Dr Melissa de Vel-Palumbo

Senior Lecturer

College of Business, Government and Law

place Law & Commerce
GPO Box 2100, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001

Melissa's research focuses on the application of psychological theory to improve advance understandings of, and responses to, crime. She takes a collaborative approach, working with stakeholders in the criminal justice sector to inform more effective policy and practice, enhancing outcomes for people who have committed crime and reducing the burden of crime in the community. Melissa has expertise in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including experimental design, program evaluation, cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, scale development and validation, and qualitative interviews. She has also trained as a clinical (forensic) psychologist.

Her principal area of research is the rehabilitation and reintegration of people who have committed crime. She explores this topic from both a basic basis (how people process wrongdoing and how/when these psychological processes lead to positive attitudinal and desistance from crime) as well as an applied basis (the effects of particular criminal justice interventions or procedures on rehabilitative outcomes). Her research has contributed to knowledge about the processes underlying behavioural change and has influenced national and international strategies to reduce reoffending. Current funded projects include work to identify and promote practices that assist desistance within prison settings (Corrective Services NSW), and a project creating and evaluating a mobile application that community corrections officers can use to support reintegration (Department for Correctional Service SA). 

A second research stream investigates the beliefs people have about crime and justice. She is particularly interested in psychological biases that influence people’s moral judgments, punitive attitudes, and justice-related cognitions. These beliefs have major impacts on the decisions and practices of people who work in the criminal justice system (e.g., police officers, judges, correctional officers) as well as feeding into broader societal attitudes and discourses about crime and criminal justice policy. Her work in this space has contributed to understanding and challenging common beliefs and attitudes that impede the effective reintegration of people who have been convicted of crime.

Melissa is also an affiliate member of the Centre for Social Impact, a national research network focused on solving complex social problems.

Qualifications
  • Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) - 2018 (Flinders University)
  • Master of Psychology (Forensic) - 2012 (UNSW)
  • Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) - 2009 (Adelaide University)
Honours, awards and grants
  • Grants-in-Aid for Early Career Professionals - 2021-2022 (American Psychology-Law Society APA Division 41) with Dr. Colleen Berryessa, Rutgers University
  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship - 2019-2020 (European Commission)
  • Flinders DVC Early Career Researcher Impact Seed Funding 2024
  • Flinders CBGL Outstanding Achievement by an Early Career Researcher Prize 2024
  • Flinders CBGL Publication Prize 2023
  • Flinders CBGL Award for Excellence in Teaching 2023
  • Flinders CBGL Award for Excellence in Teaching 2021
  • Flinders CBGL Research Collaboration Prize 2020
Key responsibilities
  • Research Lead for Criminology (CBGL)
  • South Australian representative, ANZSOC Committee of Management (Australia and New Zealand Society of Criminology)
  • Editorial Board, BMC Psychology (Psychology, Policy, and Law)
  • Detailed Assessor, Australian Research Council
  • PhD supervision: 1 past, 3 current
Topic coordinator
CRIM3402 Advanced research methods and analysis
CRIM1102 Criminal justice system
Expert for media contact
Crime
Morality
Psychology
Rehabilitation
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Media expertise
  • Crime
  • Morality
  • Psychology
  • Rehabilitation