PREMISE 2023: Innovations and achievements in prevention research

The PREMISE NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Prevention and Early Intervention in Mental Illness and Substance Use provides a world first synergy of the leading prevention and early intervention research and translation programs in mental health and addiction across five Australian universities.

Our vision is that world-class, innovative, evidence-based prevention and early intervention for substance use, and mental disorders is available to all young Australians.   

The PREMISE team have had a strong and successful 2023, with graduating students, enhancing lived experience in projects, and further collaborative opportunities in research on youth mental health and substance use.

See our 2023 achievements below.

Through PREMISE support, Dr Samantha Lynch and Dr Lucy Grummit made outstanding achievements during their PhD research at the Matilda Centre and were awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney.

Following completion of her PhD, Lucy commenced a postdoctoral fellowship at the Matilda Centre where she coordinates the OurFutures Mental Health project and Sam started a postdoctoral fellowship with the Venture Lab at the Université de Montréal.

You can read more about their achievements and careers on our blog.

Through the PREMISE Youth Advisory Board (YAB) and Consumer Research Group, the expertise and experiences of people with lived experience have been central to the success of our work.

The PREMISE YAB met on four occasions in 2023 and to date have contributed to 43 youth-focused projects. Our research teams have greatly appreciated their leadership and valuable insights on youth-focused research projects.

This year marked an exciting period for the YAB as they successfully concluded the Youth Priorities Project – a co-designed study aimed to understand the perspectives of Australian youth on priorities for prevention research in mental health and substance use.

Over 650 young people shared their perspectives through a national online survey or focus group. Some of the initial findings can be seen on our website.

This year, the YAB have also led presentations at key mental health conferences such as the Society for Mental Health Research (SMHR) Conference and the Alliance for the Preventin of Mental Disorders (APMD) Conference.  

Additionally, they have contributed to important policy discussions such as the Australian Health and Medical Science Mental Health Roundtable.

Through the Consumer Research Group, PREMISE has provided four lived experience research partnership grants to date. These have grants supported Matilda Centre researchers to undertake research partnerships with the YAB, the Matilda Centre Lived Experience Research Network (LEARN), and other lived experience researchers.

A recent grant to the Positive Choices team saw the success of an innovative youth led TikTok campaign on vaping, attracting over 74,000 views.

PREMISE has continued to support several key collaborative initiatives to provide valuable opportunities for collaboration across institutions and involvement of Associate Investigators: 

• Health Economic Modelling Group
  
• Data Harmonisation Group 
• Trajectory, Taxonomy and Typology Group (TTT) 
• Australia’s Mental Health Think Tank

There are also several exciting PREMISE supported prevention and early intervention research and translation projects underway at The Matilda Centre and our collaborating institutions.

Our PREMISE early and mid-career researchers Dr Long Le at Monash University, Dr Yong Yi Lee at Monash University, Dr Jennifer Nicholas at Orygen Centre for Youth Mental Health and Associate Professor Matthew Sunderland at the Matilda Centre continue to lead innovative research.

For further information about PREMISE, please contact Senior Research Program Officer Kate Ross.