Scientia Professor Alison Ritter AO is an alcohol and other drug policy scholar and Director of the Drug Policy Modelling Program at the Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW, Sydney. Her program of applied research is aimed at helping governments make better decisions about what to do about alcohol and other drugs. She conducts research on drug laws, drug treatment, models and methods of democratic participation in drug policy; and research focused on policy processes. Her work is supported by grants from competitive research funding bodies (NHMRC, ARC) as well as commissioned research from governments across Australia and internationally. She is past President of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy, and an Editor for the International Journal of Drug Policy.

Professor Ritter worked as a clinical psychologist in the alcohol and drug treatment sector prior to commencing full-time research. She has contributed significant policy and practice developments across alcohol and drug policy over many years. She has an extensive research grant track record ($35m) and has published widely in the field including two edited books; multiple book chapters and more than 200 journal articles. Prof Ritter co-authors with diverse inter-disciplinary colleagues (incl political science, law, economics, public policy, sociology, and public health), students and people with living-lived experience of alcohol/drugs. She is listed in the Stanford top 2% of scientists worldwide for “substance abuse” and for “criminology”. She was awarded an Order of Australia (AO Jan 2020) for “distinguished service to education, to drug and alcohol research and social policy, and to professional medical societies”.