Professor Martin Holt specialises in HIV prevention research with gay and bisexual men. He is a social scientist by training and has worked at the Centre for Social Research in Health since 2003. Over the last 15 years Martin’s research has guided the introduction of newer forms of HIV prevention, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis and treatment as prevention, and investigated the impact of these strategies on community norms, attitudes and practices. His team’s research was the first to show how the introduction of PrEP affected condom use at a national level. More recently, Martin has been advocating for implementation scientists to consider how HIV prevention coverage can be achieved by using a range of effective strategies (rather than focusing on one, like PrEP). He has also worked with colleagues to assess the impact of COVID-19 and mpox on HIV-related behaviour.

Martin leads the GBQ+ Community Periodic Surveys, the main part of Australia’s behavioural surveillance system for HIV, supported by federal and state/territory health funding and NHMRC Partnership Project funding (2021-26). He is also the senior investigator on a long-term study of the social aspects of biomedical HIV prevention for gay and bisexual men (the PrEPARE project). Martin is a chief investigator on a range of other projects, including:

Martin is actively involved with the HIV sector, LGBTIQ community organisations, and professional societies. He has been a Deputy Editor of the Journal of the International AIDS Society, opens in a new window since 2013, an Associate Editor of AIDS and Behavior since 2018, and an Associate Editor of Sexual Health since 2023.

In 2022, Martin was appointed as Research Director in the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, UNSW Sydney, and from 2024he is serving as Associate Dean, Research Quality & Culture in the Faculty.