Melissa is a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Registered and BPS Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist. Melissa joined the Department of Psychology in Summer 2022 as an Assistant Professor in Sport and Exercise Psychology. Melissa has held previous academic appointments in the Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation at Northumbria and as a Degree Programme Director (DPD) in the School of Psychology at Newcastle University.

Melissa completed her PhD in the Department of Psychology at Northumbria University in 2010.  In her doctoral work she examined the role of testosterone and cortisol in the home advantage in football players and she also investigated professional managers’, players’, referees’ and fans’ perceptions of the home advantage. Melissa continues to conduct research which has an applied focus, examining the psychological factors attributed to understanding and optimising sport performance. She is also interested in evaluating the impact of sport and physical activity participation on psychological wellbeing across the lifespan and has received industry funding to investigate some of these areas.

Melissa is involved in applied sport psychology consultancy, and has worked with regional and elite performance squads across several sports. Melissa spent eight seasons as Newcastle United Academy’s Sport Psychologist supporting the U9-U23 squads alongside the Academy coaches and parents.  She has previously provided support to Sunderland AFC Academy, Newcastle United Foundation, Special Olympics Gateshead, British Athletics AASE athletes and the England Athletics local coach development programme.