Rate My Professor Melissa Freire

Dr. Melissa Freire is a Lecturer in the Discipline of Psychology within the School of Science at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she serves as Program Convenor for the Master of Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing. She completed her Bachelor of Psychology (Honours Class 1) and Doctor of Philosophy at the Australian National University. Her doctoral and postdoctoral research investigated cultural and epistemological factors influencing literacy and learning for Australian Indigenous peoples in the Northern Territory and New South Wales, with the goal of promoting equitable and inclusive access to essential services. This foundation supports her ongoing research program, which explores how social, cultural, and psychological factors affect access, engagement, and outcomes across diverse populations.

Freire's current research centers on equity and inclusion in health and wellbeing, particularly barriers to mental health support in education, health, and workplace settings. She examines mental health help-seeking behaviors, focusing on psychological factors such as mental health shame, self-compassion, and disclosure, alongside cultural influences to develop inclusive mental health initiatives. As an Adjunct Fellow at the University of New South Wales, she contributes to the Refugee Trauma and Recovery Program's PRISM Family Study, funded by an ARC Linkage Grant, which assesses the impact of missing and separated family members on the mental health of refugees and asylum seekers. Freire supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students on projects addressing mental health stigma, help-seeking, and wellbeing in applied contexts. Her key publications include '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, 2022), 'Psychological Research in an Australian Remote Indigenous Context: Towards a Culturally Safe Cognitive Research Approach' (Psychology and Developing Societies, 2022), '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, 2021), and 'Identifying Interactive Factors That May Increase Crash Risk between Young Drivers and Trucks: A Narrative Review' (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021). She has earned awards including the 2025 Learning Design and Teaching Innovation Teaching Excellence Award, 2024 Excellence in Postgraduate Programs Award, 2023 Outstanding Contribution to Student Experience Award, 2022 Supervision Excellence Award, and 2021 Impactful Research Award from the School of Psychological Sciences.