
BSc (Hons) Psychology, The University of Birmingham.
MSc Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science.
PhD in Psychology, The University of Birmingham.
I specialise in HIV prevention research with gay and bisexual men. I'm a social scientist by training, and have worked at the Centre for Social Research in Health since 2003. Over the last 15 years my research has guided the introduction of newer forms of HIV prevention, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis and treatment as prevention, and investigated the impact of these strategies on community norms, attitudes and practices. My team's research was the first to show how the introduction of PrEP affected condom use at a national level. More recently, I have been advocating for implementation scientists to consider how HIV prevention coverage can be achieved by using a range of effective strategies (arther than focusing on one, like PrEP). I have also worked with colleagues to assess the impact of COVID-19 and mpox on HIV-related behaviour.
I lead the Gay Community Periodic Surveys, the main part of Australia's behavioural surveillance system for HIV, supported by federal and state/territory health funding and NHMRC Partnership Project funding (2021-26). I am also the senior investigator on a long term study of the social aspects of biomedical HIV prevention for gay and bisexual men (the PrEPARE project). I am a chief investigator on a range of other projects, including:
I am actively involved with the HIV sector, gay community organisations, and professional societies. I have been a Deputy Editor of the Journal of the International AIDS Society since 2013, an Associate Editor of AIDS and Behavior since 2018, and an Associate Editor of Sexual Health since 2023.
In 2022, I was appointed as Research Director (Compliance and Capacity Building) in the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW Sydney.
Fellow (elected), Royal Society of New South Wales, 2019.
Australia Awards Endeavour Executive Fellowship, 2015.
Dean's Award for Social Research Impact, 2014 (jointly awarded to Gay Community Periodic Survey team).
Associate Member, Australasian Society for HIV Medicine
Member, International AIDS Society
Member, The Australian Sociological Association
Deputy Editor, Journal of the International AIDS Society
Associate Editor, AIDS and Behavior
My Research Supervision
Brandon Bear, Salutogenic behaviours in sexuality and gender diverse individuals
Curtis Chan, Identifying characteristics of men who have sex with men at high risk of HIV infection not reached by gay community-focused public health messaging
Johann Kolstee, Changes to the use of HIV prevention strategies and norms during rapid PrEP uptake among gay and bisexual men in Australia
Simin Yu, Understanding and reducing barriers to HIV prevention and sexual health among gay and bisexual men who have recently migrated to Australia