Professor Joseph Ciarrochi

Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, ACU

Professor Joseph Ciarrochi is among the top one per cent of the most cited scientists in the world for his revolutionary work on the development and promotion of wellbeing. He focuses on psychological flexibility, or what he terms 'flexible strength': a cluster of skills that can be used to promote personal growth and build vitality and valued action. Examples of skills related to flexible strength are emotional intelligence, social intelligence, mindfulness, psychological flexibility, nonattachment, grit, equanimity, willpower and emotion regulation skill.

Professor Ciarrochi has given presentations and workshops all over the world on how best to promote wellbeing and peak performance. He is a research professor and all of his talks are based on the best available science. He works with a wide variety of groups, including people in organisational settings, adolescents, teachers, leaders and members of the public. His work focuses on finding the best way to:

• develop character strengths such as courage, perspective taking and flexibility
• assess and promote emotional intelligence
• help people live more vital, meaningful lives
• improve social relationships and social functioning
• create supportive work groups and communities
• help people to persist at what they care about and change their behaviour when the situation calls for it.

Dr Baljinder K Sahdra

Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, ACU

Dr Baljinder K Sahdra's publications reflect her diverse substantive interests in psychological assessment, educational psychology, personality, developmental psychology, and mindfulness-related constructs and interventions. They also showcase various computational methods, including structural equation modelling, multilevel modelling, network analysis, mixture modelling, longitudinal analysis, text mining and machine learning advances in psychometrics. She has been awarded several prestigious awards and competitive grants (more than $7 million).

Dr Sahdra's research is published in top-tier journals, is highly cited and has been featured in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun, Radio Canada International, Boston Globe, New York Daily Post, Huffington Post, New Scientist, The Guardian, ABC Radio and other major media outlets.

Associate Professor Keong Yap

School of Behavioural Health Sciences (Psychology), ACU

Associate Professor Keong Yap is the National Course Coordinator for postgraduate psychology programs at the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences. He joined ACU in 2015 to assist in setting up the Master of Psychology (Clinical) course on the Strathfield Campus. Associate Professor Yap graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2002 with a Doctor of Psychology, majoring in clinical psychology. He is a registered psychologist with clinical endorsement and is also a PsyBA-accredited supervisor.

His research interests are in clinical psychology focusing on obsessive-compulsive disorder and hoarding disorder. He is also interested in examining the application of mindfulness and acceptance-based therapies (eg acceptance and commitment therapy) for these conditions.

Dr Madeleine Fraser

School of Behavioural Health Sciences (Psychology), and Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, ACU

Dr Madeleine Fraser's research interests are in clinical and health psychology. She is passionate about self-compassion and cultivating a healthy and supportive way of relating to oneself, as opposed to harsh self-criticism. Dr Fraser completed a Doctor of Psychology (Clinical) at Macquarie University in 2015 and a PhD at the University of Sydney in 2021, with a thesis titled 'Self-Compassion in Adolescence: A Protective Psychological Framework for Relating to Oneself'. She is a member of the Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre (HBMRC) at ACU.

Since 2015, Dr Fraser has lectured at ACU's Strathfield Campus in a full-time clinical psychology lecturer role. She supervises honours and master's research projects related to clinical psychology and with a particular focus on self-compassion. She is also an AHPRA board approved supervisor and facilitates group supervision in the clinical master's program. Dr Fraser is the lecturer in charge for units such as Abnormal Psychology in undergraduate psychology, and Ethics in postgraduate psychology. In 2017, Dr Fraser was the recipient of the APS Sydney Branch Outstanding Lecturer in Psychology Award and was awarded the 2019 APS Early Career Teaching Award. She is a registered psychologist with clinical endorsement and a PsyBA-accredited supervisor.