Kris LaVenia

Research Interests: My research explores how educational leaders and other helping professionals create relational conditions that enable people and communities to learn, heal, belong, and flourish, particularly in contexts of adversity and change. Drawing on educational leadership, counselling, and emerging perspectives from embodiment science, I examine how compassion, communication, emotional regulation, co-regulation, and embodied relational practice shape learning, wellbeing, and organisational change.

I take an interdisciplinary approach and integrate scholarship in educational leadership with research and professional practice in counselling, with particular attention to the emotional, relational, and organisational dimensions of leadership and care. Current projects explore compassionate leadership, emotional labour, trauma-informed practice, school mental health and wellbeing, and the conditions that foster psychological safety, trust, belonging, and collective capacity. Across this work, I aim to bridge theory and practice, contributing research that informs leadership development, professional learning, and sustainable systems of support for educators, children and young people, families, and communities.

Postgraduate Supervision: My postgraduate supervision interests span qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, particularly studies examining the emotional, relational, and embodied dimensions of educational leadership, professional wellbeing, and organisational change.

My capacity to accept new postgraduate students is currently limited. However, I welcome inquiries from prospective students whose research interests closely align with my current work, particularly in compassionate and relational leadership, emotional labour, embodied relational practice, trauma-informed approaches, and the organisational conditions that support wellbeing and meaningful change.

Prospective students are encouraged to get in touch with a brief outline of their proposed research, including its aims, potential approach, and connections to my research agenda. This will help us explore whether there is a good fit between research interests, my expertise, and current limited supervision capacity.