The Sax Institute mourns the passing of Professor Kypros Kypri

The Sax Institute mourns the passing of an outstanding health researcher, Professor Kypros Kypri, who has tragically died in a cycling accident in New Zealand. 

Professor Kypri, a professorial fellow at the University of Newcastle’s School of Medicine and Public Health, was passionate about the epidemiology and prevention of alcohol-related harms, and his work has had a profound impact on public health policies around alcohol availability in Australia and New Zealand. Professor Kypri’s research into alcohol and violence in Newcastle was instrumental in the NSW government’s decision to implement the lockout laws known as the “Newcastle Solution” to reduce night-time violence in Sydney’s CBD and King’s Cross district.

In 2017, the Sax Institute was delighted to honour Professor Kypri with a Research Action Award, which recognises researchers whose work has had a significant impact on health policy. Professor Kypri was recognised for his work on building evidence to underpin policies around alcohol-related violence. His research examined the impact of Newcastle’s ‘last drinks’ alcohol restrictions on assaults in the city’s CBD, finding that restricting the opening hours of some licensed premises resulted in a large reduction in assaults, compared with a similar locality where pubs had remained open.

The findings of this work helped support the continuation of restrictions in Newcastle despite intense lobbying from the alcohol industry, and supported changes in the law in Sydney and in Queensland.

“I’m very saddened to hear of the loss of Kypros Kypri, a remarkable public health academic whose important research has without doubt prevented the deaths of young people in Newcastle, Sydney and beyond,” said Sax Institute CEO Dr Martin McNamara.

“On behalf of the Institute, I would like to express my deepest sympathies to his family.”