‘Truly transformative’: NDARC awarded $4.2 million to explore rapidly shifting drug use patterns

‘Truly transformative’: NDARC awarded $4.2 million to understand the impact of rapidly shifting drug use patterns

The world’s largest longitudinal linked data platform on illicit drug use patterns in Australia will be created through a $4.2 million grant awarded to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at UNSW Sydney.

The project will be led by NDARC’s Professor Rebecca McKetin, who said it will bring together leading world experts in drug use and data modelling to transform the way we understand illicit drug use.

“Existing research infrastructure does not have the capacity to understand the impact of our rapidly shifting patterns of drug use,” Professor McKetin said.

“This data platform will enable us to see how contemporary patterns of drug use are linked to specific health risks and to develop more tailored and effective health responses.”

The five-year project, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant scheme, will recruit 9000 adults to collect granular information about illicit drug use and track health outcomes through linkage to administrative health records.

Advanced data modelling will be used to understand how many people are using illicit drugs, how different patterns of drug use cluster with specific health risks, and how these health risks are influenced by contextual factors, such as socioeconomic disadvantage.

The data platform will also be embedded in Australia’s national drug monitoring systems to help identify and respond to emerging illicit drug trends.

Collaborators include the Burnet Institute, the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University, Peer Based Harm Reduction WA, and the Emerging Drugs Network of Australia, as well as the University of Bristol in the UK and the University of Otago in New Zealand.

“Our partnerships with community, governments, and academia will guarantee the translation of key findings into frontline harm minimisation responses,” Professor McKetin said.

“It will be truly transformative for the alcohol and other drugs sector as a whole.”

Professor McKetin, who leads a program of research into stimulant use epidemiology and interventions at NDARC, said the project would begin in January 2026 and that it was expected to be completed by the end of 2030.

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Media contact: 0401 713 850 | ndarc.media@unsw.edu.au

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