HOPE
Cross-Disciplinary Group for Quantifying the Role of Incarceration in National Public Health and Safety
Health Outcome and Post-incarceration Evaluation (HOPE) project aims to establish the most extensive Australian data linkage initiative in the criminal justice domain. This ambitious endeavor seeks to provide robust empirical evidence to guide the Australian Government in reducing imprisonment rates by leveraging joint perspectives from econometricians, criminologists, and public health specialists.
Our governance structure includes an Aboriginal Advisory Committee, chaired by Edwina Crawford, and a Lived Experience Advisory Committee, chaired by Claude Robinson, ensuring that both cultural authority and lived expertise are embedded in all aspects of the project.
We warmly invite individuals and organisations who are passionate about evidence-informed justice reform to join us in shaping this important initiative. To express interest or learn more, please contact Dr Sergey Alexeev at sergey.alexeev@sydney.edu.au or press the button below
Our Team
We are Australian leaders in criminology, health, and econometrics.
Stuart Kinner
Stuart is Professor of Health Equity at Curtin University, an Honorary Professor at The University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and an Adjunct Professor in the Griffith Criminology Institute. Stuart’s focusses on health services and health outcomes for people who come into contact with the criminal justice system.
Rachael Morton
Rachael is Professor and Director of health economics and health technology assessment at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. She specialises in trial-based and modelled economic evaluation and her work led to multiple changes in public health practices.
Don Weatherburn
Don is a Professor at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and was formerly Executive Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Prior to that appointment, Professor Weatherburn was foundation Research Director at the Judicial Commission of New South Wales.
Sergey Alexeev
Sergey is a Senior Health Economist at the University of Sydney, specializing in experimental and quasi-experimental methods. With expertise in addiction, economics, and public health, he leads impactful policy work, which includes research on alcohol taxation and supervised injection facilities. His work is published in top journals in economics, addiction, and clinical trials.
Teagan Weatherall
Teagan is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research at La Trobe University. A Kamilaroi and Anaiwan Aboriginal woman, her work focuses on alcohol use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, using community-informed approaches. Her PhD examined cultural differences in how alcohol dependence is understood.
Darcy Coulter
Darcy is a Research Fellow in the Curtin School of Population Health at Curtin University. His research focuses on health service use and justice outcomes for people affected by the criminal justice system. He has expertise in assessing dynamic risk and protective factors related to recidivism, particularly among people leaving prison.
Jenny Williams
Jenny is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne. Her research sits within applied microeconomics, with a focus on youth decision-making and its long-term impacts. She has studied topics including criminal behavior, substance use, child health, and fertility choices among young women.
Stefanie Schurer
Stefanie is a Professor of Economics at the University of Sydney, specialising in human development and the impact of public policy on wellbeing and inequality. Her research explores how policies—particularly paternalistic ones—shape health, preferences, and outcomes across the life course. She uses linked administrative, cohort, and longitudinal survey data with strong causal identification strategies.
John Paget
John is a former Inspector of Custodial Services for New South Wales and Adjunct Associate Professor at Charles Sturt University. He has held senior roles across correctional systems in NSW, South Australia, and the ACT, including as Assistant Commissioner and CEO of Corrective Services. His work has focused on prison reform and throughcare.
Robert Breunig
Robert is a Professor of Economics and Director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. One of Australia’s leading public policy economists, his research addresses labour markets, tax and transfer systems, immigration, and intergenerational disadvantage.
Simone Cheung
Simone is a Partner at Deloitte Access Economics, where she leads the Health Economics and Social Policy team in Sydney. With over 16 years of experience, she specialises in health economics, aged care, social services, and strategic advisory. Simone has delivered impactful work for government agencies, not-for-profits, and private sector clients, including cost-benefit analyses, business cases, and policy evaluations.
Jill Guthrie
Dr Jill Guthrie is a Wiradjuri woman and Associate Professor at the Australian National University’s Centre for Indigenous Policy Research. With over 30 years of experience in Aboriginal affairs—including in government, ministerial advisory, and research roles—Dr Guthrie has made a significant contribution to Indigenous health and justice policy in Australia.
Our partners:
