Course Directors

Dr Marissa Olsen

BAppSc, MSc, PhD

Dr Marissa Olsen is a lecturer in nutrition and dietetics and an Accredited Practising Dietitian. Prior to starting work as an academic in 2003, Marissa worked in a variety of settings including community health, private practice, acute care and the Divisions of General Practice. Her PhD topic combined her interest in the education and practice development of health practitioners, working in rural and regional environments and patient centred communication. Her work has been published in the Journal of Critical Dietetics and Nutrition & Dietetics. She has also co-written chapters in textbooks on the topics of research, communication in health sciences and ageing and aged care. Her present research interests include exploring and challenging weight stigma and diet culture in the health professions, which is broadly guided by critical social theory

Marissa is the discipline lead for the Interdisciplinary Health Team in the School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences. As such, she assists in delivering a range of subjects that focus on key skill development for practitioners including research, working in teams and cultural responsiveness. Marissa also teaches nutrition concepts to students from a range of professions, including food and nutrition, exercise science, secondary education, medicine and oral health. Her passion is helping students to critique diet culture and weight centric practice, and enter the workplace operating within a weight neutral framework.

Marissa’s PhD experience solidified her passion for qualitative research, specifically in relation to hearing people’s stories and elevating voices that are not always well heard. Since completion of her PhD, Marissa has maintained a focus on learning and teaching, and incorporated her passion for confronting weight stigma and diet culture in the health professions and broader society. Recent research focused on the applicability of a weight inclusive approach in regional, rural and remote environments in Australia as a means to facilitate safe and meaningful spaces to be active.

View Publications on CRO

Coyle, J. & Olsen, M. (2011). Experiencing research: learning to be a researcher. In J. Higgs, A. Titchen, D. Horsfall and D. Bridges (Eds.). Creative Spaces for Qualitative Researching … Living Research. The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Portsmouth, L., Trede, F. and Olsen, M. (2012). Communicating with the community about health. In J. Higgs, R. Ajjawi, L. McAllister, F. Trede and S. Loftus (Eds.). Communicating in the Health Sciences. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.