The Third Australian Study of Health and Relationships (ASHR3) is being managed by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney, University of Sussex, University of Melbourne, Flinders University, and Victoria University.
ASHR3 is funded by a grant from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council.
ASHR3 data collection is managed by the Social Research Centre
Lead Investigator
Rebecca GuyProfessor and Theme Director, Implementation Research Program Head, Surveillance Evaluation and Research Program - rguy@kirby.unsw.edu.au
Rebecca Guy is a professor of epidemiology at the Kirby Institute, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW. She holds an NHMRC investigator grant, and in 2022 was awarded the Gustav Nossal Medal for Global Health. She has expertise in the epidemiology of sexual health, and sexually transmissible infections, and implementation and evaluation of prevention initiatives to reduce harm. She is lead of the Australian Study of Health and Relationships.
Co-Chief Investigators
Dr Richard de VisserR.O.DeVisser@bsms.ac.uk
Richard de Visser has been part of the ASHR team since 2000. He completed his PhD at the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health & Society, and since 2004 he has been based in the UK at the University of Sussex and Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Richard’s research interests cover a broad range of topics in health psychology and public health. He is one of the authors of the textbook Psychology for Medicine and Healthcare.
For ASHR the particular topics Richard has focused on include:
– links between attitudes and behaviour, and how these are influenced by religiosity
– the impact of sexual coercion on health and wellbeing
– sexual practices condom use, and pleasure
– relationships and jealousy
Andrew GrulichProfessor - agrulich@kirby.unsw.edu.au
Andrew Grulich is a medical epidemiologist and specialist public health physician with 30 years of experience in HIV research. He is Theme Director, Populations and Prevention, and Head of the HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Program, at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. His main research concerns the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections in men who have sex with men. Andrew was the principal investigator of the Opposites Attract study, one of the cornerstones of the Undetectable=Untransmissible campaign, and he led the EPIC-NSW study of population-based pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) roll out.
Jane HockingProfessor
Professor Jane Hocking is an epidemiologist and implementation researcher and whose research interests include the epidemiology and control of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), sexual health and the implementation and evaluation of primary care interventions. She is a Dame Kate Campbell Fellow, holds an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship and is the head of the Sexual Health Unit at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne.
Dr Denton CallanderResearch Scientist
Denton Callander (he/him), PhD, is a research scientist who studies sex, sexualities, and sexual health. His work mixes sociology, psychology, and epidemiology within a ‘research as social justice’ frame. Dr Callander currently leads research in Australasia, Africa, and North America.
Chris RisselProfessor - chris.rissel@flinders.edu.au
Prof Chris Rissel is at Flinders University as a Senior Research Fellow, based in Darwin, Northern Territory. He has a BScPsych(Hons), MPH and PhD. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney and was previously the Director of the NSW Office of Preventive Health (responsible for implementing state-wide health programs). He is actively engaged in rural and remote health research, including workforce recruitment and retention, Aboriginal health and well-being, and health service evaluation and research.
He has over 400 peer-reviewed research publications, topics including sexual health, physical activity and active travel, tobacco control and nutrition . He has been the research translation lead in two Centres for Research Excellence. He is a Chief Investigator with the new National Centre of Implementation Science (NCOIS). He has been an Investigator with both the First and Second Australian Study of Health and Relationships
Allison CarterSenior Lecturer - acarter@kirby.unsw.edu.au
Dr. Allison (Allie) Carter is a Senior Lecturer at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, an Associate of the Australian Human Rights Institute, and an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada. Her research program aims to strengthen responses to gender, social justice, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. She currently leads and is involved in a number of studies in Australia and Canada with women living with HIV, young people with disability, migrant communities, and the broader population. Her projects utilise a range of quantitative and qualitative methods and are grounded in community-based research and social justice frameworks.
Deborah BatesonProfessor of Practice - deborah.bateson@sydney.edu.au
Deborah Bateson is a Professor of Practice in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney with expertise in sexual and reproductive health and the translation of research into clinical policy and practice. She has worked for over 20-years as a clinician, researcher, educator and advocate in her previous roles as Medical Director at Family Planning NSW and Global Medical Director at Marie Stopes International and her research focuses on improving equitable access to information and services in cervical cancer prevention, contraception and safe abortion care. Deborah is an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Deputy Chair of the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) Quality and Safety Monitoring Committee. She is a well-known media communicator on issues surrounding women’s health, sexuality and cancer control.
Associate Investigators
Christopher FisherAssociate Professor - Christopher.Fisher@vu.edu.au
Associate Professor Christopher Fisher is an Associate Investigator on ASHR3. A/Prof Fisher brings expertise in adolescent sexual health and wellbeing as well as nearly 2 decades of sexual health survey research experience. Most recently, A/Prof Fisher led the 6th and 7th National Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health in Australia (teenhealth.org.au). A/Prof Fisher’s prior works have focused on the sexual health behaviours of young people, experiences of sexual health education in schools, experiences related to unwanted sexual activity and sexual health information sharing practices.
A/Prof Fisher currently serves as the Academic Course Coordinator and Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching (Health) at Victoria University (VU) Online. He continues to advocate for specialised postgraduate training of sexual health practitioners and educators and is engaged in several ongoing sexual health research projects.
Anna YeungAssociate Investigator
Dr. Anna Yeung is the research manager of the ESTIMATE Lab at Unity Health Toronto in Toronto, Canada (https://research.unityhealth.to/labs/estimatelab/). She completed a PhD at the University of Melbourne on chlamydia testing in Australian general practice (ACCEPt) and joined the ASHR team at the University of New South Wales for her post-doctoral work, and continues with ASHR as an associate investigator.
Her work encompasses both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies in a wide range of fields including primary care, sexually transmissible infections, sexual behaviour, epidemiology and community-based research. Her current work involves overseeing the administrative and research components of many projects at the ESTIMATE Lab, including Bringing bacterial STIs to the agenda for comprehensive sexual health care: Community-directed interventions to facilitate testing among men who have sex with men, Engage-HPV: Human papillomavirus prevention for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with me in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal; Enhanced Syphilis Screening Among HIV-positive Men (ESSAHM), Advancing evidence-based HPV vaccination & screening delivery for men who have sex with men and people living with HIV, and COVID-HIV Evaluation of Serology & Health Services (CHESS).
Cathy VaughanAssociate Professor - cmvaug@unimelb.edu.au
Associate Professor Cathy Vaughan is Head of the Gender and Women’s Health Unit in the Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. She currently leads research on the role of settlement and multicultural services in responding to violence against women; the Australian arm of a multi-country study on sexual and gender-based violence against refugees from displacement to resettlement; and research on building the capacity of faith leaders to respond to violence against women and family violence.
Dr Hamish McManusAssociate Investigator - Hmcmanus@kirby.unsw.edu.au
Hamish works as a statistician in the Surveillance, Evaluation and Research Program with research focussing on longitudinal analysis of HIV and STIs using cohort studies. He has particular interest in national health surveillance using both purpose built registries and notifications data, as well as the innovative use of a variety of other national datasets.
Dr Mo HammoudAssociate Investigator - mhammoud@kirby.unsw.edu.au
Mo is the Group Leader for the LGBTQ+ Population Health Research Group. Situated within the HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Program at the Kirby Institute, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, his program conducts research that addresses the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals and communities in Australia. Mo’s interdisciplinary team focuses on new and emerging infectious diseases, sexual health, mental health, substance use, and health policy that affect LGBTQ+ communities.
Mo is also a Research Fellow within the HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Program at the Kirby Institute, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney. His lead authored publications were used to inform an update to the Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM) PrEP Guidelines, and cited by the World Health Organization, the United Nation, the Australian Governments Ministry of Health Eights National HIV Strategy, NSW Ministry of Health HIV Strategy, and two NGO strategies on mental health and illicit drug use.
Project Manager
Erin OgilvieProject Manager - eogilvie@kirby.unsw.edu.au
Erin Ogilvie is the Project Manager on the Third Australian Study of Health and Relationships (ASHR3) as part of the Surveillance and Evaluation Research Program (SERP) at the Kirby Institute for infection and immunity in society, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney. Her experience primarily involves coordination of public health research projects and clinical trials in sexual health, reproductive health, HIV and STIs. Erin’s qualifications include a Master of Public Health in global health from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, USA.