Dr Melissa Freire
Industry Educator
School of Psychological Sciences
Career Summary
Biography
Melissa completed her BPsych (Hons I) and PhD at the Australian National University. Melissa joined the University of Newcastle in 2022, as an Industry Educator.
Melissa’s doctoral and post-doctoral research focused on understanding the cultural and epistemological factors that influence literacy and learning for Australian Indigenous peoples in the Northern Territory and New South Wales, to facilitate equitable and inclusive access to essential services.
Melissa's current research continues to investigate issues associated with equity and inclusion for the general population and for sub-groups in our community. Melissa's overarching research goals are to inform development of new ways to support and improve health and wellbeing.
Research
With a focus on ensuring equitable and inclusive access to essential services, Melissa's current research focuses on understanding factors that influence health and wellbeing in applied contexts, including education, health, and workplace settings. Current research projects investigate the relationship between mental health and help-seeking behaviour in different contexts and how this relationship is influenced by various factors, including mental health shame and self-compassion. Given that constructs such as shame and self-compassion differ across cultures, Melissa intends to extend her research to understand how culture can influence such relationships.
Melissa supervises undergraduate and graduate students on sub-projects in the areas of shame associated with low literacy in applied contexts and mental health shame, self-compassion, disclosure and help-seeking behaviour in workplace and educational settings.
Melissa is also Senior Research Associate on the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program PRISM Family Study, which investigates the impact of missing and separated family on the mental health and wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers. This research is funded by an ARC Linkage Grant.
Teaching
As an Industry Educator in the School of Psychological Sciences, Melissa currently teaches foundational psychology courses in the Master of Business Psychology. Melissa is also the Singapore Liaison for the Master of Business Psychology program.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University
- Bachelor of Psychology (Honours), Australian National University
Keywords
- help-seeking
- literacy
- mental health
- self-compassion
- shame
Fields of Research
Code | Description | Percentage |
---|---|---|
520399 | Clinical and health psychology not elsewhere classified | 40 |
350507 | Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life | 40 |
470212 | Multicultural, intercultural and cross-cultural studies | 20 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|
Industry Educator | University of Newcastle School of Psychological Sciences Australia |
Academic appointment
Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|---|
1/11/2023 - |
Senior Research Associate Senior Research Associate - Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program (RTRP) Project Researching the Impact of Separated and Missing (PRISM) Family Study |
The University of New South Wales School of Psychology Australia |
Awards
Research Award
Year | Award |
---|---|
2021 |
Impactful research in 2021 School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle |
Teaching Award
Year | Award |
---|---|
2023 |
Outstanding contribution to Student Experience for 2023 School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle |
2022 |
2022 Supervision Excellence Award School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle |
Teaching
Code | Course | Role | Duration |
---|---|---|---|
PSYC6000 |
Foundations of Applied Psychology 1 School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle |
Industry Educator | 1/12/2022 - 31/12/2024 |
PSYC6050 |
Foundations of Applied Psychology 2 School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle |
Industry Educator | 1/12/2022 - 31/12/2024 |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Journal article (7 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||||||||
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2022 |
Freire MR, Pammer K, 'Reading as A Cultural Tool for Neurocognitive Development: A Complex Interactive Relationship between Reading Acquisition and Visuospatial Development for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians', JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT, 23 411-436 (2022) [C1]
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Nova | |||||||||
2022 |
Freire MR, 'Psychological Research in an Australian Remote Indigenous Context: Towards a Culturally Safe Cognitive Research Approach', Psychology and Developing Societies, 34 240-261 (2022) [C1]
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2021 |
Pammer K, Freire M, Gauld C, Towney N, 'Keeping safe on australian roads: Overview of key determinants of risky driving, passenger injury and fatalities for indigenous populations', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 1-16 (2021) [C1] Social and cultural barriers associated with inequitable access to driver licensing and associated road safety education, as well as socioeconomic issues that preclude ongoing veh... [more] Social and cultural barriers associated with inequitable access to driver licensing and associated road safety education, as well as socioeconomic issues that preclude ongoing vehicle maintenance and registration, result in unsafe in-car behaviours such as passenger overcrowding. This in turn is associated with improper seatbelt usage, noncompliance with child restraint man-dates, and driver distraction. For example, in Australia, where seatbelt use is mandatory, Indigenous road users are three times less likely to wear seatbelts than non-Indigenous road users. This is associated with a disproportionately high fatality rate for Indigenous drivers and passengers; 21% of Indigenous motor-vehicle occupants killed on Australian roads were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of impact. In addition, inequitable access to driver licensing instruction due to financial and cultural barriers results in Indigenous learner drivers having limited access to qualified mentors and instructors. A consequent lack of road safety instruction results in a normalising of risky driving behaviours, perpetuated through successive generations of drivers. Moreover, culturally biased driver instruction manuals, which are contextualised within an English written-language learning framework, fail to accommodate the learning needs of Indigenous peoples who may encounter dif-ficulties with English literacy. This results in difficulty understanding the fundamental road rules, which in turn makes it difficult for young drivers to develop and sustain safe in-car behaviours. This paper considers the literature regarding road safety for Indigenous road users and critically evaluates strategies and policies that have been advanced to protect Indigenous drivers. Novel so-lutions to increasing road safety rule compliance are proposed, particularly in relation to passenger safety, which are uniquely embedded within Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. Safe driving practices have crucial health and social implications for Indigenous communities by allow-ing more Indigenous people to participate in work and education opportunities, access healthcare, maintain cultural commitments, and engage with families and friends, qualities which are essential for ongoing health and wellbeing.
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Nova | |||||||||
2021 |
Freire MR, Gauld C, McKerral A, Pammer K, 'Identifying interactive factors that may increase crash risk between young drivers and trucks: A narrative review', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (2021) [C1] Sharing the road with trucks is associated with increased risk of serious injury and death for passenger vehicle drivers. However, the onus for minimising risk lies not just with ... [more] Sharing the road with trucks is associated with increased risk of serious injury and death for passenger vehicle drivers. However, the onus for minimising risk lies not just with truck drivers; other drivers must understand the unique performance limitations of trucks associated with stop-ping distances, blind spots, and turning manoeuverability, so they can suitably act and react around trucks. Given the paucity of research aimed at understanding the specific crash risk vulnerability of young drivers around trucks, the authors employ a narrative review methodology that brings to-gether evidence from both truck and young driver road safety research domains, as well as data regarding known crash risks for each driving cohort, to gain a comprehensive understanding of what young drivers are likely to know about heavy vehicle performance limitations, where there may be gaps in their understanding, and how this could potentially increase crash risk. We then review literature regarding the human factors affecting young drivers to understand how percep-tual immaturity and engagement in risky driving behaviours are likely to compound risk regarding both the frequency and severity of collision between trucks and young drivers. Finally, we review current targeted educational initiatives and suggest that simply raising awareness of truck limitations is insufficient. We propose that further research is needed to ensure initiatives aimed at increasing young driver awareness of trucks and truck safety are evidence-based, undergo rigorous evaluation, and are delivered in a way that aims to (i) increase young driver risk perception skills, and (ii) reduce risky driving behaviour around trucks.
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Nova | |||||||||
2020 |
Freire MR, Pammer K, 'Influence of culture on visual working memory: evidence of a cultural response bias for remote Australian Indigenous children', Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 4 323-341 (2020) [C1]
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Nova | |||||||||
2019 |
Freire MR, Pammer K, 'Reading Between the Lines: Neurocognition and Reading Acquisition in Remote Indigenous Australia', Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 50 460-478 (2019) [C1] Successful academic progression relies on a child¿s ability to develop proficient reading skills. In Australia, the majority of children achieve this milestone during elementary s... [more] Successful academic progression relies on a child¿s ability to develop proficient reading skills. In Australia, the majority of children achieve this milestone during elementary schooling. Yet Australian Indigenous children, particularly those living in remote and rural regions of Australia, consistently struggle to meet national benchmarks for reading, as evidenced by national benchmark data. There has been extensive debate about whether sociocultural factors impinge on academic achievement for Indigenous Australians, but little discussion regarding the possible role of neurocognitive factors. In this review, we consider limited available research on neurocognitive mechanisms associated with reading for Indigenous populations and argue for an urgent need to consider the relationship between neurocognitive and sociocultural development when examining reading acquisition outcomes for this population. We also discuss the plausibility of targeting the potential neurocognitive strengths of certain Indigenous populations to scaffold reading acquisition and identify opportunities for furthering this line of research.
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Show 4 more journal articles |
Conference (1 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
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2022 |
Cullen H, Freire M, van Golde C, Adam L, Mcmullen S, 'Risk factors for false confession among Australian Indigenous Peoples', Online (2022)
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Grants and Funding
Summary
Number of grants | 1 |
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Total funding | $200,730 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20211 grants / $200,730
Linking virtual reality with road safety for Indigenous Australians$200,730
Funding body: Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications
Funding body | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications |
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Project Team | Doctor Olivia Whalen, Doctor Melissa Freire, Doctor Cassandra Gauld, Professor Kristen Pammer |
Scheme | Road Safety Innovation Fund |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2021 |
Funding Finish | 2024 |
GNo | G2100408 |
Type Of Funding | C1500 - Aust Competitive - Commonwealth Other |
Category | 1500 |
UON | Y |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Current Supervision
Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | PhD | Investigation Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Factors That Influence Adolescent Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviour. | PhD (Clinical Psychology), College of Engineering, Science and Environment, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
Past Supervision
Year | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | Masters | Mental Health Shame and the Complex Interplay between Occupational Prestige and Mental Health | Psychology, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
Research Projects
Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program - Project Researching the Impact of Separated and Missing Family 2023 -
Collaboration with UNSW. I joined the project in November 2023, as a Senior Research Associate.
Edit
Dr Melissa Freire
Position
Industry Educator
School of Psychological Sciences
College of Engineering, Science and Environment
Contact Details
melissa.freire@newcastle.edu.au |
Office
Room | Enter Building code/room eg CH123. |
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