Dr. Melina Stewart-North
Scholarly Teaching Fellow, Criminology and Criminal Justice
Campus
Biography
Dr Melina Stewart-North is a scholarly teaching fellow in criminology and criminal justice based at the Churchill campus. Melina teaches across criminology and criminal justice, psychology and introductory tertiary studies, with a strong focus on supporting students to develop critical thinking, academic confidence and professional identity.
Melina’s research interests include rural criminology, online vigilantism, access to justice and harm in cyberspace, with particular attention to how geography shapes criminal justice experiences in regional and rural communities. Her work is grounded in issues of inequality, place and social harm, and reflects a long-standing commitment to understanding how justice systems operate beyond metropolitan contexts.
Alongside her teaching role, Melina is an experienced learning skills advisor, with over a decade of academic support expertise. She is passionate about inclusive and engaging learning environments and works closely with both students new to university study and more experienced students seeking to strengthen their academic practice and confidence.
Melina is committed to improving the student experience and brings empathy, creativity and a student-centred approach to all aspects of her work.
More about Melina
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, Federation University Australia
- Graduate Certificate in Education (Tertiary Education), Federation University Australia
- Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences) (Honours), Federation University Australia
- Bachelor of Psychological Science, Federation University Australia
Areas of interest
- Access to Justice
- Cybercrime
- Rural Criminology
- Social Media
- Victimology
- Vigilantism
- Criminology and criminal justice
- Psychology
- Tertiary pathways and academic skills
Specialist roles
- Learning skills advisor
Professional association memberships
- Amnesty International
- Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC)
- Centre for Rural Criminology (CRC) Australia
- European Association of Crime Analysts
- International Society for the Study of Rural Criminology (ISSRC)
- International Society for Development and Sustainability (ISDS)
- Stewart-North, M. (2024). The nature, influences, and impacts of ‘netilantism’ in Australia [Doctoral thesis]. Federation University Australia. http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/200702
- Stewart-North, M., Hale, R., & Van Doorn, G. (2022). Case study: Beard cutting as hate crime in a rural Amish community. In R. Hale & A. Harkness (Eds.), Rural victims of crime: Representations, realities and responses (pp. 160-162). Routledge.
- Stewart-North, M. (2019). ‘Good accessibility is good business’: A study of the intersection of rurality and access to criminal courts [Honours thesis]. Federation University Australia.
Contributed to projects through the provision of research assistance including data collection, data entry and statistical analysis:
- Harkness, A., & Larkins, J. (2019). Farmer satisfaction with policing in rural Victoria, Australia. International Journal of Rural Criminology, 5(1), 47–68. doi: 10.18061/1811/88729
- Harkness, A., & Larkins, J. (2018, November). Farmer attitudes to police and policing in rural Victoria. Presented at the Rural Crime and Law Conference, Armidale, NSW.
- Publications