Bio

I began my research career as a PhD student at the Brain and Mind Centre, at the University of Sydney. Here, I completed a PhD examining the understanding and treatment of cognitive-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease. The primary output of my PhD was a randomised controlled trial, published in npj Parkinson’s Disease.

In pursuing a developing interest in mental health and performance, I then completed a Master of Psychology (Sport & Exercise) at the University of Queensland. It was here that I became interested in self-compassion and the compassion-focused therapies, under the supervision of A/Prof James Kirby.

Following my MPsych, I took up a six-month Endeavour Postdoctoral Leadership Fellowship at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, followed by a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Melbourne, within the Mental Health in Elite Sports research team at Orygen. It was during this time that I worked on a range of projects relating to self-compassion, psychological safety, and mental health within elite sport under the supervision of Prof Simon Rice and Prof Rosemary Purcell.

In 2023, I took up an Academic Fellowship (2023-26) at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne; followed by a prestigious C.R. Roper Fellowship awarded by the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences (2026-29). Here, I continue to work on understanding mental health within a range of performance-based contexts such as elite and youth sport, the performing arts, and academia. I also maintain a small teaching load, and supervise a range of students completing Honours, Masters, and PhD theses.

Alongside my academic work, I have continued to maintain a small role as a psychologist.