Kelly-Ann Allen

Educational and Developmental Psychologist and Senior Lecturer (Educational psychology)

Melbourne, Australia

Belonging is strongly associated with depression in adolescence yet one in three young people do not feel like they belong to school. This startling and troubling fact explains why belonging research is Dr Kelly-Ann Allen’s core interest. Dr Allen is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Monash University, and an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Centre for Positive Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. With 20 years’ experience working in educational contexts, Dr Allen is committed to translating her research, knowledge, and expertise from academic to educational contexts. This commitment prompted her to establish and lead the International Belonging Research Laboratory (The Belonging Lab), a large transdisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to developing the field of belonging through the dissemination of research, engagement in translational projects, and the pooling of international expe