ORGANISING TEAM
WILL TREGONING
Co-Founder & Director
Will's professional experience is in drug and alcohol program evaluation, social policy research, communications and campaigning. He completed a Bachelor of Arts and a PhD in Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney before beginning a career as a research and evaluation consultant to Australian government departments and agencies. He founded Unharm in 2014 to work with communities of activists to promote policy innovation, wellbeing and practices of care. He co-founded The Loop Australia in 2018.
FIONA MEASHAM
Co-Founder & Director
Professor Fiona Measham is Chair in Criminology at the University of Liverpool, has conducted research on drug use, drug policy and nightlife for 3 decades, and has been going to clubs for even longer. Fiona co-founded The Loop as a non profit harm reduction NGO and university action research project in 2013 and led The Loop’s subsequent introduction of event-based drug checking in the UK in 2016 and community-based drug checking in the UK in 2018. She co-founded The Loop Australia in 2018.
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CAMERON FRANCIS
Chief Executive Officer
Cameron is a Social Worker with 20 years experience in the youth alcohol and other drugs sector. Cameron has worked in a number of different roles including peer education at dance parties and music festivals, needle and syringe program work, individual counselling, and more recently in a role that involves training and complex case consultation.
ROB PAGE
NSW State Convenor
Rob is a Sydney-based GP and Addiction Medicine specialist who works to provide and advocate for high-quality care to people who use drugs and other marginalised populations. Alongside clinical work, he works with peer and user organisations to deliver education and training on substance use, drug-related health issues and harm reduction.
SARAH HILEY
Victoria State Convenor & Senior Harm Reduction Worker
Sarah has worked in Harm Reduction for 17 years, having accidentally fallen into it when working in homeless services. She's worked in Harm Reduction services in the UK, New Zealand and Australia and has worked in every Supervised Injecting facility in the Southern Hemisphere (addit: there are only two).
CHENEAL PULJEVIC
Research Convenor
Cheneal is a public health researcher who is passionate about finding ways to reduce harms related to substance use. Cheneal co-ordinates The Loop Australia's research team and the design, implementation and evaluation of the team's research projects.
MONICA BARRATT
Research Lead & Victoria Stakeholder Engagement
Monica is a Senior Research Fellow with 17 years experience in the AOD sector. She has worked in two of Australia's national centres doing AOD research. Harm reduction for festival- and club-going populations has been a sustained theme of Monica's research, which includes surveys about the acceptability and feasibility of drug checking services in Australia and a global catalogue of drug checking services operating in 2017. Monica is responsible for stakeholder engagement in Victoria and also guides research design and processes for The Loop Australia.
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JACOB FRY
Chemistry Convenor
Jacob is a PhD student researching the field detection of hazardous material. He has previously worked as an analytical chemist in both industry and government. Jacob coordinates the chemistry team that undertakes the analysis of samples.
ISABELLE VOLPE
Communications Convenor
Isabelle is a research officer and PhD student, with interests in harm reduction and health communication. She is currently undertaking a PhD focusing on drug policy, participation, and young people. She is responsible for overseeing national communications.
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MATT DIBBAYAWAN
Health and Harm Reduction Team, NSW Organiser
Matt supports all things harm reduction and has worked and volunteered for harm reduction services since 2014, including the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Sydney and Dancewize Victoria and NSW. Matt believes that knowledge is vital for empowerment, and that drug checking services play a crucial role in empowering people who take drugs to make informed, conscious, and safer decisions about what they choose to take.
MATTHEW DUNN
Victoria Organiser
Matthew is a public health researcher with 15 years experience in the alcohol and other drug field. He is a lecturer and researcher in the higher education sector and is passionate about evidence based policy and reducing the harms related to alcohol and other drugs.
RITA BRIEN
Victoria Organiser
Rita is an Assistant Lecturer and researcher in the alcohol and other drugs sector. She has a keen interest in the political and social context of AOD use, and is passionate about evidence-based information sharing and capacity building that promotes sensible and compassionate discussions about drug use and reducing drug-related harm.
ELLEN WESSEL
Researcher
Ellen is a researcher with backgrounds in public health and criminology. Her research focuses on drug use among young adults and reducing harm for this group. She is part of The Loop Australia's research team.
RICHARD KEVIN
Chemist
Richard is an analytical chemist and psychopharmacologist at The University of Sydney. His research focuses on understanding the health impacts of new psychoactive substances and medications, and he has a strong interest in harm reduction strategies and drug policy reform.
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CHARLIE PIERCE
Chemist
Charlie is an independent contractor who has worked in environmental consulting and analytical chemistry for over 40 years. He still can't believe that drug use is treated as a criminal matter rather than a health issue in the 2020s. For this reason, he welcomed the opportunity to work with the Loop Australia. Charlie is grateful to Envirolab Pty Ltd for their support in providing bench space along with consumables and extending their authority to possess prohibited substances for the purpose of analysis to him.
JEFF BUCKLEY
Health and Harm Reduction Convenor
Jeff is a Social Worker with 20 years’ experience in alcohol and drug practice, youth homelessness, community development and adult education. He also has experience providing rest and recovery and first aid services in late night entertainment precincts across south-east Queensland. He is responsible for overseeing the national health and harm reduction team.