About

Dr Raquel Peel's research has drawn worldwide attention and award-winning recognition, establishing her as an internationally respected expert in relationships, with her research adopted by practitioners and educators worldwide. This impact is also reflected in her membership on the editorial boards of international journals. She has given a TEDx Talk and TEDx Shorts on the foundations of her research into relationship sabotage, and her work is featured in one of the most popular episodes of “How to Be a Better Human”, a TED podcast and TED Ideas’ series. A prolific contributor to The Conversation and a frequent presence in Psychology Today, Raquel is also regularly sought out by national and international media for expert commentary on relationships. This body of public-facing work earned her the Australian Psychological Society Media Award for Public Engagement with Psychological Science, a major award recognising those who improve the mental health and wellbeing of Australians.

Additionally, Raquel brings a decade of leadership in higher education, most of it spent coordinating honours-level and postgraduate programs in psychology, public health, and social sciences. Her consultative, student-centred approach to addressing structural barriers in learning and assessment has also earned her award-winning recognition as an educator. At the Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence Research, she serves as Head of Course for Domestic and Family Violence.

Her ability to operate at the intersection of education, policy, and system-level reform is reflected in her work as an expert reviewer for cases of homicide and suicide among young people, and in developing a training package to improve integrated responses to domestic, family, and sexual violence-related suicide risk.

Today, her research program spans intimate relationships, interpersonal violence, mental health, suicide, and medical education; united by a single aim: promoting healthy, fulfilling intimate relationships and advocating for the prevention and reduction of intimate partner violence.

Originally from Brazil, Raquel has called Australia home for almost two decades, where she lives with her husband, son, and daughter.