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Assoc Prof Melissa Forbes

Name Melissa Forbes
Position Centre Director (Heritage and Culture)
Section School of Education and Creative Arts
Office A242
Location Toowoomba Campus
Phone +61 7 4631 1153
Extension 1153
Email
Qualifications BA University of Queensland , BMusic Griffith University , BA(Hons) University of Queensland , LLB(Hons) University of Queensland , PhD Qld Conservatorium of Music
Homepage https://research.usq.edu.au/researcher/81155/a-pr-melissa-forbes
The views expressed on staff homepages may not reflect the views of the University.

Biography

Associate Professor Melissa Forbes is a leader in music for health and wellbeing, recognised internationally for her research on singing as an embodied practice of care and social connection.

With nearly one in six people globally experiencing loneliness – a crisis set to intensify as AI reshapes work and connection – Melissa’s interdisciplinary research draws on music education, the psychology of music, positive psychology, and contemporary leadership theory to elevate the cultural and social value of participatory music-making as essential public health infrastructure.

Melissa is Director of UniSQ’s Centre for Heritage and Culture (CHC), a vibrant interdisciplinary group that partners with communities to research, interpret, and share the stories that shape regional Australia. Her research leadership is grounded in an ethics of care, with a conviction that how research is done is just as important as what it discovers. She is a Churchill Fellow and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Research Career


  • Curriculum and Pedagogy not elsewhere classified ( 130299 )
  • Performing Arts and Creative Writing not elsewhere classified ( 190499 )
  • Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified ( 179999 )
  • Music not elsewhere classified ( 360399 )
  • Other Psychology not elsewhere classified ( 529999 )
  • Other Psychology ( 529900 )
  • Music ( 360300 )
  • Music Cognition ( 360301 )
  • Music Performance ( 360304 )
  • Music Education ( 360303 )
  • Music Composition And Improvisation ( 360302 )

singing, health and wellbeing
jazz singing and improvisation
contemporary commercial music singing voice pedagogy
collaborative learning
higher music education
music leadership


Australian National Association for Teachers of Singing (ANATS)
Australian Music and Psychology Society (AMPS)
International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA)
American Psychological Association (APA)
Society for Education and Music Psychology Research (SEMPRE)
European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM)
Somatic Voicework ™ The LoVetri Method Teachers’ Association
Churchill Fellows Association of Queensland Inc (Committee member)


  • Institute for Communities and Regional Development (ICRD)
  • Centre for Heritage and Culture (CHC)

Teaching


MUI1013, MUI3013, MUI3014, MUI3016, MUI3012, MUI3015, MUI1006, MUI3017


15 Years

Supervision


  • Curriculum and Pedagogy not elsewhere classified ( 130299 )
  • Performing Arts and Creative Writing not elsewhere classified ( 190499 )
  • Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified ( 179999 )
  • Music not elsewhere classified ( 360399 )
  • Other Psychology not elsewhere classified ( 529999 )
  • Other Psychology ( 529900 )
  • Music ( 360300 )
  • Music Cognition ( 360301 )
  • Music Performance ( 360304 )
  • Music Education ( 360303 )
  • Music Composition And Improvisation ( 360302 )