Melissa Moncrieffe graduated from the Graduate Institute in 2010 with a Masters in International Studies. Throughout her studies, she focused on promoting access to quality education, which led her to intern at UNESCO’s Geneva Liaison Office, where she documented and reported on Human Rights Education. Following her studies in Geneva, Dr Moncrieffe was involved in cross-national educational research at UNESCO in Paris where she drafted a working paper that presented an analysis on the impact of the 2008-2010 global economic and financial crisis.

In 2012, Dr Moncrieffe went on to the University of Edinburgh to pursue a doctorate in Education. Her doctoral thesis was a comparative analysis of national community education programs in Scotland and the United States (US). In Edinburgh, she also worked with international students as a Global Assistant in the Edinburgh University Students’ Association. After graduating, Dr Moncrieffe welcomed the opportunity to share her research at the 2017 World Education Research Association Conference in Hong Kong and also chaired a seminar session.

Upon returning to the US in 2018, Dr Moncrieffe founded a global education company called Valued Educational Services (VES). VES represents a “coming together” of Melissa Moncrieffe’s academic and professional experiences throughout her journey, and it provides programmes and services for and about youth and young professionals in four areas: research, online learning, publication and life-coaching. VES consults with organisations on multi-disciplinary research and provides workshops and books that relate to youth’s transitions, learning outcomes and skills development in our globalised society and economy. Further, Dr Moncrieffe has embarked on another passion of hers, which is writing and the arts. She currently writes and illustrates under her pen name, L. Samuels.