Rate My Professor Jude Ball

Dr. Jude Ball is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, a role she has held since joining the department in November 2014. Bringing expertise from critical psychology, health promotion, and applied research, she holds a BA in Psychology, an MA in Critical Psychology, a Graduate Diploma in Public Health, and a PhD awarded by the University of Otago in 2019. Her doctoral thesis, 'Sex, drugs, smokes and booze: What's driving teen trends? Describing and explaining trends in adolescent sexual behaviour, cannabis use, smoking and alcohol use in the early 21st century,' analyzed the drivers of long-term declines in these youth risk behaviours amid shifting social contexts.

Affiliated with ASPIRE Aotearoa tobacco control research centre, HePPRU, and the Adolescent Health Research Group overseeing the Youth 2000 survey series, Ball's research interests center on the effects of social changes on adolescent substance use, interconnections between risk behaviours including smoking, cannabis, binge drinking, and sexual activity, tobacco control, health equity, mental health promotion, and novel nicotine products like vapes and pouches. She leads projects such as a Marsden Fast-Start funded qualitative study on substance use meanings in youth lives, the young adult component of the Health Research Council-funded EASE cohort of smokers and quitters, contributions to the 2023 International Tobacco Control Youth survey in New Zealand, Health Promotion Agency initiatives assessing early intervention needs for tobacco, e-cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs in secondary students, evaluations of national youth substance monitoring, and alcohol harm trend analyses. Key publications include 'Building community resilience: learning from the Canterbury earthquakes' (Thornley et al., 2015; 246 citations), 'Rapid and unequal decline in adolescent mental health and well-being 2012–2019' (Sutcliffe et al., 2023; 110 citations), 'The great decline in adolescent risk behaviours: Unitary trend, separate trends, or cascade?' (Ball et al., 2023; 109 citations), 'Mixed progress in adolescent health and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand 2001–2019' (Fleming et al., 2022; 67 citations), and 'Awareness and use of oral nicotine pouches among youth and young adults, 2022-2024' (Reid et al., 2025). Her contributions have advanced understanding of declining youth substance use and supported New Zealand's Smokefree 2025 goal.