Professor Waters is the Founding Director and Inaugural Gerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology at the Centre for Positive Psychology, University of Melbourne where she has held an academic position for 23 years. Lea holds affiliate positions at Cambridge University’s Well-being Institute and the University of Michigan’s Center for Positive Organizations.
She also holds a position on the Science Board of The University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. Professor Waters has published over 100 peer reviewed scientific publications and has been awarded academic prizes for research excellence by the American Academy of Management and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management. Professor Waters is committed to spreading the science of positive psychology as widely as possible and has been regularly featured on TV and radio, including Morning Dose (The CW, USA), Revolution School (ABC, Australia), Matter of Fact (ABC, Australia), Destination Happiness (Channel Nine, Australia), Today Extra (Channel Nine, Australia), National Nightly News (Channel Ten, Australia), The Project (TV3, New Zealand), The Café (NZTV, New Zealand), Breakfast (NZTV, New Zealand). Lea is also frequently featured in print media, including The Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Globe, and The Guardian.Her book, 'The Strength Switch' was the top release on Amazon in the parenting category and was listed in Top reads for 2017 by Berkeley University’s Greater Good Science Centre. It is being translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Hungarian, Arabic, Spanish, French and Russian.In 2015, Professor Waters was listed as one of Australia’s Top 100 Women of Influence by the Financial Review and Westpac bank. Lea is Immediate Past President of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) (2017-2019) and was the Chair of the 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology. She is currently a Board member of IPPA, the Patron for Flourishing Education Japan and the Ambassador for Positive Education Schools Association Australia.
Find out more about Lea Waters' experience
Lea Waters' highlights
FEATURED Journal article
Observing Change Over Time in Strength-Based Parenting and Subjective Wellbeing for Pre-teens and Teens
Read moreLea Waters' selected work
Projects
Displaying the 4 most recent projects by Lea Waters.
Project Types
2
Internal Research Grant
1
Research Contracts
1
Research Grant
Scholarly Works
Displaying the 104 most recent scholarly works by Lea Waters.
News
Displaying the 11 most recent news articles by Lea Waters.
Honours, Awards and Fellowships
Dean's Certificate for Excellence in Postgraduate Teaching
Dean's Certificate for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Awarded 'Management Educator of the Year'
Best Paper Award at Annual Meeting (with Muller, J.)
Dean's Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Teaching
Edward Brown University Teaching Award
Dean's Individual Award for Innovation in Teaching
Dean's Individual Award for Good Teaching and Innovation
Dean's Award of Good Teaching
Best Paper based on a dissertation
Dean's Award of Good Teaching
Isi Liebler Prize - Best PhD in the area of Community Relations
Australian Postgraduate Research Award
Credentials
Positions
Professor (Educational Leadership)
Melbourne Graduate School Of Education
Member
Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management
Full Member
Australian Psychological Society
Full Member
College of Organisational Psychology
Full Member
American Academy of Management
Vice President
Work/Life Association
Registered Psychologist
Victorian Psychological Council
Associate Member
Australian Psychological Society
Education
Doctor of Philosophy
Deakin University
Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
University of Melbourne