Research to practice interface

The research program, led by David Young is concerned with exploring and refining the mechanism by which research influences policy (and subsequent programs).

Its specific aims are:

To build a model of how the demands for scientific knowledge by policy makers, and the translation of science into policy, influenced the emergence of smoke-free places in different jurisdiction.
To identify the heterogeneous variables that potentially co-determine smoke-free policy outcomes across a range of countries with different policies and different outcomes.
To measure these variables in multiple contexts, and over time, within some jurisdictions, using existing data where possible
To use Agent-Based-Modelling to model these relationships, with a view to developing a more general understanding of the relationship between science and policy development and implementation.
To develop dynamic models of how these variables interact to produce the range of policy outcomes over time.
To test the models on new countries and/or new data and/or new outcomes, and evaluate the results.
To apply the understanding gained by these means to the growing debate over harm minimisation and safer forms of access to nicotine.

Funding

Sally Birch Fellowship in Cancer Control to David Young and 3 year ARC Linkage Grant to study the Science-Policy relationship. This grant was recently awarded to Monash University to a team led by Associate Professor Sonja Petrovic-Lazarevic and the Cancer Council. Dr. Ron Borland and Dr. David Young are the Cancer Council Collaborators.