Melanie Baak

(she/her)

4

Articles

2

Comments

Melanie Baak is an Associate Professor in UniSA Education Futures and the co-convenor of the Migration and Refugee Research Network (MARRNet). She is a 2023-2025 ARC DECRA Fellow and member of the Centre in Research for Educational and Social Inclusion (CRESI). Her research and teaching interests broadly cover areas of equity and inclusion, particularly in schools, with a focus on 'race', refugee education and resettlement. Her research and teaching are underpinned by understandings of how systems and structures work to marginalise sections of the population, particularly culturally and linguistically diverse groups.

Experience

  • –present
    Convener Refugee and Migration Research Network, University of South Australia
  • 2025–present
    Associate professor, University of South Australia
  • 2021–2025
    Senior lecturer, University of South Australia

Education

  • 2013 
    University of South Australia, Ph.D.

Publications

  • 2021
    Recognition of refugee students’ cultural wealth and social capital, International Journal of Inclusive Education
  • 2021
    Education department policy constructions within highly political contexts: a critical policy study of multiculturalism, Journal of Education Policy
  • 2021
    Preventing Violent Extremism: Resourcing, stakeholder strategies and fostering belonging and connection in Australian Schools, British Educational Research Journal
  • 2021
    “It is not an acceptable disease”: A qualitative study of HIV-related stigma and discrimination and health for people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in Australia, BMC Public Health
  • 2021
    We have to be really careful’: policy intermediaries preventing violent extremism in an era of risk, Journal of Education Policy
  • 2021
    A Cautionary Tale: CVE Policy Actors Managing Risk in Australian Schools, Current Sociology
  • 2021
    A systems framework for inclusive education for students with refugee backgrounds, Australian Educational Researcher
  • 2020
    Tensions between policy intent and enactment: Assessment and inclusion for refugee background students, Journal of Education Policy
  • 2016
    Negotiating Belongings: stories of forced migration of Dinka women from South Sudan, Brill Sense

Grants and Contracts

  • 2022
    How schools foster refugee student resilience
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    ARC Linkage, Department of Education (SA), Deparment for Education (Qld), Catholic Education South Australia, Brisbane Catholic Education
  • 2021
    Neighbourhood life and social determinants of health for children and young people from refugee backgrounds
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation
  • 2018
    Engagement of African-Australian families in Catholic Schools in South Australia
    Role:
    Lead Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Catholic Education South Australia
  • 2017
    Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Catholic Schools in South Australia
    Role:
    Lead Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Catholic Education South Australia
  • 2017
    Improving educational outcomes for students from refugee backgrounds in the South Australian Certificate of Education: a case study of two Catholic secondary schools.
    Role:
    Lead Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Catholic Education South Australia

Contact Melanie for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision