Dr Arianne Reis started her career as a physical education teacher and sports coach working in low-income communities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her work focused on providing opportunities for active leisure for children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds and for those with physical and mental disabilities with the aim of engaging them in positive experiences and in healthy behaviours. After 10 years working as a practitioner, both as a teacher and also as project manager at state departments of sport, Arianne moved to New Zealand to pursue a PhD focusing on outdoor recreation, using leisure studies as a foundation for the study. After her PhD completion, Arianne moved to Australia to join Southern Cross University as a Research Fellow, and since then has made Australia her new home. Her current research focuses on the ways active leisure pursuits, such as engagement with sports and physical activity, as well as outdoor recreation, can promote healthy living, environmental awareness and social justice. Dr Reis has also developed a particular interest in mental health, mental health literacy and suicide prevention.

Associate Professor Reis has secured over $1 million in external research grants in the past 5 years and is currently leading the 4-year Commonwealth-funded project Young Well Beings, which aims to improve young mothers’ mental health literacy through the development of a digital learning resource co-designed with consumers and persons with lived experience. She is also involved in a number of program evaluation projects supporting community-based organisations to assess and improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes for individuals. She is particularly interested in projects that focus on vulnerable, underserved and/or marginalised members of our communities.