The AFL Players’ Association congratulates Associate Professor John Fitzgerald from the University of Melbourne and the AFLPA’s General Manager of People, Psychology & Culture Dr. Pippa Grange upon being named one of five winners in the 2008 University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor’s 2008 Knowledge Transfer Awards.

Fitzgerald and Grange received the award for their work – ‘An industry-university collaboration to develop an AFL alcohol policy’.

Created in partnership with the AFL Players’ Association, the AFL and the University of Melbourne, the framing policy is a major step forward towards creating responsible drinking environments within the AFL industry by reducing harmful consumption of alcohol.

AFLPA CEO Brendon Gale congratulated the Grange and Fitzgerald for their work, saying,

“Pippa and John’s research and subsequent creation of a draft framing alcohol policy will go a long way to creating an ongoing environment within the AFL industry which see alcohol consumed responsibly.”

The AFL is the first major Australian sporting code to introduce a framing alcohol policy.

Other winners in the 2008 University of Melbourne Knowledge Transfer award included;
• Associate Professor Erica Frydenberg for Coping Skills Development for Adolescents: Prevention and Intervention
• Professor Stephen O'Leary for Virtual Reality Simulation for Ear Surgery
• Mr Jason Benjamin/Mr Michael Piggott for The University of Melbourne Archives Benalla Howship Project
• Associate Professor Marimuthu Palaniswami for Monitoring the Great Barrier Reef Using Distributed Sensor Networks

For more information about the University of Melbourne’s Knowledge Transfer Awards, please Click Here