Lead Chief Investigator

Caitlin Hughes is an Associate Professor in criminology and drug policy and Matthew Flinders Fellow at Flinders Criminology and the Centre for Social Impact, Flinders University. As one of the few criminologists and drug policy scholars internationally, and current President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy, Caitlin has 18 years’ experience working at the interface of criminal justice, health and social systems to drive evidence-based system change.

Caitlin has extensive experience in analysing drug markets to identify the nature of demand and supply and avenues to reduce drug-related harms as well as the effects of different legislative and law enforcement approaches to drug use and supply. Grant funders (selected) include the Australian Research Council; National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund; Australian Institute of Criminology; Swiss Federal Office of Public Health; Irish Department of Justice and Equality and Department of Health. She brings a strong track record in engagement with policy makers, law enforcement and health officials from within and outside Australia to deliver policy and practice change including in Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Portugal and USA. 

Chief Investigator

Mark Halsey is a Professor of Criminology at Flinders Criminology and the Centre for Social Impact, an Australian Research Council Industry Laureate Fellow and former Chief Editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology. Mark has extensive experience, covering more than 25 years, analysing youth offending, incarceration, rehabilitation and desistance from crime and Aboriginal social exclusion.

From 2004 to 2013, Mark conducted Australia’s longest and most in-depth study of repeat incarceration and desistance from crime among a group of young men aged 15 to 29 years. The book based on that research (Young Offenders: Crime, Prison and Struggles for Desistance) won the 2017 Christine M Alder Book Prize. Recipient of numerous grants, including a four-year Australian Research Council grant titled “Reducing Aboriginal Imprisonment: An Offence-Specific Study”, in 2024, Mark was one of just 8 recipients in Australia to receive a prestigious ARC Industry Fellowship Program to build on pilot work to help fundamentally change the way prisoners are rehabilitated in NSW. 

Chief Investigator

Jacqueline Bowden is Director of the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University. She is a behavioural scientist who has worked at the interface of research and public health policy for more than twenty years (particularly in tobacco control, e-cigarette alcohol and other drugs). She has held roles in academia, the non-government sector and within government.

Professor Bowden has been a key advisor to South Australian Government for 15 years, and she previously managed the implementation of all research and evaluation for all SA Government-funded tobacco control programs (and overarching strategies). She has been a consultant in research and evaluation design and has held an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship to investigate ways to reduce parental supply of alcohol to children. Jacqueline also currently leads a national evaluation of one of Australia’s largest public health campaigns, which aims to raise awareness of the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy and breastfeeding. 

Research Fellow 

Dr. Gianluca is a research fellow at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction. As a research psychologist, his main area of study is substance and behavioural addiction.

Gianluca’s PhD thesis focused on the impact of sports betting marketing on young individuals. Additionally, he has conducted research on school-based bullying among Australian students.

His research interests in the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sector are diverse. He is particularly interested in studying the psychosocial determinants of substance use, the ways in which young people view the harms of substances, and the prevalence of drug use in Australian society.