Sarah Durkin
BA (Psych), PgradDip (Psych), PhD
Principal Research Fellow, CBRC
Beginning her career in health behaviour research in 1997, Sarah joined Cancer Council Victoria in 2003. She serves as an honorary Associate Professor at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and as a Senior Editor of the British Medical Association’s specialist international journal Tobacco Control. Sarah’s research focusses on developing and examining the impact of mass-reach media communication campaigns in cancer prevention, especially tobacco control, through the use of qualitative research, message-testing, experimental studies, population surveys and cohort studies. Her research provides guidance on the optimal level and duration of campaign investment, the features of campaign messages that maximise impact, and how particular target audiences respond to messages. Sarah collaborates on tobacco policy research and served as a senior member of the team evaluating the impact of Australia’s world-first tobacco plain packaging policy. More recently she has also been leading the evaluation of state and national media campaigns to promote bowel cancer screening and has been collaborating on studies of alcohol and obesity prevention communications. Sarah supervises the Research and Evaluation Managers for Quit Victoria and Cancer Council Victoria’s cancer screening program and advises and assists state, national and international tobacco control agencies. Her research has been funded by the NHMRC, ARC, international non-government organisations, Cancer Council Victoria, and through contracts with the Victorian and Australian governments.