Staff

Ph: 08 8201 7575

M: 0421 140 983

E: ann.roche@flinders.edu.au

Professor Ann Roche is Director of the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University. She has over 40 years’ experience in public health as a researcher, educator, and policy analyst and has held academic posts at the University of Sydney, the University of Newcastle, Queensland University and Finders University. Her research goals over the past 30 years have been to improve responses to alcohol and other drug-related problems through innovative organisational and behaviour change initiatives with a particular focus on research translation and dissemination.

Dr Janine Chapman is a senior academic at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addition (NCETA). Her background is in health psychology and public health. She has expertise in theoretical approaches to understanding and changing health behaviour, and systems-based approaches to improving health and safety risk management outcomes in organisations. Her work focuses on the translation of evidence-based research into practice within society and industry, to influence action for change in priority areas.

Janine has designed and evaluated interventions in a range of settings, from workplace health programs to online, consumer-directed tools to improve the uptake and maintenance of health-promoting lifestyles. She has broad experience of conducting research relating to chronic disease prevention, work and fitness-for-duty issues, and ongoing support needs in clinical and at-risk populations. She is interested in workforce development and how the domains of work and life intersect to shape behavioural outcomes across the lifespan.

Janine holds a PhD in health psychology and a MSc in psychological research from the University of Sheffield, UK. She has a diploma in counselling from the University of Derby, UK, and is a certified fitness professional.

Ph: 08 8201 8472

E: janine.chapman@flinders.
edu.au

M: 0422 684 475

E: ken.pidd@flinders.edu.au

Associate Professor Ken Pidd has been associated with NCETA since 1999. He holds a PhD in psychology which addressed the area of work-related alcohol and other drug (AOD) use of adolescent apprentices and has an ongoing research interest in this area. Ken has produced numerous publications concerning the workplace and AOD use and provides consultancy and advice on this issue to government and non-government organisations, unions, employer groups, and individual employers. His other research and practice interests include training quality and training transfer, and workforce recruitment and retention.

Prior to working with NCETA he worked for a number of years in the construction and mining industries in roles which included an occupational health and safety officer, trainer, and manager of a AOD safety and rehabilitation program for the South Australian Construction Industry.

Stacey Appleton is the Finance Officer at NCETA. She joined in November 2005. Her role is to the day-to-day management of the financial affairs of NCETA. In this capacity, Stacey maintains records of expenditure and produces the financial reports and budgets for all NCETA projects.

Prior to working at NCETA, Stacey worked as an Administration Manager in various medium size businesses in the building and manufacturing industries. She has had 15 years experience of working in administration and accounts.

Ph: 08 8201 7578

E: stacey.appleton@flinders.
edu.au

Ms Vinita Duraisingam - is a Senior Research Officer and has has been with NCETA since March 2004, commencing as a placement student while undertaking her postgraduate studies and subsequently employed as a research assistant upon graduation. She is now a registered psychologist and project manager, with over 15 years of experience in drug and alcohol-related research, evaluation and workforce development. She is particularly interested in workforce issues, including employee health and well-being, drug and alcohol use among workers, career development and workforce sustainability. 

Vinita has a Master’s in Organisational Psychology from the University of South Australia. Her previous work experience has been in the areas of journalism, public relations and marketing. She is currently located in Perth, Western Australia.

Dr Jane Fischer is a Research Fellow with NCETA. Her research interests are quality of life, gender and translational research.

Jane has worked in the alcohol and drug research field for over a decade. Jane was the Researcher/Program Manager of the Centre for Drug and Alcohol Studies, ‘Biala’ Alcohol and Drug Service, Queensland Health. She was also a lecturer, in the Pharmacy Australia Centre for Excellence (PACE), School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland. Jane’s experience also includes seven years as a Research Officer, Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre, the University of Queensland.

Jane holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree and Master’s Degree in Social Planning Development and is currently undertaking her PhD in the Quality of Life of Substance Users in the Community. Jane has been principal investigator on a number of research projects which have examined issues such as young people at risk, Indigenous alcohol diversion programs, and barriers to the uptake of alcohol and other drug treatment. In addition she was principal investigator on the Queensland EDRS and IDRS.

Ph: 08 8201 7692

E: jane.fischer@flinders.edu.au

Ph: 08 8201 9667

E: natalie.skinner@flinders.
edu.au

Dr Natalie Skinner is a Senior Research Fellow. Her areas of expertise are in organisational psychology and social psychology. Her specialist area is workforce development, addressing a wide range of areas including wellbeing in the workplace (stress, burnout, work-life balance, fatigue), organisational culture (including individual attitudes), workplace training and job quality (working hours, flexibility, work intensification).

She has also has a particular interest in connecting research and practice with a focus on promoting evidence-based policies and practices in industries, workplaces and work teams. Natalie holds a PhD in Psychology.

Ms Victoria Kostadinov joined NCETA in 2013 as a Research Officer. She holds a Masters Degree in Organisational Psychology and Human Factors from the University of Adelaide, and was awarded the College of Organisational Psychologists' Award for Top Graduating Student in 2012.

Victoria’s primary research interests lie in the social determinants of alcohol and drug use, and particularly the role of the workplace. Her work at NCETA involves assisting in the development, planning, implementation and delivery of research projects.

Key projects which Victoria has been involved in include a Review of the Social Determinants of Inequities in Alcohol Consumption and Related Harms, and the National Alcohol and Drug Knowledgebase (NADK).

Ph: 8201 7576

E: victoria.kostadinov@flinders.
edu.au

Ph: 08 8201 7538

E: alice.mcentee@flinders.
edu.au

Dr Alice McEntee is a Research Fellow at NCETA and holds a PHD in Psychology. Alice has over 15 years experience in designing, conducting and evaluating research projects, predominately related to the social determinants of health. Alice previously worked as a Statistician at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as an Ethics and Compliance Officer at the University of South Australia, and as a Research Associate in various Colleges at Flinders University.

Alice has strong expertise in quantitative research methodology and data analysis techniques. Whilst at NCETA, Alice has been involved in survey design, data collection, statistical analysis and dissemination of results on various local, national and international research projects. Such projects have explored alcohol and drug use, public health and workforce development issues.

Mr Roger Nicholas is currently employed as Senior Researcher at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA).

Roger was previously employed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund as its Senior Researcher, a role he has held for almost three years. This role involves providing strategic advice to the NDLERF Board of Management and the provision of in-house research services to the Board. He has authored numerous publications in this role. Most recently he undertook a large environmental scan on the behalf of the Board, which documented the range of alcohol and other drug problems impacting on policing at present and into the future. Prominent among these was emerging problems with pharmaceutical drug misuse.

Prior to this, for almost ten years, he was the Senior Alcohol and other Drug Research and Policy Officer at the Australasian Centre for Policing Research. In this role, he was responsible for the administration of the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund Secretariat and the Secretariat of the Drugs Committee of the Conference of Commissioners of Police of Australasia and the South West Pacific Region. The latter role involved the development of many discussion papers on a range of alcohol and other drug issues impacting on policing. One such paper concerned the impacts on policing of the diversion of pharmaceutical drugs.

Mr Nicholas has had previous careers in alcohol and other drug treatment provision; in education and in policy development for six years at the South Australian Drug and Alcohol Services Council (now DASSA).

Ph: 08 8201 7545

E: roger.nicholas@flinders.
edu.au

E: donna.hughesbarton@
flinders.edu.au

Ms Donna Hughes-Barton joined NCETA as a Research Officer in July 2020 following completion of her PhD. Donna has worked in behavioural science research for many years, most recently at Flinders University in the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer. Here she was responsible for managing a number of projects focussed on helping people learn about behaviours that they can modify to reduce their risk of chronic disease. Donna holds Masters degrees in both Clinical Psychology and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and in her PhD she combined the two fields to develop and assess the implementation of an English as a Second Language curriculum that introduced the Australian national guidelines for cancer prevention to new immigrants attending government-sponsored free English language courses.