Nicola completed her undergraduate degree in psychology with honours and her PhD from Deakin University. The title of her PhD was ‘Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and Coping Behaviours in Alcohol Use’. This research explored the role of personality and other cognitive factors (including coping styles and drinking motives) in explaining hazardous alcohol use.

Nicola joined the School of Psychology at Charles Sturt University as a faculty member in 2022. She has lectured at Deakin and Charles Sturt Universities in a range of subjects including research methods and statistics, foundations of psychology, personality, cognitive psychology, and social psychology.