APSAD Awards for Excellence in Science, Research & Practice

Nominations for the 2024 APSAD Awards for Excellence in Science, Research & Practice are open

In 2024 we are celebrating the 20^th anniversary of APSAD Awards. The Awards will be presented at the 43^rd APSAD Conference on Ngunnawal Country (Canberra) from Wednesday 30 October to Saturday 2 November.

As Australia's leading multidisciplinary organisation for professionals involved in the drug and alcohol field, these prestigious Awards are our unique celebration of the outstanding efforts and achievements of individuals and teams who provide devoted and unstinting service to their communities in diverse fields and go unrecognised.

Acknowledging dedication and excellence in our sector is a key part of the APSAD Awards and encouraging future generations of great researchers and clinicians.

The Awards are nominated by APSAD members and decided by the APSAD Awards Committee. 

The closing date for nominations in all award categories is 11.59pm (AEST) 29 July 2024.

Nominations are now closed.

NATURE OF THE AWARDS

Each Award recipient will receive:

• A plaque and a certificate,
• $1,000 to assist with professional development,
• One-year APSAD membership.

1. The Kyp Kypri Early Career Award recipient will present the Kyp Kypri Early Career Keynote* address at the 2024 APSAD Canberra Conference.
2. The Advocacy Award recipient will have the opportunity to hold an Advocacy Workshop* at the 2025 APSAD Sydney Conference.

*Subject to review by the abstract by the conference Scientific Advisory Committee.

All eight APSAD Awards reflect excellence in the application of theory, knowledge and practice to any aspect of drug and alcohol use.

Please contact the APSAD Office by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you require further information.

Details of the Awardees and highlights of the 2023 Awards can be found here.

APSAD Awards Recipients 2012

Congratulations to the 2012 APSAD Award winners!

All three APSAD Awards reflect excellence in the application of theory and knowledge to any aspect of drug and alcohol use or misuse. Recipients have been recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia.

Annalee Stearne - First People's Award
Is a member of the Nyungar people from WA, has been working in the National Drug Research Institute’s Indigenous Australian Research Program since 2001. She has been involved in numerous evaluations of Indigenous Australian substance misuse interventions in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. Between September 2005 and November 2008, while located in Alice Springs she worked closely with Tangentyere Council’s Research Hub. In 2006, she was a member of the research team that won the National Drug and Alcohol Award for Excellence in Research, and a Curtin University Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence. Currently she sits on the board of Palmerston Association.

For further information on the APSAD Awards

Adrian Carter (left) Alison Ritter, Annalee Stearne (right)

APSAD Awards Past Recipients

2011: First Peoples Award introduced | 2014: Clinician Award introduced | 2015: Mentor Award introduced | 2019: Mid Career Award introduced | 2021: Advocacy Award introduced

With the cancellation of this year's APSAD conference due to COVID-19 the annual APSAD Awards ceremony was moved to an online format.

APSAD President Professor Michael Farrell presented the 2020 APSAD Awards for Excellence in Science, Research and Practice at the online special ceremony. The six recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia.

2020 APSAD AWARD WINNERS

Senior Scientist Award A/Prof Robert Ali

Associate Professor Robert Ali ( MBBS FAFPHM, FAChAM DPH) is a public health physician and specialist in addiction medicine. Until October 2016 he was the clinical director of Drug & Alcohol Services South Australia; a role he held for 30 years. Currently he is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. Robert is a member of the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs, member of the Cochrane Alcohol and Drug Group editorial board and the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence and Alcohol Problems.

The Senior Scientist Award is for a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of substance use and misuse.

Mid Career Award - A/Prof Suzanne Nielsen

Associate Professor Suzanne Nielsen (BPharmSc[Hons] PhD MPS) is the Deputy Director of the Monash Addiction Research Centre in Melbourne, and is a current NHMRC Career Development Fellow. Suzi has been a registered pharmacist for over 20 years with clinical experience in the treatment of substance use disorders includes in specialist drug treatment and community-based alcohol and drug treatment settings in Australia and the United Kingdom. She has published over 135 scientific publications and given over 170 national and international conference presentations on her research, which has led to a greater understanding of how to identify and respond to prescription and over-the-counter drug-related problems. Her recent work has a focus on reducing opioid-related harm and overdose prevention.  Suzi has worked with Australian state and federal governments to reduce opioid-related and other drug harm.

The Mid Career Award is for significant contribution in the alcohol and other drug field.

Early Career Award - Dr Cheneal Puljević

Dr Cheneal Puljevic is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Services Research and the School of Public Health at the University of Queensland.

At the Centre for Health Services Research she is the Program Manager for the Global Substance Use and Mental Health unit, where she conducts and manages a number of research projects related to substance use, including the Queensland evaluation of the Tackling Alcohol-Fuelled Violence Policy (QUANTEM), and several projects using data from the Global Drug Survey.

At the School of Public Health, she is the co-coordinator of the CARP smoking cessation trial, and contributes to projects promoting smoking cessation among priority populations. Her primary research interest is smoking cessation among disadvantaged populations, with her PhD (completed in 2018) and current UQ Early Career Researcher Grant focusing on this topic. (https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/22250)

The Early Career Award is for excellence in research relative to career opportunities.

Mentor Award - Prof Paul Dietze

Professor Paul Dietze is one of Australia’s leading alcohol and other drug epidemiologists with a significant national, and emerging international profile. He is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and a past ARC Future Fellow and VicHealth Public Health Research Fellow. With more than 20 years’ experience and an outstanding track record, his work has established internationally innovative surveillance systems and applied research designs that break new ground in the public health research into alcohol and other drug use and related harms in Australia. He has produced more than 290 journal articles along with many other reports of significant impact that have changed practice in the area of alcohol and other drugs in this country. During the course of his research career he has received more than $20 million of research funding. (https://www.burnet.edu.au/people/174_paul_dietze)

The Mentor Award recognises an individual who has made an important contribution to mentoring and supporting the career development of clinicians, researchers or students.

First Peoples Award - Robert Assan

I am both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. I was born in the Northern Territory, but my cultural background is from Thursday Island.

Training has been a big part of my work. And it gives me great satisfaction – working with health workers and seeing them come along in their ability to help individuals and families around alcohol and drugs. I have been able to offer training and support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers around Australia, and to many other staff. The training helps them work with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people with alcohol or drug problems. I have also worked with individuals and communities, in the Northern Territory and in Queensland, to help them rethink their alcohol or drug use.

My current work involves both training and support of health workers, and one-to-one work with adolescents. This work is at the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville. I like that sense of planting the seed that leads to change later on. You don’t always see the results straight away, but the seed is there. The young people are able to use that information that you’ve given them. I equip people with knowledge and skills and insight that can help them in life.

Recognises an individual that has made an important contribution to the advancement of the health of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori peoples.

Clinician Award - Dr Anthony Gill

Dr Anthony (Tony) Gill is an Addiction Medicine Specialist who has worked in the Drug and Alcohol field for around 30 years. He has worked as a clinician and clinical leader primarily. He has held various Drug and Alcohol Clinical Director positions in NSW Local Health Districts and in the past in the NSW Ministry of Health. He is presently a Senior Staff Specialist in the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, and Chief Addiction Medicine Specialist in the NSW Ministry of Health. His interests in drug and alcohol include teaching and clinical service development and redesign, and he has worked extensively with general practitioners to enhance their activities in drug and alcohol.

Recognises excellence and leadership in clinical practice in the field of substance use in any discipline.entist Award A/Prof Robert Ali

The APSAD Conference and Awards Dinner was held at the Brooke Street Pier situated on Sullivans Cove in the waterfront area of Hobart. 

APSAD President Professor Michael Farrell presented the 2019 APSAD Awards for Excellence in Science, Research and Practice. The recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia. It is a special experience to formally acknowledge the dedication of our peers and celebrate the quality of their work.

2018 APSAD Award Winners announced 

The APSAD Conference Dinner and Awards was held at Maritime Room Auckland. The recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia. It is a special experience to formally acknowledge the dedication of our peers and celebrate the quality of their work. 

 

Congratulations to the 2017 APSAD Award Winners

The APSAD Conference Dinner and Awards was held at The Park overlooking the Albert Park Lake. Incoming APSAD President Dr Tony Gill presented the 2017 APSAD Awards. The recipients of the APSAD Awards are recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to reducing the harms associated with alcohol and other drug use in Australasia. It is a special experience to formally acknowledge the dedication of our peers and celebrate the quality of their work. 

Left to right: Briony Larance, Ingrid van Beek, Stephen Ling, Dan Lubman, Scott Wilson

Mentor Award  Dr Ingrid van Beek

Ingrid is a public health and addiction medicine physician who has been a leader in the Harm Minimisation and public health sector for many years. She is renowned and respected both nationally and internationally and has long been the voice of reason social justice and disadvantaged people, such as sex workers, people who inject drugs and at-risk youth. Ingrid was also the founding Medical Director of the first and only Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in the southern hemisphere from 2000 until 2008 and the author of a book “In The Eye Of The Needle” which tells the story of the MSIC, how it came to be, the ongoing controversy, and fight to defend its existence.

The Mentor Award recognises an individual who has made an important contribution to mentoring and supporting the career development of clinicians, researchers or students.

Early Career Award  Dr Briony Larance 

Briony Larance is an NHMRC Australian Public Health Early Career Fellowship recipient and has worked at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), Faculty of Medicine, UNSW, since 2004. Her research interests include opioid dependence, opioid substitution therapy and pharmaceutical opioids. Her research focuses on understanding the trajectories and health consequences of pharmaceutical opioid use among diverse populations, including chronic pain patients and people who are opioid dependent and/or inject drugs. 

The Early Career Award is for excellence in research relative to career opportunities.+

First Peoples Award  Scott Wilson 

Scott has had an eminent career, being a key advisor to Commonwealth and State Governments in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) alcohol and other drug issues over the past two decades. This includes as the Deputy Co-Chair of the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee between 2001 and 2014. Amongst his many other contributions, Scott has acted as the Australian delegate to the United Nations “Beyond 2008” International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Forum, Vienna. As founding and current CEO of the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council, SA (ADAC) Scott is responsible for delivering a range of innovative services and programs to Aboriginal communities across South Australia. 

The First Peoples Award recognises an individual that has made an important contribution to the advancement of the health of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or Māori peoples.

Clinician Award  Stephen Ling  

Stephen Ling is a pioneer nurse practitioner in the alcohol and drug field in Australia. Mr Ling was one of the first of a very small number of clinical nurse consultants in the alcohol and drug field who applied for nurse practitioner status when this became possible. Since attaining this recognition, he has continued to lead the nursing field in NSW, though his clinical work and involvement in teaching and research.

Clinician Award recognises excellence and leadership in clinical practice in substance use in any discipline.

Senior Scientist Award  Prof Dan Lubman

Professor Dan Lubman is a Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist. He has worked across mental health and drug treatment settings in both the UK and Australia. He is Director of Turning Point and Professor of Addiction Studies and Services at Monash University. Dr Lubman’s research is wide-ranging and includes investigating the impact of alcohol and drug use on brain function, the relationship between substance use and mental disorder, as well as the development of targeted intervention programs within school, primary care, mental health and drug treatment settings. 

The Senior Scientist Award is for a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of substance use and misuse.

Congratulations to the 2016 APSAD Award Winners

Left to Right: Louisa Degenhardt; Lisa Ferguson; Brad Freeburn; Alison Ritter; Louise Mewton;

Mentor Award  Prof Alison Ritter 

Professor Alison Ritter has been an exemplary mentor in the AOD sector for over twenty years, from her years as Head of Research at Turning Point (1994 – 2006) through to her past decade as the Director of the Drug Policy Modelling Program (2006 – present).  Alison has worked tirelessly to provide support and career advice to her mentees, and does so generously and in accordance with the individual’s own goals, interests and aspirations. Through her leadership of DPMP, Alison has fostered a vibrant and active multi-disciplinary research team, with an international reputation for excellence in drug policy research and demonstrable policy impact.

Alison’s commitment to mentoring extends beyond DPMP. Alison is a thoughtful and generous mentor to early – and mid-career researchers from a range of other institutions and acts as a formal mentor to junior academics in other disciplines at UNSW through ECR mentoring scheme (2010 to present) and in the UNSW Academic Women in Leadership scheme (2010 to present). 

The Mentor Award recognises an individual who has made an important contribution to mentoring and supporting the career development of clinicians, researchers or students.

Early Career Award  Dr Louise Mewton 

Dr Louise Mewton’s exceptional and inspiring contributions to drug and alcohol research have been widely recognised both nationally and internationally.  Focusing on the prevalence, causes and prevention of substance use disorders in young people, her highly innovative program of research makes links across epidemiology, information technology, neuropsychiatry and prevention research, and reflects global research priorities.

The Early Career Award is for excellence in research relative to career opportunities.

First Peoples Award  Bad Freeburn

Brad Freeburn is a Bundjalung man, born at Casino on the North Coast of New South Wales. He is the coordinator of the Drug and Alcohol and Mental Health Unit of the Aboriginal Medical Service Co-op Ltd Redfern. Brad became interested in Indigenous health issues, graduating as an Aboriginal Health Worker in 1993. Having worked in the drug and alcohol field since 1995, before that in the private sector

For the past 20 years, Brad has worked tirelessly to reduce improve the wellbeing of both his clients and advocating for the needs of other Aboriginal people at local, state and national level for culturally appropriate alcohol and other drug services.

The First Peoples Award recognises an individual that has made an important contribution to the advancement of the health of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or Māori peoples.

Clinician Award Lisa Ferguson

In her role at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney Lisa works tirelessly as the only Drug and Alcohol Clinical Nurse Consultant at this 320-bed hospital to ensure patients have access to Drug and Alcohol interventions as well as continuation of care and effective discharge planning for all patients coming through pharmacotherapy treatment. 

Clinician Award recognises excellence and leadership in clinical practice in substance use in any discipline.

Senior Scientist Award  Prof Louisa Degenhardt 

Louisa is an extremely talented and productive researcher and is a global leader in the addiction research field. She has dedicated her career to exploring the complexities of drug-related harm and ensuring policy makers, clinicians and the community have current and comprehensive information to make sound, informed decisions, which of course is crucial in the drug and alcohol field. Her research has already gone a long way to establishing a comprehensive evidence base for drug policy and clinical practice, both in Australia and internationally. Louisa’s work documenting what is and is not known regarding the epidemiology and health effects of illicit drugs has 

Congratulations to the 2015 APSAD Award Winners

Left to Right: Raimondo Bruno; Amy Peacock; Rose McCrohan; Kathleen James; Steve Allsop; & President Rose Neild

Mentor Award  A/Prof Raimondo Bruno

As a researcher committed to advancing young researchers’ careers before his own, Raimondo Bruno is a worthy winner of the inaugural APSAD Mentor Award. In just 10 years, he has mentored 80 postgraduate students and early career researchers while maintaining many teaching and research roles. His commitment to helping students and young researchers is reflected in results: half of his Clinical Psychology research students are employed in the sector and many have received awards including a Rhodes Scholarship.

Early Career Award  Dr Amy Peacock

Amy Peacock is an emerging leader in the AOD field. She has authored 29 publications and is already an international authority on the harms of mixing alcohol and energy drinks – all within four years of starting her research career. She led the first systematic review published internationally comparing harms of consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks, and her work has been incorporated into European food safety guidelines.

First Peoples Award  Kathleen James

Kathleen James is an Aboriginal woman who has worked as a counsellor in the addictions field since 2008. Kate is a role model for other Aboriginal staff and clients and provides leadership in providing culturally secure services to the Aboriginal community. She has run youth programs at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and established programs to reach disadvantaged young Aboriginal people, including for students at a local high school, and is currently the only Aboriginal counsellor at the Rockingham branch of Palmerston Association – a not for profit providing counselling and support for people with AOD issues.

Clinician Award  Rose McCrohan

Victoria’s first Alcohol and Other Drug Nurse Practitioner, Rose McCrohan has been a trailblazer in AOD nursing treatment over almost 25 years, managing or helping establish multiple withdrawal programs. “Rose’s knowledge and experience have been invaluable to the sector. Her ability to create an environment for positive change for clients has impacted on many lives,” her nominator said.  Rose is also part of the ReGen team setting up Victoria’s first mother and baby withdrawal service.

Senior Scientist Award  Prof Steve Allsop

Steve Allsop is an internationally renowned researcher in AOD who has made a significant contribution to the field over the past 30 years, including through mentoring many developing researchers. Deputy chair of the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs, Steve contributes to national and international policy debate and research and has facilitated the debate on state/territory and national drug strategies, including involvement in developing the previous National Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Strategy.