Anita Milicevic

Research & Education Director

In 2001, Dr. Anita Milicevic came to Australia with her young family as a refugee from the Balkans War. Since then, she has completed an Honors degree and a PhD in Psychology at Victoria University. Throughout 3.5 years of her PhD study, she has held positions as a Family Therapist, Disability Worker, Community Worker, Youth Justice Support Cultural Worker, and as a Lecturer in Psychology.

As a senior academic leader, Anita conceptualized, developed, and delivered curricula for undergraduate and graduate psychology, mental health, addiction, and counseling programs. Anita has employed scholarly teaching practices and subjective, first-person introspective techniques that influence, motivate, and inspire students to learn. She also piloted and tested new educational programs for emotional literacy among students and lecturers.

Anita is passionate about research and is particularly driven by a need to understand the interconnection of the psychological, social, and political dimensions of war and refugee trauma. Her enthusiasm for community development and commitment to working in compassion and community reconciliation was recognized by the Victorian Refugee Recognition Record for outstanding efforts and commendable achievements to the community and the State of Victoria. Anita’s expertise is in phenomenology and mixed-method (first- second- and third-person) approaches to studying the nature of consciousness. Under the guidance of Dr. B. Alan Wallace, Anita has had the great privilege of working as a designated retreat counsellor since 2017. Anita works as the Research and Education Director for the CCR, serves on the Board of Directors of CCR Europe, and conducts research at the CCR North America.