Dr Filia J. Garivaldis

Since joining BehaviourWorks in 2019, Filia has led the development of the online micro-credential course “Applying Behavioural Science to Create Change”, as well as a number of online skill-development short courses as part of a Toolbox Series, including systems thinking, and using behavioural insights to improve written communications. Filia is also leading the development of  and the Monash Sustainable Development Institute’s Behaviour Change Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), endorsed by the SDG Academy.

Filia is a founding member of the Monash Online Education Community of Practice (MOEC) and the Monash Online – Psychology Education Division (MO-PED), both of which serve to contribute to, and further develop and expand evidence-based best practice in online teaching, learning, and research, in line with the university’s Digital Education Strategy. Notably, Filia led the Inter-Faculty Transformation Project, funded in 2018, to create Monash’s first university-wide orientation resource for all online students of the university; the Monash Online Learning Hub.

In her previous role at Monash University,  Filia co-developed Australia’s first fully online accredited 4th year course in psychology, the Graduate Diploma of Psychology Advanced (GDPA). Filia convened the five coursework units of the course, and during that time she had introduced several innovations, such as eWorkbooks, that have since been replicated in other online courses at the School of Psychological Sciences.

Filia has co-lead the delivery of the course at a time of tremendous growth, from a total of 87 enrolments in early 2016, to over 900 in 2019,  receiving their education from regional and metropolitan areas of Australia, in collaboration with Pearson Education Australia – a collaboration which has been nominated twice, in 2018 and 2019, for a Business in Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) award for Outstanding Collaboration in Higher Education and Training.

Filia has over 15 years of international experience in academia, delivering and leading education in psychology. Prior to returning to Monash University, Filia was a Senior Lecturer at Regent’s University London, where she developed an MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology, accredited by the British Psychological Society. Filia’s research interests include behaviour change readiness, and other individual differences in behaviour science.

Specifically, her PhD, obtained at Monash University, focused on self-regulation ability in the pursuit of personal goals, and the moderating effect of implicit emotion. She has authored several peer-reviewed publications and has attended many conferences, where she has presented her research.

In terms of online education research, Filia has investigated the impact of various online teaching and learning practices and is co-editor on a joint Monash University-King’s College London textbook, titled “Tertiary Online Teaching and Learning: TOTAL Digital Education Perspectives and Resources”, to be published internationally by Springer–Verlag in 2020.