Michelle Kennedy

Dr. Michelle Kennedy is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Thompson Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, focusing on Youth Mental Health. Her work examines emerging mental health symptoms in children and adolescents, particularly anxiety and attention impairments, with a focus on mindfulness interventions and neuroimaging techniques. She holds a PhD, MEd, and BEd.

Her research includes the CALM Study (2019-2020), which investigated how mindfulness training impacts anxiousness and attention in children aged 9-11. The study used functional MRI and neurocognitive assessments, involving 94 participants. She has over 20 years of experience supporting children's social, emotional, and academic development.

Key research areas include child anxiety, neuroimaging applications, and longitudinal mental health dynamics. Her recent publications explore boredom’s psychological benefits, biopsychosocial factors in suicidality, and neuroimaging-based mental health biomarkers. She has contributed to both clinical and educational ethics research, including studies on moral decision-making in youth.

Dr. Kennedy’s work bridges neuroscience and education, aiming to improve youth mental health through evidence-based interventions. Future research directions include analyzing pandemic impacts on child mental health and refining mindfulness-based therapeutic approaches.