Ellen is a teacher educator, researcher, teacher, instructional coach and curriculum development consultant. She has taught in Melbourne, Beijing, Singapore and Helsinki. She is currently working at Monash and Deakin Universities in their initial teacher educator programs. Her teaching career focused on teaching Psychology and Humanities and her classroom experience has led her to specialise in embedding community connections and service learning into the curriculum and co-creating interdisciplinary and project based units. Her PhD focused on using psychological belonging as a tool to increase the academic success of students from non-elite backgrounds who are attending elite educational institutions.