Nikki Rickard

Professor Nikki Rickard is Professor of Wellbeing Science in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne, serving as Director of Research at the Centre for Wellbeing Science. She holds a PhD and BBSc (Hons) and is a fully registered psychologist with over 30 years of experience in wellbeing research. Her career includes previous roles as Associate Professor at Monash University, Academic Director at Western Sydney University Online, Program Director at Swinburne Online, and Academic Director at Monash Online. Rickard has contributed to collaborative research grants in digital mental health, positive education, music education, and online education. She is also Director of the digital mental health company MoodPrism and has over 190 academic publications, demonstrating significant influence in her field through highly cited works.

Her research specializations include music psychology, emotion regulation, mental health interventions via smartphone apps, positive education, and strategies for self-managing emotional health, with a particular emphasis on supporting young people through music engagement and digital platforms. Key publications encompass 'Social networking sites, depression, and anxiety: a systematic review' (Seabrook, Kern, Rickard, 2016, JMIR Mental Health), 'Mental health smartphone apps: review and evidence-based recommendations for future developments' (Bakker, Kazantzis, Rickwood, Rickard, 2016, JMIR Mental Health), 'Relaxing music prevents stress-induced increases in subjective anxiety, systolic blood pressure, and heart rate in healthy males and females' (Knight, Rickard, 2001, Journal of Music Therapy), 'Intense emotional responses to music: A test of the physiological arousal hypothesis' (Rickard, 2004, Psychology of Music), and 'The music USE (MUSE) questionnaire: An instrument to measure engagement in music' (Chin, Rickard, 2012, Music Perception). Rickard has served as President of the Australian Music & Psychology Society and the Asia-Pacific Society for Cognitive Science of Music, and as foundation co-Editor-in-Chief of the Springer journal Psychology of WellBeing: Theory, Research and Practice. Her work extends to public engagement through articles on AI coaches, screen time, and live music benefits for loneliness.

Professional Email: nrickard@unimelb.edu.au