Michelle Tuckey

I am Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology in the School of Psychology at Adelaide University.

Through my research, I'm interested in understanding the psychosocial aspects of how work and work environments influence well-being. My focal areas are workplace bullying, sexual harassment, occupational stress, and workplace mindfulness.

My most significant contribution lies in fostering a fundamental shift in the way that workplace bullying is understood and tackled by organisations – from approaching it as an interpersonal problem where the emphasis is on responding to bullying behaviour, to addressing it as an organisational issue where the focus is on identifying and mitigating the root causes of bullying embedded within work environments, systems, and processes. I work closely with partner organisations to translate my research into better quality work and work environments for their staff. I also provide expert advice and presentations to support effect change at sector and national levels regarding bullying and harassment at work. Recent examples include supporting the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (2021), and citations in the final report for the Parliamentary Inquiry into Workplace Fatigue and Bullying in South Australian Hospitals and Health Services.

I currently serve as an Associate Editor of the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology and on the editorial boards of Journal of Occupational Health Psychology and Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Representative research projects include:

-An ARC Linkage Project bringing together an alliance involving 3 universities and 13 industry partners investigating how to create systemic safety to prevent workplace sexual harassment.
-Working with one of Australia's largest food retailers to foster supportive work environments for staff in 70 stores through participatory organisational interventions addressing the root causes of bullying and stress.
-Constructing and validating a risk audit tool for workplace bullying, funded by a Commissioned Research Grant from SafeWork SA, and supporting SafeWork NSW inspectors to trial the audit tool in the regulation of bullying as a work health and safety hazard.
-An ARC Linkage Project with the SafeWork SA and the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network to integrate psychosocial and physical aspects of health and safety in heathcare work.
-An ongoing program of research and translation within Correctional Services NSW to tackle workplace bullying by improving the organisational structures and systems that create the risk of such behaviour between prison officers.