Qualifications and Experience

Qualifications and Training

  • B Art Theory/B Arts (Sociology, Hons 1 and University Medal) University of New South Wales (UNSW)
  • PhD Health Sociology, UNSW

Training in Mental Health, Wellbeing and Mindfulness:

  • Mental Health First Aider Accreditation, October 2022
  • Accidental Counselling, TAFE NSW, March 2021
  • Mindfulness Teacher Training for Health Professionals, with Professor Craig Hassed (Monash University)
  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, 8 week evidence-based mindfulness course
  • Numerous professional development workshops on neurodiversity, mental health, professional self-care and learning, with Australian Psychological Society (APS) 2023-2025.

Experience

Michelle has an established background as a tertiary educator, consultant and researcher. Her main areas of experience include:

  • Wellbeing consultant - designing wellbeing workshops for student and staff cohorts at Charles Sturt University, Western Sydney University, James Cook University, University of New England, University of New South Wales and Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre.
  • Teaching and curriculum development in research skills and academic literacy for the Higher Degree Research Learning Skills Unit at Macquarie University, University of New England (UNE), The Learning Centre and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UNSW.
  • Teaching mindfulness meditation for Research Services, Human Resources and Student Wellbeing at Macquarie University; and public events such as TEDx: Power of Ideas (Sydney) and the Well Academic Writing Retreat (Blue Mountains).
  • Designing and coordinating high school outreach programs for students from disadvantaged backgrounds with the Student Equity and Diversity Unit, UNSW.
  • Creating digital wellbeing resources - recorded video and audio guided meditations for the MQ Wellbeing app, Student Wellbeing, Macquarie University.
  • Public speaker as an expert on wellbeing in higher education and research culture, and mindfulness. (See links for examples)
  • Writing and reviewing articles for peer-reviewed academic journals including Body and Society, Sociology of Health and Illness, Studies in History and Philosophy of the Biomedical and Biological Sciences, Parallax and Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. (Full list of publications here.)
  • Providing research assistance and expert advice on a range of projects in Sociology, Social Science, Public Health and Bioethics, at UNSW and University of Sydney.