Helen Watt is a Faculty member in Education, at Monash University, Australia. She began her career as a research methodologist and educational psychologist first at Macquarie University (1997-8), the University of Sydney (1998-2003), and the University of Western Sydney (2003-4). Helen was a research fellow at the Gender & Achievement Research Program at the University of Michigan 2003-6, where she worked with Professor Jacquelynne Eccles on aspects of the Expectancy-Value theory, and with Associate Professor Elizabeth Moje on the Social and Cultural Influences on Adolescent Literacy Motivation and Development project.
Helen has received awards for her research, highlights including the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Early Career Researcher Award, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Division for Human Development Dissertation Award for her PhD, the AERA Division for Learning and Instruction graduate award, research fellowships from the University of Michigan, the Positive Psychology Summer Institute fellowship, and the Sydney University Medal for her Honours thesis. Her expertise relates to measurement, scale construction, motivation, self-concept, academic achievement, maths education, gendered occupational choices, socialisation of gender differences, motivations for teaching and teacher self-efficacy.
Helen’s interests centre on affective, cognitive and social bases for educational and occupational outcomes, utilising large-scale longitudinal designs.