(MENAFN- The Conversation)

• Senior Lecturer, UniSA Education Futures, University of South Australia

Profile Articles Activity

Mel is the co-convener of the Migration and Refugee Research Network and Senior Lecturer at UniSA Education Futures. She is currently working on a number of research projects that explore aspects of refugee resettlement. She is a Chief Investigator on the ARC Linkage project 'How schools foster refugee student resilience'. She was a 2017 Endeavour Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow where she worked with the Glasgow Refugee Asylum and Migration Network. She has research expertise across a broad range of fields, including refugee and migration studies, belonging, gender, 'race', family and kinship studies refugee education, sociology of education, learning environments and policy in schools, volunteering, social movements and gender based violence. Her book 'Negotiating Belongings: stories of forced migration of Dinka women from South Sudan' was published by Brill Sense Publishers.

Experience

• –present Convener Refugee and Migration Research Network, University of South Australia
• 2021–present Senior Lecturer, University of South Australia

Education

• 2013 University of South Australia, Ph.D.

Publications

• 2021 Recognition of refugee students' cultural wealth and social capital, International Journal of Inclusive Education
• 2021 Education department policy constructions within highly political contexts: a critical policy study of multiculturalism, Journal of Education Policy
• 2021 Preventing Violent Extremism: Resourcing, stakeholder strategies and fostering belonging and connection in Australian Schools, British Educational Research Journal
• 2021 “It is not an acceptable disease”: A qualitative study of HIV-related stigma and discrimination and health for people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in Australia, BMC Public Health
• 2021 We have to be really careful': policy intermediaries preventing violent extremism in an era of risk, Journal of Education Policy
• 2021 A Cautionary Tale: CVE Policy Actors Managing Risk in Australian Schools, Current Sociology
• 2021 A systems framework for inclusive education for students with refugee backgrounds, Australian Educational Researcher
• 2020 Tensions between policy intent and enactment: Assessment and inclusion for refugee background students, Journal of Education Policy
• 2016 Negotiating Belongings: stories of forced migration of Dinka women from South Sudan, Brill Sense

Grants and Contracts

• 2022 How schools foster refugee student resilience Role: Chief Investigator Funding Source: ARC Linkage, Department of Education (SA), Deparment for Education (Qld), Catholic Education South Australia, Brisbane Catholic Education
• 2021 Neighbourhood life and social determinants of health for children and young people from refugee backgrounds Role: Chief Investigator Funding Source: Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation
• 2018 Engagement of African-Australian families in Catholic Schools in South Australia Role: Lead Investigator Funding Source: Catholic Education South Australia
• 2017 Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Catholic Schools in South Australia Role: Lead Investigator Funding Source: Catholic Education South Australia
• 2017 Improving educational outcomes for students from refugee backgrounds in the South Australian Certificate of Education: a case study of two Catholic secondary schools. Role: Lead Investigator Funding Source: Catholic Education South Australia

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