation of tools or instruments that policy makers and governments can use to reduce alcohol harms and promote the health of everyday Australians.

Turning Point and Monash University

The successful candidate will be part of a multidisciplinary cohort of researchers and students based at Turning Point, Australia’s leading national addiction treatment, training and research centre, based in Melbourne, Australia. For more information about the important work that Turning Point does, please visit the website.

Turning Point is affiliated with Eastern Health Clinical School, within the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (MNHS) at Monash University, and undertakes close collaborative work with the Monash Addiction Research Centre (MARC).

Monash University is a member of Australia’s Group of Eight coalition, and is internationally recognized for excellence in research and teaching as one of the world’s top 80 universities. Embedded in an ecosystem of health, academia and industry, it delivers the research outcomes, skilled workforce, technology and partnerships to improve human health locally and globally.

Supervisory team

The principal supervisors will be Dr Rowan Ogeil and Dr Bosco Rowland.

Dr Ogeil is a Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, and the Strategic Lead of the National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit at Turning Point. In his role, he leads novel research projects centred around: I) the impact of AOD use on sleep and 2) understanding AOD, mental health and suicide and self-harm behaviours in ambulance data. He works closely with external stakeholders to ensure that policy makers are provided with evidenced-based resources to reduce AOD-harms across the community, as well as playing a significant role in teaching and community engagement at Turning Point.

Dr Rowland is a Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, and a Statistician at Turning Point. His work history has predominantly focused on designing and evaluating health behaviour interventions, randomised control trials and and longitudinal studies. As a registered psychologist, he has focused primarily on the behaviours of alcohol consumption, smoking, illicit drug use, mental health, and healthy eating.

Stipend

The successful applicant will receive a tax-free stipend at the current value of $35,013 per annum 2024 full-time rate, as per the Monash Research Training Program (RTP) Stipend, to undertake research in alcohol consumption, burden of disease, epidemiology and health surveillance.

Scholarship criteria

Please note that this scholarship opportunity is open to Australian citizens only. Internationally based applications are not being considered at this time.

Candidates will need to fulfil the Monash University minimum requirements for admission to a PhD detailed here:

www.monash.edu/admissions/entry-requirements/minimum.

How to apply

To apply, please send a CV, academic transcript, and a brief outline of your research experiences and interest in the position to research-turningpoint@monash.edu. All applicants will be reviewed. You will only be contacted if you are short-listed for the position.