Maurice Bloch Seminar: Professor K Kypri

We are pleased to invite you to:

The Institute of Health and Wellbeing Maurice Bloch Annual Lecture Series 2019/20

Title: Governments as partners in knowledge generation: Observations on alcohol policy and research in Australia and New Zealand 1999-2019

Presenter: Professor Kypros Kypri

Date: Wednesday 27 November 2019

Time: 1-2pm, a light lunch will be served 30 minutes beforehand

Venue: Yudowitz Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical School building, University Ave.

Chair: Dr Vittal Katikireddi

Abstract

Governments routinely make policy decisions that have implications for the health of populations they serve, often from outside the remit of the health department. To what extent are they informed by science and could the decisions themselves be opportunities to inform future policy? I will speak about major policy changes in Australia and New Zealand, between 1999 and 2019, concerning the availability of alcohol. I will discuss the limitations of administrative data for answering important questions, and how we might realise Donald Campbell’s vision of “The Experimenting Society”, with a view to improving public health.

About the speaker

I am a professor in the School of Medicine & Public Health where I hold a Senior Brawn Research Fellowship.

I was trained in experimental and clinical psychology at the University of NSW, University of Otago, and University of California San Diego from 1994-1998. I completed a PhD in injury epidemiology at the University of Otago in 2002. With the input of many colleagues I have established an alcohol research group at the University of Newcastle which is the hub of several national and international collaborative projects. These address a range of methodological, aetiological and intervention questions concerning the burden of injury and disease attributable to alcohol consumption. I have a growing interest in how the alcohol industry shapes science and policy, and in research integrity, including how research is funded.