Trauma & Addiction

Trauma and addiction frequently co-occur. About 1 in 2 people in addiction treatment settings have symptoms of PTSD, yet integrated treatment is not routinely available. This PhD program is aimed at translational approaches to integrated treatment for PTSD and addiction, with an exciting opportunity to be involved in both frontline clinics and desktop secondary analyses of existing datasets. The program will focus on transdiagnostic correlates of co-occurring disorders, including neurobiological, neuropsychological and neurophysiological underpinnings of presenting problems.

The program is supported by projects across three NHMRC and MRFF grants, including a NHMRC Investigator Fellowship (Arunogiri), enabling the student to work across a number of national multisite clinical trials, including a study of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (PAT) with MDMA assisted psychotherapy for PTSD and alcohol use disorder.

Applications will only be accepted from students based in Melbourne, Australia for this clinically-focused PhD.

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 supervisor will be Associate Professor Shalini Arunogiri. Co-supervisors will be dependent on the project focus, and may include supervisors at Turning Point/ Monash Addiction Research Centre or externally.

A/Prof Arunogiri is an Associate Professor of Addiction Studies at Monash University, Clinical Director of the Hamilton Centre, and a Strategic Lead of the Clinical & Social Research (CSR) team at Turning Point. As a clinical addiction psychiatrist, she has extensive experience working across alcohol and other drug (AOD) and mental health services, with a research focus on clinical research into novel treatments for substance use disorders and integrated treatments for co-occuring mental health problems.

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 trauma, addiction, integrated treatment and clinical trials.

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.