Rate My Professor Alison Hutton

Professor Alison Hutton is an Honorary Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery within the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Nursing, and Bachelor of Nursing from Flinders University, a Diploma of Nursing from the South Australian College of Advanced Education, and a Certificate of Paediatric Nursing from the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children. Her career includes roles such as Associate Dean (Research) and Honours Coordinator at Flinders University School of Nursing and Midwifery (2009-2017), Conjoint Professor with Hunter New England Health (2019-2021), and Joint Chair Professor of Evidence-Based Nursing and Midwifery with Mid North Coast Local Health District (2017-2022). Professor Hutton has extensive experience in nursing education and research, supervising 22 completed higher degree research students and currently four others.

Her research specializations encompass adolescent health, alcohol and other drugs, disasters, mass gatherings, and outdoor music festivals. Recognized as a world leader in mass gathering health, she has developed strategies for safe environments at youth events, including dry zones, on-site first aid, free water, and pastoral care, which have reduced hospitalizations and been adopted globally at events like World Cup soccer matches and music festivals. She serves as a board member of the World Association for Disaster Emergency Medicine, member of the WHO Mass Gathering Collaborating Centre for High Visibility/High Risk Events and the invitation-only VIAG advisory group, past President of the Association for the Wellbeing of Children in Healthcare, Chair of the Australian College of Nurses Disaster Faculty, and consultant in Disaster Competencies for the International Council of Nurses. Professor Hutton has published over 120 manuscripts—40 as first author and 45 as senior author—including 'Strategies for Event Managers to Safeguard Against Deadly Crowds' (2025), 'Disaster Health in Shelters in Japan' (2022), 'Recreational Drug Use and Drug Checking in Outdoor Music Festival: Implications for Mass Gathering Health' (2026), and 'Emergency Medical Consequence Planning for Special Events, Mass Gatherings and Mass Casualty Incidents' (2019). She has obtained 41 grants totaling $1,654,958 and collaborates internationally with researchers from the USA, Canada, Indonesia, UK, Brazil, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and China. Awards include Excellence in Innovation and Clinical Research from the Government of South Australia (2017), Best Lightning Presentation from the World Association for Disaster Emergency Medicine (2023), and an Endeavour Fellowship (2013).