Professor Judith Gullifer (pictured), who began her studies at Charles Sturt University in 1997 as a mature-age student, has been highly commended in the 2023 Charles Sturt University Alumni of the Year – Research Excellence category (one of six categories).

Charles Sturt University announced the winners of its 2023 Alumni Awards on Foundation Day, Wednesday 19 July, celebrating 34 years since the University’s inception and recognising graduates who are making a difference in the world, either professionally or as a volunteer.

“I am humbled to be recognised by Charles Sturt University as a notable alumni,” Judith said. “My education at Charles Sturt University has indeed prepared me to live by our ethos of ‘yindyamarra winhanganha’ ─ the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in.”

Judith is now Professor and Senior Director of Education in the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University in Melbourne.

But she was living on an 8,000-acre farm near Griffith NSW and raising three young children when she began her studies at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst where she gained a first-class pass in the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) in 2004 and a PhD in 2013.

In 2006, Judith joined the Charles Sturt School of Psychology as a Level A academic and proved to be a natural and dedicated teacher who was recognised by receiving a Faculty of Arts Award for Academic Excellence (2009).

In 2010 Judith’s teaching excellence was recognised with three teaching awards ─ a Faculty of Arts Award for Teaching Excellence, a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, and, at a national level, an Australian Psychological Society Early Career Teaching Award.

While holding down a full-time academic position, Judith enrolled in a PhD, completing it in 2013.

Her innovative research on psychological perspectives of plagiarism resulted in two papers that, according to Google Scholar, have been cited more than 540 times. She has become an acknowledged international authority in the field of plagiarism and was previously the Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Forum on Educational Integrity.

Judith has spent over a decade dedicated to education and research in the higher education sector and has been active in the teaching and supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate students.

She has researched in several areas and in 2021 she co-edited A Rural, Remote and Very Remote Handbook of Mental Health (Springer, 2021) which she describes as ‘a global effort’.

“There needs to be much more work in servicing rural, remote and very remote areas,” she said.

Key factors underlying Judith’s success as a teacher and researcher are her organisational and interpersonal skills.

These, together with her academic ability, led to her being appointed Sub-Dean (Teaching Excellence) in the then-Charles Sturt Faculty of Arts  in 2014 and then Associate Dean (Academic) in the Charles Sturt Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Science in January 2016.

Leaving academia in 2017 Judith was appointed Executive Manager for Science, Education and Career Development at the Australian Psychological Society (APS) -the peak professional body for psychology in Australia with a membership of over 22,000.

In that role she was instrumental in leading the APS Institute and developing online and face-to-face programs to meet the professional training needs of psychologists.

Missing academic life, Judith returned to Charles Sturt University in 2019 to take up the position of Associate Dean (Partners and Quality) in the Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences.

In late 2020 she was encouraged to apply for a Level E position as Director of Education in the School Psychological Sciences at Monash University, and she took up the position in January 2021.

To have achieved a Level E appointment at a Group of Eight (G8) university within 14 years of gaining her Honours degree and only seven years after completing her PhD is a very clear indication of Judith’s exceptional capabilities.

Since her appointment, Judith has completely led the restructure of the undergraduate psychology program and introduced a new postgraduate program and is now a leading expert on psychology education in Australia.

Judith is a registered psychologist with a background in professional counselling in rural and remote Australia, and also manages a small virtual, part-time practice, mentoring and coaching senior leaders.

She has held various positions with the Australian Psychological Society, having been appointed to the Board of Directors in 2016 for her expertise in working in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Judith was a founding member of the Rural, Regional and Remote Advisory Group to the National Board of Directors and the convener of the Australian Psychological Society Rural and Remote Interest Group.

She is currently working on developing ‘global undergraduate competencies for psychology’ as part of a large consortia, as well as also working on innovating a mental health workforce drawing from a large undergraduate psychology cohort.