Rachel completed her undergraduate and honours degrees in psychology at Charles Sturt University in 2008. She completed a PhD in Sport Psychology at Charles Sturt University in 2015. The title of her PhD was 'Equestrian partnerships: A qualitative investigation of the relationship between horse and rider in elite equestrian sports'. This research explored the unique sporting relationship between horse and rider in elite sport using social constructionist grounded theory. As part of this research, Rachel conducted a series of in-depth interviews with elite equestrian athletes in Australia and internationally.

Rachel joined the School of Psychology as a faculty member in 2012. She has lectured on methods of psychological inquiry, research methods and statistics in psychology, the foundations of psychology, psychological testing, psychology of learning, foundations of psychology for health and human services, and cognition.

Rachel's research interests concern interspecies interaction, particularly horse-human relationships, as well as equine-assisted psychotherapy, the psychological characteristics of elite athletes, and dyadic sporting relationships. In addition to her own research, Rachel has worked on a number of projects within the School of Psychology and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. These projects have addressed domestic violence, disability and mental health, the psychology of perception, adolescent behaviour, and psychometrics. Rachel is broadly interested in topics relating to sport and social psychology and conducts both qualitative and quantitative research.