Melissa Forbes

Melissa Forbes is an Associate Professor in Contemporary Singing at the University of Southern Queensland's School of Creative Arts. Her interdisciplinary work bridges music performance, education, and health sciences with a focus on singing as a catalyst for wellbeing. She holds leadership roles including Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and serves as Academic Editor for PLOS One.

Education:

• BA, University of Queensland (1993)
• BA (Hons), University of Queensland (1995)
• LLB (Hons), University of Queensland (1997)
• BMusic, Griffith University (2004)
• PhD, Queensland Conservatorium (2016)

Forbes' research centers on the lived experience of singing across diverse contexts—from professional performers to community groups—with particular emphasis on positive psychology and embodied cognition. Her work positions singing as a transformative practice for mental health, social connection, and community resilience, especially evident in her decade-long work with Parkinson's patients through Park n Songs. Recent scholarship explores jazz improvisation's cognitive dimensions, vocal pedagogy in commercial music, and the sociocultural construction of musical identity.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals dominant themes in health-focused music applications (62%), identity studies (23%), and pedagogical innovation (15%). Her work consistently applies qualitative methodologies to investigate singing's role in wellbeing, with growing emphasis on leadership frameworks for community singing interventions.

Scientific Awards:

• Churchill Fellowship (2010) for vocal pedagogy research
• Dudley Knight Award for Vocal Scholarship (2025)
• UniSQ Vice-Chancellor's Community Engagement Award (2022)
• Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (2021)

Forbes currently supervises five doctoral projects and two master's theses focusing on singing's psychological and social impacts, including research on community singing leadership and vocal health. Her grant portfolio includes a 2024 Churchill Impact Funding award ($11,828) for the 'Leading Notes' podcast on singing leadership, a 2022 UniSQ Capacity Building Grant, and prior Arts Queensland support for album production.

She co-founded Park n Songs—a therapeutic singing program for Parkinson's patients—and hosts The LoVetri Institute for Contemporary Voice, attracting 70+ international singing teachers. Her upcoming Routledge book 'The Positive Musician' (2025) and podcast project aim to scale singing's wellbeing applications through leadership frameworks.