Melanie J. Zimmer-Gembeck

Melanie conducts research on important times of life for the development of interpersonal problems and psychopathology, as well as for mental health, growth, resilience and recovery - working with children, teenagers, young adults, families and peer groups. Most of her theory development and research has concentrated on the importance of social relationships (online or offline) for developing good coping and emotion regulation skills, and the dark side of relationship effects including rejection, sensitivity to rejection, and the development of other social cognitive beliefs. Melanie also concentrates her research on some of the major concerns of adolescents: appearance, body image, social media and immersion in technology, parents and friends. Other primary areas of expertise are how intimate relationships, sexuality, identity and autonomy develop; and the impacts of offline and social media rejection experiences, aggression and abuse on the development of problems and resilient responding. Most recently, her reearch has been expanded to focus more on parent-child relationships, intrusive and overinvolved parenting, and the effects of social media parenting content on parents' adjustment. Melanie directs the Family Interaction Program (FIP). Established in 2002, FIP is a center providing critical parenting and support programs for vulnerable families and children (Phone: (07) 56789105), and a source of evidence on the effectiveness of parenting support programs, such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, PC-Care, and Circle of Security. Originally from the US, Melanie has attracted more than $60 million in external research funding since coming to Australia in Sept 2001. She has published more than 300 books, book chapters, and journal articles; and has supervised almost 60 doctoral candidates to the completion of their Dr. degee. She has also supervised more than 50 honour's and master's degree students in the School of Applied Psychology at Griffith. She currently supervises 9 PhD candidates, 1 postdoctoral fellow, and holds grants from the ARC, NHMRC, MRFF, Rotary, Wellcome Fund, and the state (Queensland) Government. She is a collaborator on research underway in Switzerland, Belgium, USA, Indonesia, and The Netherlands. She has received multiple awards for research: an Excellence in Research Supervision - most recently the 2023 Senior Research Mentor Award from the Society for Research on Adolescence. She is also ranked in the top 2% of scientists around the world in the Stanford/Elsevier ranking.