Associate Professor Phillip James Wadds

Dr Phillip Wadds is Associate Professor in Criminology at UNSW, Sydney. His award-winning research is situated at the at the interface of criminology, urban studies, alcohol and other drug (AOD) studies and public health, and examines issues related to crime prevention, community safety, policing, nightlife and related leisure, drinking and drug consumption and violence with an overarching concern for harm reduction. His work has made significant contributions to nightlife and festival safety as well as health and industry policy and practice and highlights his role in leadership through transformative and interdisciplinary research.

Dr Wadds’ research and engagement work centres on building interdisciplinary collaborations and connections designed to assist knowledge translation and impact. He has served as an expert member of the City of Sydney’s Nightlife and Creative Sector Advisory Panel from 2018-2022, and the Randwick City Council Night-Time Economy Advisory Committee (2018-2019), as an expert advisor to the NSW Government Parliamentary Summit on Pill-testing and Festival Safety in 2018, the 2019 Joint Select Committee on Sydney’s Night-Time Economy, the NSW Ministry of Health Guidelines on Festival Safety released in December 2019 and the 2022 Review into Sexual Harm, Sexual Harassment and Systemic Discrimination in the National Music Industry. Dr Wadds is also currently serving as the inaugural lead assessor for the NSW government’s Purple Flag program.

Dr Wadds has project managed a number of major research projects, including the NDLERF funded Patron Offending and Intoxication in Night-Time Entertainment Districts (POINTED) Project  and NSW Health funded Alcohol Combined with Energy Drinks (ACED) project, and has been Chief Investigator on a NSW Department of Justice funded research project evaluating the Take Kare Safe Space Program  and a project investigating the nature and extent of violence, sexual violence and issues of public safety at Australian music festivals. He is currently lead investigator on a number of funded projects examining best practice in harm reduction at music festival events and the regulation of licensed venues.

Phillip is available for supervision of Honours, Masters by Research and PhD projects around topics including include the night-time economy, music festivals, alcohol and drug related harm and violence, crime prevention, policing policy and practice, plural policing, urban governance and the relationship between the media, crime and policing.