This event was recorded. Watch it here:
The Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic is committed to preventing and reducing gambling-related harm, with a strong focus on early intervention and harm minimisation. The team conducts a wide range of research projects in collaboration with key stakeholders, including gambling consumers, community and treatment services, policy advisors, regulators, and the gambling industry.
In this seminar, Dr Dilushi Chandrakumar, Dr Robert Heirene, and Mr Teejay Santos present findings from three current projects: an investigation into the feasibility and acceptability of a prototype digital tool designed to support regular gambling consumers; an evaluation of existing low-risk gambling guidelines in an Australian online gambling population; and an exploration of barriers to gambling screening and the influence of comorbid mental health conditions and systemic factors on gambling behaviour.
About the Speakers
Dr Dilushi Chandrakumar
Dr Dilushi Chandrakumar is a Life Course Centre Research Fellow and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney’s Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic. Dilushi’s current research centres around increasing responsible gambling practices among low to moderate risk gambling consumers. Using various quantitative and qualitative methodologies, Dilushi engages directly with consumers to inform her research initiatives. Though implementing a co-design approach, Dilushi’s current research focusses on identifying an innovative approach to safer gambling through the design and development of a digital resource that endeavours to increase sustainable gambling and minimise gambling harms in the community.
Dr Robert Heirene
Dr Robert Heirene is a Research Fellow at the Gambling Treatment & Research Clinic and Technology Addiction Team based within the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney. His work focuses on understanding addictive disorders and how to prevent the harms associated with activities like gambling and substance use. He is also an advocate for increasing transparency and openness in research and conducts meta-scientific investigations of reporting quality and engagement with open science practices in the addictions field.
Teejay Anthony Santos
Teejay Anthony Santos commenced his PhD studies at the University of Sydney in July 2025. He is a registered medical doctor in the Philippines and has worked as a general physician for almost 3 years, working in both private and low-resource community clinics. In 2021, he pursued a Master in Public Health by research at Macquarie University, with a thesis focusing on COVID-19 vaccine reactogenicity. He is a Research Assistant at the Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic at the University of Sydney, a role he has held since 2023.