Dr Grace Skrzypiec

Academic Status

College of Education, Psychology and Social Work

place Bedford Park (5.68)
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Grace has a research focus on child and adolescent bullying, mental health, and well-being. She is co-author of the Big Talks for Little People mental health program and was part of the team evaluating the KidsMatter primary, early childhood, and Indigenous initiatives. Recently, she led 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 has full academic status in the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work and she is 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 using quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Qualifications

B.Sc(physics & psychology), BScHons(psychology), Grad Dip Ed, M.Ed (Adelaide), PhD (Flinders)

Honours, awards and grants

Awards

  • Research Student Course Award (2009)
  • Australian Postgraduate Award (2010)
  • Research Student Conference Travel Grant (2011)
  • Cyber-bullying Fellowship (2011)
  • Early Career Training School Fellowship (2012)
  • Early Career CNU Travel Grant (2013)
  • International Society for Research on Aggression, Young Investigators Program (2014)
  • Faculty Conference Travel Grant (2015)
  • 2014 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Early Career Researchers - recognition of outstanding contributions to excellence in research
  • 2016 Early career Establishment Grant
  • Flinders University Medium Grant (2017)

Grants & Tenders

Skrzypiec, G. – LifeChanger Evaluation and Monitoring – LifeChanger Foundation

Skrzypiec, G. & Slee, P.T. - Student wellbeing and achievement: the relationship to school bullying – Department of Education, South Australia

Slee, P.T. & Skrzypiec, G. – Big Talks for Little People - Breakthrough Foundation

Slee, P.T. & Skrzypiec, G. Little Heroes in the Playground - P.E.A.C.E ful MINDS Classroom Mental Health Module – Breakthrough Foundation

Skrzypiec, G., Askell-Williams, H., Slee, P. & Rudzinski, A. International Baccalaureate Research Grant: IB Middle Years Program: Student Social-Emotional Wellbeing and School Success Practices

Slee, P.T, Skrzypiec, G., Dix, K., Askell-Williams, H., Murray-Harvey, R., & Krieg, S., Beyondblue: National Mental Health Initiative
Evaluation of the implementation of the KidsMatter Early Childhood Initiative in services with high proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Askell-Williams, H., Lawson, M.J., Slee, P., Wyra, M., Skrzypiec, G.:Flinders Large Grant
Living and Learning at School: A Longitudinal Study 2010-2012

Key responsibilities

Co-editor of the International Journal of School Climate and Prevention of Violence.

Co-President International Observatory on School Climate and Prevention of Violence.

Co-Director Student Wellbeing and Prevention of Violence (SWAPv) research centre.

Course Co-ordinator of MEd (General).

Course Co-ordinator of MEd (Educational Research, Evaluation and Assessment).

Co-ordinator MEd dissertations.

Teaching interests

Student mental health and wellbeing, Adolescent development, Adolescent offending, Research Methods, Statistics, Peer Aggression, bullying

Topic coordinator
EDUC9762 Introduction to Statistics
EDUC9761 Approaches to Research
EDUC9763 Survey and Questionnaire Methods
EDUC9766 Multivariate statistics for educational research
EDUC7120 Honours Approaches to Research
EDUC9720 Directed Studies
EDUC9724 MEd dissertation
Topic lecturer
EDUC9762 Introduction to Statistics
EDUC9763 Survey and Questionnaire Methods
EDUC9766 Multivariate statistics for educational research
EDUC7120 Honours Approaches to Research
EDUC9761 Approaches to Research