Speakers
Speakers are listed in alphabetical order.
Monica Barratt
National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University
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Associate Professor Monica Barratt is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership fellow at Australia's National Drug Research Institute (Curtin University), recognised internationally for generating policy and practice relevant insights into the reduction of health harms for people who use unregulated drugs. Barratt has published 150+ peer-reviewed articles with over 10K citations. She is the National Research Lead for The Loop Australia, a non-profit service provider of drug checking in Australia. She serves on the boards of directors of 3 harm reduction charities: Bluelight Communities Ltd (Chair), Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia (Treasurer), and the Australian Psychedelic Society (Member).
Ron Borland
School of Psychology, Deakin University
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Ron Borland PhD is a Professor of Psychology in the School of Psychology at Deakin University. Prior to that he spent most of his career as a research scientist at the Cancer Council Victoria, 19 years as the Nigel Gray Distinguished Fellow in Cancer Prevention. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers, most on aspects of health behaviour change. He has been listed in the Web of Science list of the World’s most influential scientists. He takes a broad systems approach to behaviour and behaviour change, integrating efforts at individual and population levels. His expertise spans the impact of social and regulatory impacts on behaviour through to the challenges individuals personally face. He is best known for his work in tobacco control. He has developed a range of mass-disseminable smoking cessation interventions, including the QuitCoach a demonstrably effective automated intervention. He is one of the Principal Investigators of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project: an international collaboration that has helped quantify the impacts of government policies on smoking that has also led to better understanding of the challenges of supporting smoking cessation and preventing relapse. He has a special interest in harm minimisation strategies and strategies to assist highly disadvantaged groups. He has developed CEOS theory: a comprehensive theory of Hard to Maintain Behaviour Change.
Jacqueline Bowden
National Centre for Education and Training on
Addiction (NCETA)
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Professor Bowden is the Director of the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), a collaboration between
Flinders University and the Australian Government Department of Health
Disability and Ageing. Prof Bowden has over two decades of experience in alcohol and other drugs behavioural, policy research and monitoring.
Mike Christmass
Next Step Drug and Alcohol Services, East Metropolitan Health Service; Fiona Stanley
Hospital, South Metropolitan Health Service
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Dr Christmass is a Fellow of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine (RACP) and the RACGP and holds a PhD in research science. He works as a Consultant in Addiction Medicine with the community substance use disorder treatment service for Fremantle and its surrounds, as well as with Fiona Stanley Hospital Alcohol and Other Drug Consultation-Liaison service. Dr Christmass is Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Curtin University Medical School and Adjunct Research Fellow at the National Drug Research Institute. His research collaborations include partnerships with the Kirby Institute (UNSW), the National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs, and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (UNSW). He is the current clinical member of the Community Program for Opioid Pharmacotherapy Management Committee in WA. In clinical, educational, and research work, Dr Christmass is dedicated to advancing evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders and improving health outcomes for marginalised individuals and communities.
Nabarun Dasgupta
University of North Carolina
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Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta is a Gillings Innovation Fellow and Senior Scientist at the University of North Carolina (USA) and winner of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship. He holds a PhD in Epidemiology from UNC, and was named to the 2026 TIME100 Health list of most influential people in health globally. Dr. Dasgupta is a scientist and innovator with a passion for telling true stories about health with numbers. At the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab, over 20,000 donated drug samples from harm reduction programs have been analyzed with molecular precision to create a real-time understanding of the illicit drug supply. Through his work, Dasgupta aims to amplify community voices in public health, paired with powerful visual information displays.
Michael Doyle
Edith Collins Centre, The University Of Sydney
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Professor Michael Doyle is a Bardi Man and a research-focused academic at the University of Sydney. He has worked in Aboriginal health for over 20 years, commencing his career as an Aboriginal Health Worker at the Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service. Michael moved into Aboriginal health research in 2008 and utilises a mixed-methods approach in his work. Presently, Michael is the Head of the First Nations health team at the Edith Collins Centre for translational research in alcohol, drugs, and toxicology. His research aims to improve health service delivery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who use alcohol and/or other drugs. Michael's research also has a focus on improving health service delivery for those in the criminal justice system. Michael is an active member of the Aboriginal community and has served on Aboriginal community-controlled organisation boards. He served as co-chair of the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW's Human Research Ethics Committee 2021 to 2026 (May).
Nadine Ezard
National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs & St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney
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Professor Nadine Ezard is an Addiction Medicine Specialist (MBBS, BA, MPH, PhD, FAChAM), inaugural Director of the Australian National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs (NCCRED), and Clinical Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. Her clinical work serves people with a variety of substance use disorders in inpatient, outpatient and community settings, and strives to embed research into clinical practice. Nadine has more than 30 years of clinical and research experience in addiction medicine and public health practice in Australian and international contexts including for the World Health Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. She is a worldwide recognised researcher in substance use and its translation into consumer-focused harm-reduction public health interventions, models of care and policy for marginalised populations.
Rachael Hill
Independent Lived Experience Leader, Speaker
and Systems Change Advisor
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Rachael Hill is a lived experience advocate, speaker, and systems change advisor based in Melbourne. Her expertise is shaped by her experiences navigating alcohol and other drug challenges, mental health, homelessness, family violence, child protection, and the criminal legal system, as well as her journey of rebuilding her life while advocating for systemic change.
Today, Rachael advocates for systems change through advisory groups, co-design projects, public speaking engagements, and policy discussions, bringing lived experience expertise into spaces where decisions are made about the lives of people and communities. She is passionate about ensuring lived and living experience is recognised as a form of expertise alongside research, clinical knowledge, and policy evidence.
Rachael has spoken at Parliament House in Canberra on the importance of lived experience leadership in systems reform and has contributed to national conversations on mental health, justice, stigma, and social inclusion. Her work focuses on the gaps between systems and the people they are designed to support, particularly where alcohol and other drug issues intersect with trauma, housing instability, family violence, and social disadvantage.
Outside of her advocacy work, Rachael enjoys writing, storytelling, spending time with her two children, and spoiling her very loved Maltese-Shih Tzu. She is currently working towards writing her own memoir and believes that stories have the power not only to heal individuals, but to change systems.
Her guiding belief is simple: people aren't too complex—systems are.
Didier Jutras-Aswad
Department of Psychiatry, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal
Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, Université de Montréal
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Didier Jutras-Aswad is an addiction psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry and Addictology at Université de Montréal, as well as Chief of the Department of Psychiatry at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). He is also a Principal Scientist at the CHUM Research Centre and the Nominated Principal Investigator leading the Quebec node of the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Matters network. Dr. Jutras-Aswad’s clinical and research work focuses on substance use disorders, concurrent mental health disorders, and innovative models of care. He has led and collaborated on multiple national and international initiatives, including pancanadian multi-site clinical trials. His work has contributed to advancing evidence-based treatments, clinical guidelines, and health system responses for people living with substance use disorders. He is actively involved in Canadian and international collaborations aimed at improving policy, research, and clinical care in substance use-related matters.
Suzanne Nielsen
Monash Addiction Research
Centre, Monash University
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Professor Suzanne Nielsen (BPharm BPharmSc[Hons] PhD MPS FANZCAP (AddMed, Research)) is the Deputy Director of the Monash Addiction Research Centre (Monash University), and a registered pharmacist with extensive experience in the area of drug treatment and harm reduction. Suzi is passionate about improving treatment for opioid dependence. Over her career she has worked on clinical guidelines, supported policy change and is currently working on established new medicines and models of care aimed at increasing access to quality evidence-based treatment.
Jennifer Schumann
Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Monash University
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Associate Professor Jennifer Schumann is Head of the Drug Intelligence Unit at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine and Associate Professor in Monash University’s Department of Forensic Medicine. She is a forensic pharmacologist and toxicologist bringing over 20 years experience investigating drug-related harms in the community, spanning forensic science, public health surveillance and policy translation. She has published extensively, presented her work internationally, and received numerous awards in recognition of her research impact, including a 2019 Churchill Fellowship and the 2024 Achievement Award from The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT). Jennifer is President of the Forensic and Clinical Toxicology Association (FACTA), Board Member (Oceania) for TIAFT, and serves on multiple government and international advisory groups. Her research has stimulated public debate, engaged national and international media, and directly informed changes in Australian drug, alcohol and violence-prevention policy and practice.
Key Deadlines:
Scholarship Application Deadline: 5 July 2026
Late Breaker Abstract Deadline: 27 July 2026
Early Bird Registration Deadline: 31 August 2026
Accommodation Deadline: 28 September 2026
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