Associate Professor Alan Clough is an Epidemiologist with a track record over the last two decades in designing, implementing and evaluating community-based interventions to reduce the disastrous effects of substance misuse in remote Indigenous communities, primarily in tropical northern Australia.  Research in remote community populations is widely recognised as being amongst the most difficult. 

In an unusual career path, he has worked at the community level managing alcohol issues in restricted areas in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.  In his public health practice he has acted as a Member of the NT Licensing Commission (appointed by the Minister) and has heard and determined applications for restricted area declarations supported by alcohol management plans in several NT localities giving him a unique researcher's perspective on the regulatory environment.

Alan is principally recognised in Australia and internationally for his work in the difficult and often neglected area of substance misuse in remote community populations. As well as a rapidly-expanding research career, his CV describes a background in applied community development and advocacy including at the Local Government level. This experience underpins his long commitment to making positive changes at the population level.  Much of his research and practice is intervention research. It has led to positive change in situations where substance misuse has been highly problematic, e.g. reducing cannabis use, reducing petrol sniffing, kava abuse, managing alcohol and investigating ways to reduce the harms from alcohol abuse, smoking cannabis and tobacco in rural and remote populations. In public health generally there is a dearth of intervention research which seeks to document change in populations and which fosters change while the research is occurring.

Experience

• 2012 to present - Program Grants Review Panel - Additional Expert, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
• 2012 to present - Invited participant - Alcohol Data Workshop, NHMRC Prevention and Community Health Committee
• 2012 to present - Chair - Early Career Fellowship Review Panel, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
• 2012 to present - Member, Health Research Council of New Zeland, Public Health Science Assessing Committee
• 2012 to present - Member - Grant Review Panel 6A - Project Grants, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
• 2011 to present - Chair - Early Career Fellowship Review Panel, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
• 2010 to present - Research Fellow, The Cairns Institute (Cairns Qld)
• 2007 to present - Member - Grant Review Panel - NHMRC_GRP5A, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
• 2006 to present - Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services, James Cook University (Cairns Qld)
• 2011 to 2014 - Associate Professor, Sansom Institute, Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia (Honorary) (South Australia)
• 2007 to 2010 - Principal Research Fellow, Menzies School of Health Research (Honorary)
• 2006 to 2009 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney (Honorary) (Sydney NSW)
• 2005 to 2008 - National Healht and Medical Research Council - Postdoctoral Fellow, James Cook University
• 2005 to 2007 - Senior Lecturer, School of Population, University of Queensland (Honorary) (Queensland)

Research Disciplines

• Public Health and Health Services
• Psychology

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Indigenous Health
• Public Health
• Health and Support Services

Awards

• 2011 - Finalist, Queensland Reconciliation Awards, Queensland Police Service and James Cook University for ‘Weed-it-Out’ project.
• 2011 - Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Award, Partnered Project, Queensland Police Service ‘Weed-it-Out’ and James Cook University ‘Cape York Cannabis Project’. 2011

Fellowships

• 2010 - Research Fellow - Cairns Insitute - James Cook University

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Bohanna IK, Bird K, Copeland J, Roberts ND and Clough AR (2014) A service-level action research intervention to improve identification and treatment of cannabis and related mental health issues in young Indigenous Australians: a study protocol. BMJ Open, 4 (7). pp. 1-7
• Clough AR, Fitts MS, Robertson J, Shakeshaft A, Miller A, Doran CM, Muller R, Ypinazar VA, Martin m, McDermott RA, Sanson-fisher RW, Towle S, Margolis SA and West CP (2014) Study Protocol - Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) in remote indigenous communities in Queensland: their impacts on injury, violence, health and social indicators and their cost-effectiveness. BMC Public Health, 14. pp. 1-11
• Gould GS, Watt K, McEwen A, Cadet-James YL and Clough AR (2014) Validation of risk assessment scales and predictors of intentions to quit smoking in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: a cross-sectional survey protocol. BMJ Open, 4 (6). pp. 1-12
• Gould GS, Watt K, Stevenson LC, McEwen A, Cadet-James YL and Clough AR (2014) Developing anti-tobacco messages for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: evidence from a national cross-sectional survey. BMC Public Health, 14. pp. 1-13
• West CP, Usher K and Clough AR (2014) Study protocol: resilience in individuals and families coping with the impacts of alcohol related injuries in remote indigenous communities: a mixed method study. BMC Public Health, 14. pp. 1-6
• Botterill D, Pointing ESB, Hayes-Jonkers CS, Clough AR, Jones TM and Rodrigues C (2013) Violence, backpackers, security and critical realism. Annals of Tourism Research, 42. pp. 311-333
• Gould GS, Munn J, Avuri S, Hoff S, Cadet-James YL, McEwen A and Clough AR (2013) "Nobody smokes in the house if there's a new baby in it": Aboriginal perspectives on smoking in pregnancy and in the household in regional NSW Australia. Women and Birth, 26 (4). pp. 246-253
• Gould GS, McEwen A, Watters T, Clough AR and van der Zwan R (2013) Should anti-tobacco media messages be culturally targeted for Indigenous populations? A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Tobacco Control, 22 (4). pp. 1-10
• Gould GS, Munn J, Watters T, McEwen A and Clough AR (2013) Knowledge and views about maternal tobacco smoking and barriers for cessation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders: a systematic review and meta-ethnography. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 15 (5). pp. 863-874
• Robertson J, Pointing ESB, Stevenson LC and Clough AR (2013) "We made the rule, we have to stick to it": towards effective management of environmental tobacco smoke in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10 (10). pp. 4944-4966
• Robertson J, Conigrave K, Ivers RG, Hindmarsh E and Clough AR (2013) Addressing high rates of smoking in remote Aboriginal communities: new evidence for GPs. Australian Family Physician, 42 (7). pp. 492-496

Book Chapters

• Pointing ESB, Hayes-Jonkers CS and Clough AR (2013) Possible strategies for reducing alcohol-related assault: community-based methodology in Cairns, tropical North Queensland (Australia). In: Assaults: interventions, preventive strategies and societal implications. Nova Science Publishers, New York, NY, USA, pp. 185-198

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores a total of 70 research outputs authored by A/Prof Alan Clough from 2004 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Exposure to tobacco smoke and smoke-free living environments and how this influences smoking up-take and smoking cessation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Health Status, Health Events, and Health Care Participation of Amateur Performing Artists in Regional Queensland (Mackay) (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Making Salient Messages for Indigenous Tobacco Control (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Exploring Protective Factors for Violent Offending and Incarceration of Indigenous Adults in Far North Queensland. (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Implementing Large Scale, Community-Level Intervention Studies in Remote Indigenous Communities: A Realist Evaluation of the 'Cape York Cannabis Project'. (PhD, Primary Advisor)
• Psychologists' Engagement with Clients Regarding Alcohol Use: Understanding the Role of Personal Consumption, Knowledge and Attitudes. (PhD, Co-Advisor)
• Reducing Assaults in the Cairns Night Time Economy Using Realist Evaluation: A Focus on Closed Circut Television (CCTV). (PhD, Co-Advisor)
• Chronic Hepatitis B: Raising Awareness and Enabling Health-Protective Action in the North Queensland Among Community Focusing on GP Involvement and Antenatal Care (PhD, Co-Advisor)
• The Role of Traditional Food and Lifestyle Interventions in Reducing Modifiable Chronic Disease Risk Factors in Australian Indigenous Communities. (PhD, Co-Advisor)
• Maternal Nutrition and Its Role in the Development of the Child in Bangladesh (PhD, Co-Advisor)
• Improving the Prevention, Diagnosis and Management of Acute Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease in Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander Populations (PhD, Associate Advisor)
• Patient Safety: Risk Management of Paramedic Initiated Non-Transport Cases. (Masters, Primary Advisor)

Completed

• A grounded theory of program transfer: how an Aboriginal empowerment initiative became "bigger than a program" (2013, PhD, Associate Advisor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.