Justice Collaboration 

Monthly Update 

15th Edition, October 2025

Welcome to the 15th edition of our newsletter!

The University of Sydney's Justice Collaboration aims to improve justice outcomes and to ultimately prevent crime.

The University of Sydney has numerous strengths in this area and has a track record of work across disciplines, faculties and research centres directly and indirectly relevant to justice systems and people in conflict with the law. 

In this edition we showcase recent events and research from across the university, exciting upcoming events, and some helpful resources!

The University of Sydney’s central campus sits on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and has campuses as well as teaching and research facilities situated on the ancestral lands of the Wangal, Deerubbin, Tharawal, Ngunnawal, Wiradjuri, Gamilaroi, Bundjulong, Wiljali and Gereng Gureng peoples. We pay our respects to elders, past, present, and emerging who have cared and continue to care for Country.

New research: the potential for digital services to close the mental health care gap in Western Sydney

Digital mental health services and tools could help close the care gap for young people in Western Sydney, according to new research from the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre.  

Led by Dr Hossein Hosseini and published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, the study found that digital services – including online therapy, assessments, evidence-based resources, and care coordination – could match the impact of doubling the growth rate of traditional specialised mental health services such as face-to-face psychology and psychiatry, offering a scalable solution while the system catches up to demand. 

The study used system dynamics modelling to simulate how digital and traditional services could work together to improve outcomes for young people aged 15-24 in Western Sydney over the next decade. The implementation of digital services led to a 14% reduction in the number of years this demographic lives with mental health disorders, a 6.4% drop in mental health-related emergency department visits and a 4.1% reduction in hospitalisations from self-harm. 

You can read the research here, and find out more here. 

Education Not Incarceration Screening 

Collaboration member Dr Rohan Lulham and Rosary Coloma (Design Lab, School of Architecture, Design and Planning) recently hosted a screening of Education Not Incarceration, a documentary by the Incarceration Nations Network.

In this documentary, those who've pursued education behind bars in Ghana, El Salvador, the USA, South Africa, Chile and Italy share how education changed their lives in dramatic ways. 

The screening was followed by a discussion with Professor Baz Dreisinger (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York; Founder and Executive Director, Incarceration Nations Network) and Joe Kwon (Founder and CEO, Confit Pathways). 

You can watch the 30 minute documentary here. 

New research: Teens 65% less likely to vape after undertaking leading prevention program

A new co-designed and interactive vaping prevention program has significantly reduced adolescent e-cigarette use (vaping), new research from the Matilda Centre has found. 

The research, published in the Lancet Public Health, involved a randomised controlled trial among >5000 students across three states in Australia. Students received either their regular school health education or the OurFutures Vaping program.  

The program, which was co-designed with students and teachers, delivers both knowledge and practical skills such as critical thinking and assertive refusal. The program also includes dedicated curriculum-aligned classroom activities to reinforce learning.

Twelve month follow ups found that teenagers who received the OurFutures Vaping program were 65% less likely to vape compared to their peers who received standard health education. Additionally, there was high support for the program from students and their teachers, with over 80% approval of the program from both roles. 

The Matilda Centre has recently received philanthropic funding to expand the evidence-based OurFutures Vaping program to primary schools and test its effectiveness at a younger age. 

You can read the research here, and find out more here. 

We are currently conducting a review of resources created by the University of Sydney that may be useful when working with young people. 

Over the next few newsletters we will highlight some great resources created across the University. These resources cover a broad range of areas including alcohol and other drug use, mental health, communication and parenting. We hope these resources will assist those working with young people at risk of engaging in criminal activity. 

Wiradjuri Workbooks

In-language workbooks created by Professor Lynette Riley and Diane Riley-McNaboe and intended for use with young people in Out of Home Care. The workbooks contain lessons and activities on Wiradjuri sounds and words; greetings; Acknowledging Country; numbers, symbols and tracks; family terms; and body parts and colours.

Respect Your Brain

Created by the Matilda Centre this video series focuses on the impact of five drugs commonly used in Australia and explores the way these drugs affect a young person’s developing brain.

The videos are supported by more in depth information including where a young person can seek help for alcohol and other drug issues and links to more alcohol and other drug facts on the NSW Health drug and alcohol website.

Brief yarns on Alcohol 

Created by the Centre for Alcohol Policy Research - Priority Populations, these short films show how to have a brief yarn about alcohol with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person – or any person. The three acted scenarios show how you can engage a person without shaming them when having a brief yarn about alcohol. The actors are themselves health professionals; three of the four are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

AIC 2026 Conference: Transnational serious & organised crime

The Australian Institute of Criminology will be hosting the AIC 2026 Conference on 17-18 March 2026. The theme of this year’s conference will be Transnational Serious and Organised Crime (TSOC) and the aim of the event is to present the latest research on TSOC and how this can be applied to policy and practice.

Keynote speakers include:

Professor Edward Kleemans (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) who will be speaking on the criminal careers of organised crime offenders.

Professor Ella Cockbain (University College London) who will be speaking on human trafficking and exploitation.

You can find out more about the conference and purchase tickets here.

Solution Focused Justice - A Cross Jurisdictional Symposium

The Bugmy Bar Book, the NSW Bar Association, Te Kura Kaiwhakawā (New Zealand Institute of Judicial Studies) and the University of Technology, Sydney, will host a symposium on solution focused courts. The event is supported by the NSW Judicial Commission and the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration.

The symposium will be an opportunity to showcase the way in which solution focused justice is operating in Australia and New Zealand, highlight examples of best practice and foster connections between judicial officers, legal professionals, academics, students, and community organisations committed to trauma-informed, culturally safe and solution focused justice.

Tickets are selling fast, but in-person spots are still available for Friday 20 February. 

Dates: Friday 20 February & Saturday 21 February 2026

Location: Banco Court, Supreme Court of NSW & Online 

You can find out more about the symposium and register your attendance here. 

26 November: Australia’s disciplinary regimes: how carcerality is enacted and resisted in the ‘helping’ professions.

Hosted by Collaboration member Dr Lobna Yassine, along with Collaboration affiliate Dr Sacha Jamieson and A/Prof Dr Emma Tseris, the final part of this 3-part seminar series offers a timely critique of the role of human services, and the carceral and risk logics that they deploy. Speakers from across the human services will be presenting on this topic, from schooling and education, the social work profession, child protection services, mental health and prisons. Due to the decolonial aspirations of this series, it will employ a relational and dialogical approach, to invite an intimate ‘Jam3a’ or gathering. Afternoon tea (Arab style!) will be provided. This is a free event however booking is essential.

Speakers and Topics:

Keynote by Associate Professor Jessica Russ-Smith, Wiradyuri Wambuul woman

From Care to Control: The White Carceral Logic Embedded in Human Services

Dr Sacha Jamieson

Anti-carceral feminist social work: resisting social work complicity in the incarceration of women

Dr Lobna Yassine

“The risk was put on me from the beginning”: Racial inequality and youth justice

Kimberly Chiswell

Carceral policies and practices in child protection

Dr Aniqa Farwa

Carceral responses to children and young people with behavioural plans

Dr Mareese Terare, Bundjalung Goenpul Descendant

ma ngara: caring for our gudjagang (children)

Dr Sophie Rudolph

Carceral logics and education

Lesli Kirwan, Ngarabal Yugambal woman and Associate Professor Emma Tseris

Culture Guiding Resistance to Carceral logics in mental health.

Professor Susan Goodwin

Anti-carceral research

Details: 

Date: Wednesday 26 November 2025

Time: 9:30am - 3:30pm

You can find out more about the event and register here.

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