Deakin criminology welcomes our latest team member: Dr Andrew Groves
Deakin criminology is very excited to welcome the latest addition to our team Dr Andrew Groves.
Andrew completed his PhD in 2013 in the School of Law at Flinders University, Adelaide. Andrew’s doctoral research focused on young people’s perceptions of risk as a way of understanding the prevalence and use of methamphetamines – specifically ‘ice’ – in urban nightclub settings. The findings of this research suggest a focus on young people and their experiences with and knowledge of methamphetamines in this unique social space is central to understanding and moving forward in what remains a controversial debate in Australia. Over the course of his PhD, Andrew presented an innovative survey questionnaire and conducted numerous in-depth interviews with a large cohort of young people who frequented Adelaide nightclubs. From this approach, he identified rich and complex individual narratives of both illicit drug users and non-drug users, which highlighted a shift in the profile of young drug users, confusion surrounding contradictory drug messages (e.g. alcohol vs illicit drugs) and the need for greater use of empirical evidence to inform policy and practice in the response to methamphetamines in Australia.
Andrew has published a number of articles on the findings of his PhD, the most recent of which will be appear in the Flinders Law Journal in July 2015. In addition, Andrew is working on a series of further publications, in light of ongoing debate surrounding ‘ice’ in Australia – particularly its distribution and use in rural areas and among youth populations – which coincides with the creation of the National Ice Taskforce by the Prime Minister in April 2015.
Andrew joins Deakin as a Lecturer in Criminology and is based at the Melbourne Burwood campus.