Dr Jenkins is the Director of Student Engagement in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. In this leadership capacity Louise focuses on the development of a positive and engaging academic and personal experience for faculty students. Her current priority areas in this role are student health and wellbeing, social inclusion and employability. Dr Jenkins' research focuses on music education and inclusive education practices across all disciplines. In particular, she is interested in ways in which educators can support students from differing backgrounds and experiences to reach their academic and personal potential.  Leveraging her previous inclusive research in the areas of cultural inclusion for migrant and refugee youth,  Dr Jenkins is now investigating pre-service teachers confidence and comfort about working with LGBTIQ students. This inclusive research focus is combined with her development of Professional Development programs for classrooom music teachers about effective ways to work with students with disabilities. Dr Jenkins leverages her strong performing arts background as a means to drive socially inclusive educational practices and to include students more actively in their educational life.

Dr Jenkins' strong teacher practitioner focus and emphasis on teacher-led research, underpin all of her work. She uses Action Research and Experiential Learning to drive flexible and contemporary teaching practice, including the combination of a Blended Learning and Experiential Learning approach in the music method classroom. This combined approach has underpinned innovative changes to her work with her pre-service students and led to an international collaboration in the area of Online Live English Teaching. The Blended Learning and Experiential Learning approach is underpinned by pedagogy which re-considers the role of the teacher and student in the classroom. Louise has disseminated the findings of her research and innovative teacher practitioner work via various national and international journals, a book and book chapters and through the delivery of papers at a wide range of conference papers in New Zealand, London, Paris, Athens, United States, Canada and Australia.

Louise also uses historical research methodology to inform and give perspective to all that she does. Her ground breaking research about Australian women music educators from 1890-1950 enabled a more complex understanding of her work in socially inclusive education and inclusive student advising. The early Australian women music educators faced prejudice and discrimination, as well as social exclusion, which aligns and relfects the types of experiences students from minority groups and diverse backgrounds can experience today.

Current and prior PhD supervisions include:

• Returning to instrumental music performance and music teaching post COVID-19
• Creating compassionate schools: Principals implementing compassionate school leadership
• Internationalising the student experience: Australian domestic student perspectives
• Flow experiences in Shakuhachi teaching via skype
• What is the impact of the Early Learning Years Framework on teaching music in preschool classrooms?
• The impact of mindfulness on pre-service music teachers
• Instrumental practice with digital technology: Facilitating children's self-regulation of music learning
• International Chinese students' perceptions of social experiences at an Australian university
• Embodied creativity: The phenomenology of early childhood dance.
• Music Performance anxiety: educational relationships between instrumental music teachers and students
• The influence of Confucianism and Western Psychological and religious Culture on Identity and Music Learning among Chinese Musicians
• An examination of the work of studio music teachers as a contribution to the musical life of Victoria, 1900-1950.