Dr Grace Skrzypiec

Grace has a research focus on adolescent bullying and well-being. As a mixed-method researcher, she promotes rigorous empirical research using quantitative and qualitative approaches. Grace is currently leading a team evaluating the school-based LifeChanger program.

During the pandemic, Grace led a team of international researchers from 15 countries on the impact of lockdown on student mental health and well-being involving over 7,000 students. Prior to this investigation, she led an international peer aggression and well-being study with 12 countries. She has been a joint investigator in well-being and positive peer relations projects in Malta, and anti-bullying interventions in Greek, Indian, and Italian schools. She was the chief investigator on a well-being 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 South Australian middle school students. She has also undertaken well-being studies of adolescents in China.

Grace is a senior lecturer in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work and the Director of the Global Research Alliance. She was the recipient of the 2014 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Early Career Researchers in recognition of outstanding contributions to excellence in research. From 2018-2020 she was Co-President of the International Observatory on School Climate and Violence Prevention. For over a decade, she was also the Co-Director of the Student Well-being and Prevention of Violence (SWAPv) research centre.

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.

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