Since NDARC's inception, more than 100 students have successfully completed a higher degree research (HDR) program at the Centre (PhD and Masters).

Students who have completed a PhD at NDARC:

Completion Year	First Name	Surname	Thesis
2025	Saki (Ruba)	Talukder	Bridging the Gap: Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities for Smoking Cessation among People with Mental Health Disorders
2025	Leigh	Coney	Clicks, Captchas, and Chemicals: Assessing the Risks and Benefits of Online Drug Purchasing Behaviours
2025	Baillee	Farah	'Kicked out': Relational effects of patron eviction in Sydney’s nightlife
2024	Christel	Macdonald	Who gets diverted into treatment? Exploring the factors that influence mental health diversion in the NSW Local Court
2024	Madeline	News	Exploring the influence of policy, research and healthcare service delivery on Aboriginal women's health in New South Wales, Australia
2024	Liam	Acheson	Pharmacological management of acute methamphetamine withdrawal
2024	Nicole	Snowdon	Optimising the delivery of substance use interventions for young people in rural communities
2024	Daisy	Gibbs	Improving the evidence about supported accommodation for people released from prison
2023	Chrianna	Bharat	Linked data for pharmacoepidemiology research in Australia: Examining medicine use and outcomes among people with opioid dependence
2023	George	Economidis	An evaluation of the implementation of family-based therapy programs to enhance government responses to child physical abuse and neglect in New South Wales, Australia
2023	Ria	Hopkins	Exploring the use and accessibility of health services and medicines among Australians living with chronic non-cancer pain
2022	Samantha	Colledge	Understanding the clinical harms that contribute to morbidity among people who inject drugs
2022	Rebecca	Bosworth	Treatment entry and return to opioid use outcomes from a pre-release methadone program in a Malaysian prison: towards improved HIV treatment outcomes
2022	Thomas	Santo Jr	Examining childhood trauma and comorbid mental disorders among people with opioid use disorder
2022	Skye	Trudgett	The co-design and implementation of embedded monitoring, evaluation and learning into the standard practice of NGO-delivered services for high-risk young people
2022	Wing See	Yuen	Trajectories of alcohol-related harm among young people
2021	Douglas	James	Understanding as a foundation for optimising treatment outcomes in six Aboriginal community-controlled alcohol and other drug residential rehabilitation services in New South Wales Australia
2021	Lisa	Hilder	Using linked data to assess maternal mental and behavioural disorders in pregnancy
2021	Bonita	Byrne	Cultures within culture: Investigating the association between conflict and alcohol-related harms in aboriginal communities
2020	Philip	Clare	Methods of Adjusting for Exposure-affected Time-varying Confounding
2020	Richard	Mellor	Advancing understandings of remission and approaches to treatment through an examination of untreated remission from alcohol problems
2019	Catherine	Foley	Improving the effectiveness of treatment for people with co-occurring substance and mental health disorders in rural Australian communities
2019	Shann	Hulme	The diversion and supply of pharmaceutical drugs for non-medical use
2019	Kerryn	Butler	Hepatitis C testing and treatment among people who inject drugs
2019	Vivienne	Moxham-Hall	Investigating the utility of indexes in comparative drug policy analysis
2019	Amanda	Roxburgh	The epidemiology of opioid overdose mortality in Australia
2018	Rachel	Sutherland	New psychoactive substances in Australia
2018	Matthew	O'Reilly	Understanding how high-level synthetic stimulant traffickers in Australia adapt to changes in their drug supply
2018	Sonja	Memedovic	Substance use disorders and depression: An examination of their relationship and the role of repetitive negative thinking as a shared risk factor
2018	Erin	Kelly	Tackling adolescent bullying head on: Victimisation, perpetration and targeted intervention
2018	Veronica	Boland	"I'm not strong enough, I'm not good enough, I can't do this, I'm failing": barriers, facilitators and future directions for smoking cessation among low-socioeconomic status Australian smokers
2018	Bianca	Hoban	Associations between multiple medication use and medication-related problems among people with chronic non-cancer pain who are prescribed opioids
2018	Alice	Munro	Healing together: Identifying the value of partnerships between rural Aboriginal communities, services and researchers to co-design, implement and evaluate programs to reduce drug and alcohol harms
2018	Alice	Knight	Improving the evidence-base for third sector delivered programs working with high-risk young people
2018	Katrina	Prior	Substance use disorders, depression and social phobia: An examination of co-occurring disorders
2017	Mieke	Snijder	Maldahnalanga: Integrating rigorous research and community participation in Aboriginal community-based research
2017	Louise	Birrell	Untangling co-morbidity: Alcohol use, anxiety and mood disorders in adolescence
2017	Elizabeth	Whittaker	Housing the ‘hard-to-house’: Examination of homelessness and the impact of Housing First programs in Australia
2017	Lucy	Albertella	Cannabis use, schizotypy, and attentional inhibition: a longitudinal study
2016	Thu	Vuong	Economic evaluation comparing the cost-effectiveness of center-based compulsory rehabilitation (CCT) and voluntary community-based methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Hai Phong City, Vietnam
2016	Larissa	Rossen	Prospective predictors of bonding and emotional availability: A longitudinal study of pregnancy and the first year of life
2016	Clare	McCormack	Prenatal alcohol exposure and infant cognitive development
2016	Kari	Lancaster	Problematising the 'evidence-based' drug policy paradigm
2016	Katrina	Champion	Paying attention to prevention: An Internet-based framework to address alcohol, cannabis, ecstasy and new psychoactive substance use
2016	Gabrielle	Campbell	Complexities and comorbidities in patients with chronic non-cancer pain: Suicidal behaviours and pharmaceutical opioid use
2015	Michelle	Tye	Understanding the liability to violent offending among injection drug users: the contribution of predispositional and substance use risks
2015	Dam Anh	Tran	Barriers to antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV in Vietnam
2015	Mark	Deady	Comorbid depression and problematic alcohol use in young people: the development and evaluation of an online intervention
2014	Monika	Wadolowski	Sipping, drinking, and parental alcohol provision: Understanding quantities of early adolescent alcohol consumption in relation to parenting practices, peer influences, and problem behaviours
2014	Timothy	McSweeney	Promoting compliance, recovery and desistance: comparative case studies of pre-sentence diversion schemes for drug misusing arrestees in Australia and England
2014	Bianca	Calabria	Creating partnerships between researchers, health care providers and Indigenous Australians to improve Indigenous health: a demonstration model
2013	Melanie	Simpson	Caught red-eyed and red-handed: an exploration of cannabis use and criminal offending
2013	Paul	Nelson	Drug use and recidivism among young offenders on supervised community orders
2013	Lynne	Magor-Blatch	Intervention for amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) use in the therapeutic community
2013	Amy	Johnston	Suicidality in Australia: prevalence, correlates, trends and health service use
2012	Edmund	Silins	Patterns and correlates of cannabis use in young adulthood
2012	Louise	Mewton	The classification of substance use disorders in young adults
2012	Francis	Matthew-Simmons	Public opinion, the media, and illicit drug policy
2012	Briony	Larance	Non-adherence in opioid substitution therapy in Australia
2012	Peter	Gates	Development and evaluation of a telephone-based intervention for cannabis use disorder
2012	Joshua	Byrnes	The impact of price on alcohol consumption and the cost-effectiveness of a volumetric tax on alcohol in Australia
2012	Emma	Barrett	Hurt people who hurt people: anger and violence among individuals with substance use disorder and post traumatic stress disorder
2011	Fiona	Shand	The latent structure of illicit opioid dependence and comorbid psychiatric disorders
2011	Marian	Shanahan	Assessing the economic consequences of two cannabis policy options
2011	Hector	Navarro	Economic evaluations of interventions for alcohol misuse, dependence, and to reduce alcohol-related violent crime, at a community level in rural Australia
2011	Sarah	Larney	Opioid substitution treatment in prison and post-release: effects on criminal recidivism and mortality
2011	Alys	Havard	Targeting alcohol problems among patients of rural Australian emergency departments: establishing an evidence base
2011	Courtney	Breen	Alcohol consumption and related harms in regional communities: exploring individual and community factors
2010	Elizabeth	Conroy	The importance of child maltreatment as a correlate of mental disorder among opioid-dependent persons
2009	Deborah	Zador	Studies in opioid drug related death
2009	James	Shearer	Modafinil for psychostimulant dependence
2009	Nicola	Newton	The development and evaluation of a school-based prevention program for alcohol and cannabis use delivered via the internet
2009	Devon	Indig	Detection of alcohol-related emergency department presentations
2009	Amy	Gibson	Mortality among the recipients of methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone maintenance for the treatment of opioid dependence: the levels, predictors and causes of mortality
2008	Greg	Martin	Brief intervention for cannabis use among young people
2008	Elizabeth	Maloney	Opioid dependence: associations with suicidal behaviour and other psychiatric comorbidity
2007	Laura	Vogl	Climate schools: alcohol module - the feasibility and efficacy of a universal school-based computerised prevention program for alcohol misuse and related harms
2007	Heather	Proudfoot	DSM-IV alcohol use disorders in Australia: validity, prevalence and treatment seeking
2006	Anna	Williamson	The effects of cocaine use on outcomes for the treatment of heroin dependence in Sydney, Australia
2006	Katherine	Mills	Post traumatic stress disorder among people with heroin dependence
2006	Joanne	Kimber	Role of the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in reducing injecting drug use-related harm: evaluating accessibility, utilisation, coverage and selected health impacts
2006	Neil	Donnelly	The use of interrupted time series analysis to evaluate the impact of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme policies on drug utilisation in Australia
2005	Peter	Lawrinson	Development and piloting of a treatment outcome monitoring system for opioid maintenance pharmacotherapy services in New South Wales, Australia
2005	Carolyn	Day	Understanding the relationship between hepatitis C infection and heroin use in Australia: epidemics, drug markets and methodology
2004	Lucinda	Burns	Comorbidity between alcohol use disorders, anxiety and depression
2003	Sharlene	Kaye	Injecting and non-injecting cocaine use in Sydney, Australia: prevalence, patterns and associated harms
2002	Amanda	Reid	Cannabis use and risk perception among Australian youth
2001	Louisa	Degenhardt	Comorbidity between substance use and mental health in Australia: Relationships of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use with other substance use and mental disorders
2000	Catherine	Spooner	The nature and treatment of psychoactive substance use disorders among adolescents
1999	Libby	Topp	The nature of the amphetamine dependence syndrome
1999	Wendy	Swift	Patterns and correlates of cannabis dependence
1999	Joanne	Ross	Benzodiazepine use among heroin users in Sydney, Australia
1999	Rebecca	McKetin	Cognitive functioning and psychological morbidity among illicit amphetamine users
1999	Julie	Hando	Patterns of illicit psychostimulant use in Australia and correlates of harm
1999	Margaret	Cooke	Barriers to the systematic provision of smoking cessation education during pregnancy
1997	Kate	Dolan	HIV in Australian prisons: transmission, risk behaviours and prevention
1996	Jeff	Ward	Factors influencing the effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment: change and innovation in New South Wales, Australia 1985-1995
1996	Claudia	Sannibale	An evaluation of Cloninger's typology of alcohol abuse
1996	Vaughan	Rees	Cue reactivity in tobacco smokers: the role of Pavlovian conditioning in drug dependence phenomena
1996	Margaret	Kelaher	Decision-making and HIV risk behaviour among gay men and injecting drug users
1996	Amanda	Baker	Motivational interviewing and relapse prevention interventions for HIV risk reduction among injecting drug users
1995	Jan	Copeland	The development of a model of treatment for women with alcohol and other drug problems
1994	Nadia	Solowij	Event-related potential indices of cognitive functioning in long term cannabis use
1994	Lynette	Lewis	The inner Sydney gay dance party culture in the context of the HIVAIDS pandemic: a qualitative analysis

NDARC offers postgraduate research opportunities for students interested in alcohol and other drug research. Visit scholarships at NDARC for more information and scholarship opportunities.

A number of NDARC staff are available to supervise HDR candidates. Visit find a supervisor for a full list of potential supervisors.

Visit our students for a list of current NDARC HDR students and their projects.

If you have any questions or require further information about NDARC’s HDR program please email ndarc.hdr@unsw.edu.au.