Available PhD projects

Project Type: PHD SCHOLARSHIP

Supervisor: Dr Jasmin Grigg.

Area: Implementation science, Alcohol-related disorders, Breast cancer, Health promotion

Research Group: Dr Grigg is a Senior Research Fellow in Addiction Studies at Monash University and Turning Point. Her research uses hybrid implementation-effectiveness methods to develop novel public health interventions to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms and raise population awareness about the low levels of drinking that cause harm.

The Health4Her program of research uses co-design and implementation science methods to raise awareness of the alcohol-breast cancer link among women participating in population-based breast screening programs, and support women to keep their consumption in a low-risk range.

A PhD scholarship is being offered to conduct research as part of the Health4Her Project, to examine alcohol-related harms among women aged 40+ years through analyses of an existing population-level dataset, conduct a systematic review on alcohol preventive interventions offered in the context of population cancer screening programs, and contribute to co-design studies and effectiveness-implementation trials examining how the Health4Her intervention can be optimally embedded in breast screening services, and adapted for other healthcare settings and populations.

The project will involve quantitative and qualitative research methods, use of implementation research frameworks, and consumer and expert stakeholder participation approaches.

Project Type: PhD Scholarship

Supervisor: Dr Rowan Ogeil

Area: Alcohol-related disorders, Sleep, Treatment and recovery

Research Group: 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 the impact of AOD use on sleep, and understanding AOD, mental health and suicide and self-harm behaviours in ambulance data.

Despite advances in our understanding of the neurobiology of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), and in particular the role of the orexin system in the drive to seek and consume alcohol, the clinical treatment of AUD by psychosocial and/or pharmacological interventions has proven difficult. While treatment can lead to striking improvements in physical and mental health outcomes, often the results are poor particularly when comorbid conditions such as insomnia are present. This is problematic given that sleep disturbances are a prominent clinical problem in AUD and are recognised as an important predictor of relapse.

This PhD project will work on clinical trials and studies at Turning Point to investigate sleep disturbances in patients seeking treatment for AUD. The project will involve collection and analysis of both subjective and objective measures of sleep with outcomes of this work helping to delineate the role and impact that comorbid sleep disturbances have on the course and progression of recovery from AUD.

Project Type: PhD Scholarship

Supervisors: Dr Rowan Ogeil and Dr Ryan Baldwin.

Area: Population Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs, Epidemiology, and Adolescence

Research Group: National Addiction and Mental Health Surveillance Unit, Turning Point (Richmond) and Eastern Health Clinical School (Monash University)

Young people and adolescents are identified as priority populations in current National Alcohol and Drug Strategies given that Alcohol and Drug (AOD) use during this key developmental phase can result in negative and long-lasting effects on the brain and body. However, patterns of adolescent alcohol and drug use (AOD) have been changing over the past 20 years, with fewer young people consuming alcohol and cigarettes, and higher proportions using illicit drugs (AIHW,2025). In addition, patterns of alcohol consumption have seen disparate cohort effects - so while rates of alcohol use have dropped overall, a relatively high proportion (more than one-third) of young Australians have consumed alcohol at risky-levels. Together, these changes mean that we need better population-based data systems and models to monitor harms associated with AOD use. This project will use a suite of population-based sources and aim to identify locations and sociodemographic sub-groups most at risk of AOD harm; understand the types of harm caused; and seek to investigate what causes young people to present (and re-present) to emergency and community health services. This PhD will involve work with world-first datasets developed by Turning Point, including the National Ambulance Surveillance System and population-based resources involving the National Health Data Hub to answer these questions. This work will result in research that policy makers and governments can use to develop education campaigns and future policies that benefit adolescents and young Australians. This is more than a scholarship—it’s a launchpad for shaping the future of addiction care.