Rate My Professor Peter Strelan

Professor Peter Strelan is Dean of the School of Psychology within the College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences at Adelaide University. He earned his PhD from Flinders University and joined the University of Adelaide in 2005, progressing to full Professor and Head of School before his current deanship. Strelan teaches first-year research methods courses and is recognized for his expertise in the flipped classroom model, including the development of innovative teaching activities. He is eligible to supervise Masters and PhD students.

Strelan's research operates at the intersection of social psychology and individual differences, with a primary focus on forgiveness and revenge, and the influence of justice beliefs on responses to transgressions. He has co-authored the book Conflict Management in Police-citizen Interactions (Braithwaite, Brewer, & Strelan, 1998) and contributed chapters to major handbooks, such as The stress-and-coping model of forgiveness (2020) and The measurement of dispositional self-forgiveness (2017). Notable journal articles include Just World Beliefs in a Time of Crisis: Cross-Lagged Panel and Moderating Cross-National Effects on Mental Health and Well-Being Outcomes (Strelan et al., 2025, Social Justice Research); The Empowering Function of the Belief in a Just World for the Self (Bartholomaeus, Burns, & Strelan, 2023, Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin); The flipped classroom: A meta-analysis of effects on student performance across disciplines and education levels (Strelan, Osborn, & Palmer); and Power and revenge (Strelan, 2014, British Journal of Social Psychology). His scholarship has accumulated over 6,800 citations. Strelan has secured significant funding, including an ARC Discovery Grant DP0877945 ($232,000, 2008-2010) for research on forgiveness predictors and a Templeton Foundation grant ($180,000, 2023-2025) for developing a measure of divine forgiveness. Additional grants support his work on educational technology and mental health initiatives.