Monica Wellington

Teaching Focussed Academic
  • is notAvailable for media queries
  • is notAvailable to supervise research students at VU
Teaching Focussed Academic
  • is notAvailable for media queries
  • is notAvailable to supervise research students at VU

Areas of expertise

  • Nutrition and Dietetics
  • disability nutrition
  • public health nutrition
  • inclusive research

Contact details

03 9919 8572

Email

About

Monica (she/her) is a Teaching Focussed Academic with the First Year College. Her teaching focusses on preparing first-year nutrition and dietetic students with fundamentals of being excellent nutrition educators.

She is a passionate teaching academic focusing on student-centred learning, creating an interactive classroom environment, evidence-based practice, and encouraging students to own their learning. Monica convenes HPC1000 Introduciton to Human Nutrition & Food, and HPC1001 Food Components 

Her career started in 2018 as a private practice disability dietitian. She joined VU in 2021 assisting the coordination of the VU CHEW program and as a sessional lecturer. She is currently completing a PhD at VU which uses inclusive research methods to explore the meaning of food and nutrition for people with intellectual disability and, through co-design, address barriers for people with intellectual disability to improve healthy eating. 

Portfolios

Qualification

Accredited Practising Dietitian, BHealthSc Deakin, MDiet Deakin

Publications

Refereed journal articles

  • Wellington, M., David, J., Frawley, P., O’Shea, A., & Dew, A. (2025). Building the environment for narrative inquiry with young people with intellectual disability. Qualitative inquiry, 31(5), 470-480.
  • Wellington, M., Dew, A., Frawley, P., David, J., & O’Shea, A. (2025). Engaging people with intellectual disability in participatory action research: Co-developing sex educational resources. Sexuality and Disability, 43(1), 8.
  • Frawley, P., David, J., O’Shea, A., Dew, A., & Wellington, M. (2024). Sexuality and relationship education programmes for people with intellectual disability: innovations and challenges. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 19(3), 347-358.
  • Truby, H., Allman‐Farinelli, M., Beck, E. J., Beckett, E. L., Bondonno, C., Dordevic, A. L., ... & Stewart, G. (2024). Advancing the decadal plan for the science of nutrition: Progressing a framework for implementation. Nutrition & dietetics, 81(2), 133-148.

Conference presentations

  • Wellington, M., O'Keefe, L., McCarthy, H., McAinch, A. (2026) Supporters Perceptions of Nutrition for Australians with Intellectual Disability [conference presentation]. Dietitians Australia Research Summit, Melbourne. 
  • Wellington, M., Blackney, E., Mouakkassa, S. (2026) Food Choice: what is it and who helps? [conference presentation]. VALID Having a Say Conference, Geelong. 
  • Wellington, M., McAinch, A., O'Keefe, L., McCarthy, H. (2023). Supporters' Perceptions of Nutrition for Australians with Intellectual Disability [conference poster]. Dietitians Australia Conference, Melbourne

Professional memberships

  • Dietitians Australia (DA)
  • Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA)

Industry experience

Monica has 8 years of experience as a private practice dietitian providing nutrition assessment and dietary support to people with disability in regional Victoria. She has over 10 years’ experience working in health promotion, including at CHHP funded agencies.