Dr Grace Skrzypiec

Grace is a senior lecturer in the School of Education and the Co-Director of the Student Well-being and Prevention of Violence (SWAPv) research centre. Grace was the recipient of the 2014 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Early Career Researchers in recognition of outstanding contributions to excellence in research.

Grace is the chief investigator for an international peer aggression and well-being study involving 12 countries and over 6000 students. She has been a joint investigator in the well-being and positive peer relations project in Maltese schools. She was the chief investigator on a similar research study with funding from a grant awarded by the International Baccalaureate Organisation, where she led a team investigating the well-being of 2,000 middle school students.

Grace’s background includes research on adolescent health with CSIRO and with adolescent offenders at the Office of Crime Statistics and Research (OCSAR) in South Australia. As a researcher at Flinders University, Grace has continued to research the well-being of young people, particularly in anti-social contexts, such as bullying and other antisocial behaviour.

Grace was part of the team of researchers working on the Australian child well-being project, the qualitative data collection and analysis of the KidsMatter evaluations, and with the data collection and statistical data analysis of a bullying intervention, which formed part of the ARC Southern Schools Project. In her PhD studies she undertook cross-disciplinary research by combining criminological and psychological theories to assist our understanding of anti-social behaviours. A former high school teacher her interest in adolescent behaviour and well-being continues to be the major focus of her research.

Grace teaches post-graduate students and works collaboratively with other researchers at Flinders University. She also supervises postgraduate students underaking Masters, EdD and PhD studies.