Dr Rowland has built his career around designing and evaluating health promotion interventions and tracking how people’s behaviours change over time.

He says a number of people have inspired and mentored him throughout his career.

“Three particular academics include Professor John Wiggers, from Hunter New England Population Health; Professor John Toumbourou, from the Lifespan Institute at Deakin University; and, more recently, Professor Dan Lubman from the Eastern Health Clinical School at Monash University,” he says.

As a registered psychologist, his work has focused mainly on people’s behaviours in relation to alcohol use, smoking, illicit drug use, mental health and healthy eating. His longitudinal research has helped identify the key factors that influence these behaviours and lead to change at different stages of life, offering valuable insights for prevention and early intervention.

Much of his career has involved large-scale public health preventive interventions, including programs like the Good Sports Alcohol Management program, which provides alcohol management training for community sports clubs.

He has also helped implement the Communities that Care prevention framework in 25 LGAs across Australia. This international movement and prevention framework has helped reduce and prevent alcohol and drug use, antisocial behaviour and mental illness in communities across the world, with substantive returns on investment for government and service providers.

Currently, Dr Rowland is leading a large-scale, multidisciplinary project funded by a $1.97 million MRFF grant, which is taking a contemporary, evidence‑based approach to understanding increases and changes in alcohol availability both in the physical and online environment and changes in mental and physical health in the last decade among Australia’s adolescents and young adults.

Congratulations to Dr Rowland on this well‑deserved achievement! We look forward to seeing the continued impact of his work in shaping healthier communities. The promotion will come into effect on 1 July 2026.

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