My Expertise
Student and Teacher Motivation, Student and Teacher Wellbeing, Academic Development, Social and Emotional Development
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Educational psychology, Teacher and student wellbeing, Specialist studies in educationSEO tags
Biography
Rebecca is an Adjunct Professor of Educational Psychology in the UNSW School of Education. She is also a Professor of Learning Sciences at Monash University.
Her research focuses on motivation, wellbeing, and both academic and social-emotional development, using quantitative methods. Her work examines students and teachers, exploring practices and contextual factors that foster high-quality learning and teaching. She also publishes research...view more
Rebecca is an Adjunct Professor of Educational Psychology in the UNSW School of Education. She is also a Professor of Learning Sciences at Monash University.
Her research focuses on motivation, wellbeing, and both academic and social-emotional development, using quantitative methods. Her work examines students and teachers, exploring practices and contextual factors that foster high-quality learning and teaching. She also publishes research on the use of generative AI in education, examining how it is being adopted and its implications for education.
She has been awarded over $6m in national and international grants, and government and non-government research tenders, including an ARC Future Fellowship (2027-2030), ARC Discovery Project (2026–2028), MRFF funding (2024–2028), and an ARC DECRA (2020–2023). Her publications include 140 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, 1 co-edited book, and 8 commissioned government reports. She regularly delivers invited and keynote presentations to schools and professional organisations, and contributes articles to practitioner-focused outlets to support evidence-informed practice.
She is ranked Top 50 in the world for the field of Education for the past five years on ScholarGPS, and Top 10 worldwide for most productive educational psychology researchers. Her work has been cited in 130 national and international policy documents, including from the OECD, UNESCO, European Commission, and governments around the world. She has 5 journal articles in the World Top 1% Most Cited and over 50 in the World Top 10% Most Cited.
She is Associate Editor for the Journal of Educational Psychology, the flagship empirical journal in her field, Consulting Editor of Educational Psychology, and an Editorial Board Member for leading journals including British Journal of Educational Psychology, Educational Psychology Review, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Learning and Individual Differences, Learning and Instruction, and Teaching and Teacher Education.
Her work has been recognised with several honours including awards from the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and previously worked as a primary school teacher.
My Qualifications
BEd (Hons) (University of Melbourne), MA (University of British Columbia), PhD (University of British Columbia)
My Awards
2026: Ranked 13th globally among researchers in Educational Psychology, 2015–2024 (Wu et al., Learning and Individual Differences, 2026)
2026: Ranked Top 10 globally among the Most Productive Educational Psychology Researchers, 2017–2022 (Kubik et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2026)
2025: Ranked Top 50 in the World for the Field of Education - ScholarGPS highly-ranked scholar over past five years
2024: Featured in Stanford’s List of Most Cited Researchers (Top 2%) in 2023 – Globally and in Primary Discipline (Education)
2023: Outstanding Reviewer Award for Learning and Instruction, European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI)
2023: Ranked Top 10 of most productive female educational psychology researchers in the world in the 5-yearly International Rankings of Top-Producing Female Educational Psychology Researchers (Source: Griffin et al., Educational Psychology Review, 2023)
2023: Featured in Stanford’s List of Most Cited Researchers (Top 2%) in 2022 – Globally and in Primary Discipline (Education)
2022: Ranked Top 25 of all researchers in 5-yearly International Rankings of the Most Published Educational Psychologists (Source: Fong et al., Educational Psychology Review, 2022)
2022: Ranked Top 5 of early career researchers in 5-yearly International Rankings of the Most Published Educational Psychologists (Source: Fong et al., Educational Psychology Review, 2022)
2022: Featured in Stanford’s List of Most Cited Researchers (Top 2%) in 2021 – Globally and in Primary Discipline (Education)
2021: Richard E. Snow Award for Early Career Research Contributions, American Psychological Association Division 15 (Educational Psychology)
2021: Supervisor Award, Postgraduate Council, University of New South Wales
2021: Featured in “Educational Psychology Early Career Award Winners: How Did They Do It?” (Source: Kiewra et al., Educational Psychology Review, 2021)
2021: Featured in Stanford’s List of Most Cited Researchers (Top 2%) in 2020 – Globally and in Primary Discipline (Education)
2021: Rising Star of Research in “Educational Psychology and Counselling” - Listed as a Top 40 early career researcher in The Australian newspaper’s Research Magazine 2021
2020: Australian Research Council DECRA (Discovery Early Career Researcher Award)
2020: Outstanding Early Career Scholar, American Educational Research Association Division C (Learning and Instruction)
2018: Young Scientist Award, International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development
2018: Supervisor Award, Postgraduate Council, University of New South Wales
2016: American Educational Research Journal Outstanding Reviewer, American Educational Research Association
2016: Supervisor Award, Postgraduate Council, University of New South Wales
2011-2014: Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
2010-2014: Four-Year PhD Fellowship, University of British Columbia
2013: Dean of Education Scholarship, University of British Columbia
2013: Donald and Ellen Poulter Scholarship, University of British Columbia
2005-2006: Dean’s Honours Award for Academic Excellence, University of Melbourne
My Research Activities
Examples of research projects I am currently conducting include:
- Teachers' motivation and wellbeing
- The role of motivation in social and emotional development among children
- Academic resilience among female students
- Academic success among migrant students
My Research Supervision
Areas of supervision
I supervise students conducting research in the following broad areas:
- Motivation among students and/or teachers
- Wellbeing/resilience among students and/or teachers
- Teachers' and students' experiences at school (e.g., adaptability, interpersonal relationships, job satisfaction)
- Social and emotional competence and its development among students and/or teachers
lf you are a prospective student interested in undertaking a research degree in one of these areas, please feel free to contact me with details of your ideas and qualifications (e.g., degrees, academic grades, scholarships/awards, publications, research experience). This will help me to understand your interests, experience, and abilities, and ascertain potential fit with the broader research program.
Currently supervising
Some current/recent topics examined by students I supervise include:
- Teachers' workplace experiences and links with their engagement and wellbeing
- Students' goal setting and adaptability
- Students' academic effort and links with achievement
- Social-emotional motivation and links with students' wellbeing
- The academic transition to high school and post-school
My Engagement
Professional Society Memberships:
- Australian Association for Research in Education
- American Educational Research Association, Division C (Learning & Instruction), Motivation SIG
- American Psychological Association, Division 15 (Educational Psychology)
- European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction, Motivation and Emotion SIG
- British Educational Research Association
- International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9944-2703