Justice Collaboration 

Monthly Update 

13th Edition, August 2025

Welcome to the 13th 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 exciting upcoming events, projects from across the university 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.

Depression linked to 'internal jet lag', study finds

A Sydney-based study of 69 young people seeking mental health care found almost a quarter showed disrupted body clocks that showed signs that looked like jet lag, despite not having travelled across time zones. The University of Sydney researchers suggest the finding could lead to new ways to treat and study mental health conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder.

The study, led by Dr Joanne Carpenter and Professor Ian Hickie from the University of Sydney, is the first to look simultaneously at three key measures of body clock regulation in people with mental ill-health.

Dr Jacob Crouse, co-author of the study and academic lead of the Clinical Stream of the Youth Mental Health and Technology Team, said these results could indicate new ways to approach mental health.

“Our findings suggest we might need to think differently about what kinds of treatments we’re giving people with mood disorders, and whether we should be targeting body clocks as another option for managing these conditions.”

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

More than 40 percent of young Aussies are lonely, as experts call for National Loneliness Strategy

A recent report written by A/Prof Michelle Lim and Professor Ben Smith found that 43 percent of young people aged 15 to 25 feel lonely. 

While one in four felt lonely when asked, one in seven had felt lonely for at least two years (called persistent loneliness). 

The research found that having poor physical and mental health can double the likelihood of persistent loneliness among young people. As can low levels of physical activity, financial strain and low household prosperity. Persistent loneliness has been found to detrimentally impact a person's mental and physical health. 

The researchers have called for a national loneliness strategy. 

You can read more about the research here. 

Sydney-led school program reduces the odds of teen vaping by 65 percent, study finds

An Australian vaping education program being rolled out in schools nationally has been hailed as one of the most successful school-based strategies in the world for curbing youth e-cigarette use in a study published recently in the Lancet Public Health.

Led by Dr Lauren Gardner and Professor Nicola Newton from the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney – the Vaping Prevention Program was found to reduce the likelihood of adolescent vaping by 65 percent a year after completing the program, compared to students who received standard health education.

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. 

Positive Choices 

Created by the Matilda Centre, Positive Choices is an online portal that helps school communities (parents, teachers and students) access up-to-date evidence-based alcohol and other drug education resources.

It provides a central access point for evidence-based information and prevention resources about alcohol and other drugs, and allows users to search by drug type, by resource type, such as factsheets, games or videos, and by age appropriateness.

The resources can be used to develop lesson plans which align with the Australian Curriculum. 

ParentWorks  

Created by the Brain and Mind Centre, ParentWorks is Australia’s first online, nationally available, evidence-based parenting program. It is aimed at increasing the involvement of parents in improving outcomes for families. 

MyCircle

Created by Kids Helpline, with support from the Cyberpsychology Research Group MyCircle is Australia’s only clinically moderated peer-to-peer support platform that offers free 24/7 nationwide support specifically for young people aged 12 to 25 years. My Circle operates by providing anonymous access to mental health and wellbeing information; self-guided programs; supervised peer-to-peer support; group facilitated discussions; clinical moderator support; and a referral pathway to Kids Helpline. of parents in improving outcomes for families. 

11 September: ‘Bridges Inside: Prison and Health’ (September) — Prison Hunger Strikes: Political Expression and Health

Bridges Inside is inviting all students, academics, and community members interested in prison justice to participate in their latest series of discussions, ‘Bridges Inside: Prison and Health.’

The September session asks participants to consider how the body becomes a site for political expression in conditions of extremity. The conversation will start off with an examination of Refusal to Eat, Nayan Shah’s historical inquiry into the use of the hunger strike as a tool of protest in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and consider how the political refusal of sustenance problematises ideas of state responsibility and medical intervention. In the second half of this session, the conversation will focus on the poetry and prose of Bobby Sands, a central figure in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. 

Date: Thursday 11 September 2025

Time: 4:00  - 5:30pm 

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

24 September: 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, 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.

Part 1: Setting the scene - Dr Lobna Yassine, Dr Sacha Jamieson, A/Prof Emma Tseris 

Date: Wednesday 24 September 2025

Time: 4:00 - 5:30pm

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

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