Michael began his studies at UWA with a BSc in Psychology in 2008, and them when he submitted his PhD thesis in 2017, completed under the supervision of Prof Troy Visser and Prof Murray Maybery in the UWA School of Psychological Science.

Michael continued on as postdoctoral research associate working with his PhD supervisors, expanding a line of research he began during his PhD. His research centred on the role that autistic-like traits play in the allocation of attention, with specific interests in attentional lateralization, global/local processing, and emotion processing. This work culminated in developing a new measure of autistic traits, the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI), which has been embraced by both the autism research and clinical community for the inclusiveness of autistic characteristics assessed.

Michael is a currently a Senior Project Officer with the Healing Kids, Healing Families team at The Kids Research Institute Australia led by Prof Jeneva Ohan (UWA profile / The Kids profile), and supports the team across a number of research projects aiming to better understand and overcome trauma and adversity that negatively impact children.

Current (recent) research projects involve developing a novel assessment dissociation in childhood and adolescents, and improving parent interactions with the WA Newborn Emergency Transport Service.