Neal M. Ashkanasy OAM, PhD is an Emeritus Professor of Management at the UQ Business School at the University of Queensland in Australia. He came to academe in after an 18-year career in water resources engineering. He received his PhD in social/organizational psychology from the same university. His research is in leadership, organizational culture, ethics, and emotions in organizations, and his work has been published in leading journals including the Academy of Management Journal and Review, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and the Journal of Applied Psychology. He is Associate Editor for Emotion Review and Series Co-Editor of Research on Emotion in Organizations. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Organizational Behavior and Associate Editor for the Academy of Management Review and Academy of Management Learning and Education. Prof. Ashkanasy is a Fellow of the Academy for the Social Sciences in the UK (AcSS) and Australia (ASSA); the Association for Psychological Science (APS); the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP); Southern Management Association (SMA), and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences (QAAS). In 2017, he was awarded a Medal in the Order of Australia.
Julie's research interests include: strengths-based case management in adolescence; prevention and intervention approaches; assessment of risk and protection in vulnerable youth; social and emotional well-being in adolescence; evidence-based resources for adolescent development; positive youth development; teacher well-being and innovative measures of emotional states of teachers and students in the classroom.
Dr Julie Bower is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Education. She conducts applied research in secondary schools to understand the social and emotional processes that keep students at school and engaged in learning. Her work is based in a positive youth development framework, focusing on the strengths of adolescents at risk and working in close partnership with schools to assist these students to reach their potential. She is interested in developing real-time measures of emotion in a classroom setting, assessment of both risk and protection in vulnerable youth; prevention and intervention approaches; social and emotional well-being in adolescence; evidence-based resources for adolescent development; and school-wide approaches for social and emotional well-being of students and teachers.
Julie Bower has over 29 years experience in the education sector, 21 of those in educational research and more recently, over the past 12 years in the development of the Mindfields® Program, The CAT-RPM, the t* (Teacher Emotions App) and the Mindful Practice for Teachers Program. She is now an educational consultant in Emotional Health in Schools. Julie’s experience in the field of education encompasses the areas of research project management, development of evidence-based resources, social and emotional wellbeing, cognitive behavioural interventions and strengths-based strategies for teacher and student well-being.
Annemaree Carroll is Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Educational Psychology within the School of Education at The University of Queensland. Her research activities focus on the social emotional learning of children and adolescents, and the importance of social connectedness, (dis)engagement, and social inclusion to their behavioural and educational outcomes. Student, teacher, and community voices and agency are key considerations in her research methodologies. She is known nationally and internationally for the development of innovative emotion regulation interventions for children and youth to bring about positive change in their lives. She has conceptualised and coordinated the development of the Mindfields Suite of Programs (www.mindfields.com.au), which encompasses a strengths-based approach to student well-being that targets school-wide practices to help young people take control of their lives. She has also led a team of researchers to develop the KooLKIDS Resources (www.kool-kids.com.au), an emotion resilience program to empower children to live well with themselves and others by learning social, emotional and cognitive skills that promote self-regulation and well-being. Her research has now extended to teacher emotion regulation strategies, demonstrating that improved teacher well-being has downstream benefits to students' well-being and the teacher-student relationship.
Professor Carroll has extensive experience managing large-scale, school-based projects across classroom settings and clinic-based research, in which she has excellent skills in test administration with children and adolescents. She has also been concerned with children with neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ADHD, speech-language disorders, Tourette Syndrome) to examine information-processing tasks that may demand intact executive functioning and that require dual-task performance and control of impulsive reactions.
From 2014 to 2020, Professor Carroll was Co-ordinator of Translational Outcomes within the Australian Research Council Science of Learning Research Centre. Building on this work, she is the co-founder and Head of the UQ Learning Lab, where multi-disciplinary researchers work in partnership with educational and industry professionals to identify and address important learning and training priorities. The Learning Lab’s primary objective is to transform education and learning across schooling and beyond, through partnered innovations and research translation initiatives.
Professor Carroll is a registered teacher and psychologist. She has experience teaching in primary and special education in Queensland and has engaged in research and higher education teaching at The University of Queensland and The University of Western Australia, where she was granted a Master of Education (1991) and PhD in Educational Psychology (1995). She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 2018.
I am an Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Cultures at UQ (since 2017), formerly assistant professor at the Centre for Applied English Studies (CAES), University of Hong Kong (since 2014). I hold an MA TESOL from the University of London and an M.Phil/Ph.D in applied linguistics from the University of Cambridge, UK.
My areas of research and supervisory expertise include corpus linguistics and the use of corpora for language learning (known as 'data-driven learning'), as well as computer-assisted language learning, and English for General and Specific Academic Purposes. I have published over 50 articles to date in many leading Q1 journals in the field of applied linguistics, 10+ book chapters, 4 books, 3 MOOCs, and several textbook series.
I am the Editor-in-Chief for the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics (from 2024). I am also currently serving on the editorial boards of the Q1 journals IRAL, Journal of Second Language Writing, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and System, as well as Applied Corpus Linguistics, a new journal covering the direct applications of corpora to teaching and learning.
Dr Darsy Darssan is an Accredited Professional Statistician® (PStat®) and a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He obtained three degrees in Statistics at mathematical sciences schools of three different universities: a Bachelor of Science with Honours in 2005 at University of Jaffna, a Master of Applied Science in 2008 at RMIT University and a Doctor of Philosophy in 2014 at Queensland University of Technology.
While doing his two years full time traditional face-to-face master degree, Darsy worked as a part-time Statistician at Australian Council for Educational Research for a year.
Between the two bouts of postgraduate studies, Darsy worked for two years: as a Statistician at the University of New South Wales for a year and another year as an Associate Research Fellow in Applied Statistics at the University of Wollongong.
While doing the highest degree in Statistics Darsy worked as a sessional academic, contributed to teaching introductory statistics to various cohorts of first-year undergraduate students. Upon completion of the doctoral degree, Darsy moved to the University of Liverpool in the UK to do his Postdoctoral research in Biostatistics. Darsy returned home in late 2015 and worked as a Biostatistician at The University of Queensland for three years before taking the current position.
Career Statistician:
As a career statistician, Darsy is interested in developing or extending statistical methodologies to solve problems that arise in real-world data analysis and data collection in Biomedical research.
Service Statistician:
Darsy has experience working as a service statistician. He mainly worked on clinical trials where he was involved in study designs, randomisation, protocols development, statistical analysis plans, final statistical reports. He actively participated in data safety monitoring boards. Darsy provided statistical service to Biologists, Rheumatologists, Ophthalmologists, Nephrologist, Endocrinologist and Health Service Researchers.
Dr Edwards is an Associate Professor in the School of Education where she is currently the Director of Research Innovation and Higher Degree Research. Her research spans education, psychology and medical education and her collaborators are national and international experts in these disciplines. Dr Edwards has an international reputation for contributing to understanding the link between anxiety, attention, and memory. Her work supports the notion that an inability to efficiently process information and maintain concentration, plays a critical role in the development and maintenance of emotional disorders.
Dr Edwards' latest work focusses on the translation of theory-driven, basic science into treatments for clinical problems, specifically for children and adolescents. For example, her research laboratory is currently conducting a series of studies investigating whether training the cognitive processes most vulnerable to anxiety and depression can in turn reduce emotional symptoms in children and adolescents. This work also seeks to understand the influence of cognitive training on academic achievement.
Dr Edwards completed a PhD and an honours degree in psychology (Bond University), and an undergraduate degree in education (Griffith University). For over two decades, she has worked as a primary classroom teacher, special education teacher, guidance counsellor, and psychologist. She has taught and supervised clinical, professional and research skills in education, psychology and medicine and worked in higher education in the United Kingdom and Australia. Dr Edwards joined The University of Queensland in 2020 to teach into the Master of Educational Studies (Guidance, Counselling and Careers).
Key research areas: Intellectual and developmental disability; Inclusive mathematics education; Down syndrome; Mathematics learning difficulties; Quality of life.
Dr Rhonda Faragher AO is a Professor in Inclusive Education. She has internationally recognised expertise in the mathematics education of learners with Down syndrome. In her research and teaching, she works to improve the educational outcomes of students who have difficulties learning mathematics, for whatever reason, including through educational disadvantage. Beyond mathematics education, she has expertise in inclusive education in a range of contexts, including secondary classrooms.
Dr Faragher is the Director of the Down Syndrome Research Program within the School of Education. She is an appointed Board member to the Academy on Education, Teaching and Research of IASSIDD - the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, Chair of the Down syndrome Special Interest Research Group of IASSIDD, Vice-President of Down Syndrome International and an Independent Director of Down Syndrome Australia. She is Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities.
Dr Faragher is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of IASSIDD and has received a number of awards for her work including the 2020 UQ Award for Excellence in Community, Diversity and Inclusion, the 2016 ACU Vice-Chancellor's Medal for Staff Excellence, a Commonwealth of Australia Endeavour Executive Award and the 2011 Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia Research Award. In 2023, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Recent books / chapters
Faragher, R. (2023). A practical guide to educating learners with Down syndrome. Supporting lifelong learning. Routledge.
Faragher, R. M. (2023). Individual student characteristics, abilities and personal qualities and the teacher’s role in improving mathematics learning outcomes. In A. Manizade, N. Buchholtz, & K. Beswick (Eds.), The evolution of research on teaching mathematics. International perspectives in the digital era. (pp. 227-253). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-31193-2
Faragher, R., Robertson, P., & Bird, G. (2020). International guidelines for the education of learners with Down syndrome. DSi.
Siemon, D., Warren, E., Beswick, K., Faragher, R., Miller, J., Horne, M., Jazby, D., & Breed, M. (2020). Teaching mathematics: foundations to middle years. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press.
Brown, R. I., & Faragher, R. (Eds.). (2018). Quality of life and intellectual disability. Knowledge application to other social and educational challenges. (Revised ed.). Nova.
Recent articles
Faragher, R., & Lloyd, J. (Early View). Continuing conceptualising QOL through application to the lives of young adults with Down syndrome. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1111/jppi.12479
Vassos, M., Faragher, R., Nankervis, K., Breedt, R., Boyle, F., Smith, S., & Kelly, J. (2023). The ethical, legal, and social implications of genomics and disability: Findings from a scoping review and their humanrights implications. Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-023-00362-1
Yanes, T., Vaishnavi, N., Wallingford, C., Faragher, R., Nankervis, K., Jacobs, C., Vassos, M., Boyle, F., Carroll, A., Smith, S., & McInerney-Leo, A. (2023). Australasian genetic counselors’ attitudes toward disability and prenatal testing: Findings from a cross-sectional survey. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 1-12. https://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1788
Wanjagua, R., Hepburn, S., Faragher, R., John, S. T., Gayathri, K., Gitonga, M., Meshy, C. F., Miranda, L., & Sindano, D. (2022). Key learnings from COVID‐19 to sustain quality of life for families of individuals with IDD. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 19(1), 72–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/jppi.12415
Faragher, R., Chen, M., Miranda, L., Poon, K., Rumiati, Chang, F., & Chen, H. (2021). Inclusive Education in Asia: Insights From Some Country Case Studies. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 18(1), 23–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/jppi.12369
Faragher, R.M. & Clarke, B. A. (2020). Inclusive practices in the teaching of mathematics : some findings from research including children with Down syndrome. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 32(1), 121–146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-019-00294-x
Faragher, R,M. (2019). The New 'Functional Mathematics' for Learners with Down Syndrome : Numeracy for a Digital World. International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education, 66(2), 206–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2019.1571172
Associate Professor Rachel Fitzgerald is the Deputy Associate Dean (Academic) for the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law. Rachel is internationally acknowledged for her expertise in Technology-Enhanced Learning and stands as a curriculum leader in the digital age, specializing in contemporary higher education and AI-driven learning. Rachel has spearheaded teaching and learning initiatives across various institutions globally and is leading research on microcredentials, workplace learning and Scholarship of AI Teaching and Learning.
My career has been firmly based in education, with experience gathered in both the school and higher education sectors. I have taught in schools, colleges and universities in both Australia and South Africa. My work on curriculum design has been primarily focused on large generalist programs such as the BA. My research in this area has led to commissioned projects and collaborations with the council of Deans of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (DASSH). This research has led to invitations to participate in program reviews and planning days with a number of universities in Australia and engagement with the Deans of Arts network in New Zealand.
Dr Stevie-Jae Hepburn is a Lecturer in initial teacher education (ITE) in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. Her approach to educational program design, review, and evaluation in professional and educational contexts is guided by the principles of andragogy, collaborative practice, and learning with, from, and about others.
After gaining experience as a classroom teacher and curriculum coordinator across jurisdictions in Queensland and abroad, Stevie directed her attention to educational leadership, health and wellbeing resources in schools and ITE. Her doctoral research investigated the impact of an integrated approach to health and wellbeing for teachers during the pre-service and early career period. Stevie’s research is influenced by her interest in Public Health, Health Promotion and Salutogenic Theory and the use of health promotion strategies to address the social determinants of health and influence job satisfaction, stress management, burnout and career trajectory.
Stevie's research experience in collaborative practice spans both health disciplines and education. She investigated the impact of interprofessional education resources on promoting interprofessional collaborative practice across the continuum of health professionals' education, as well as student learning and experience on placement in rural and remote communities.
Stevie is currently focused on exploring the role of collaborative practice between school community stakeholders (e.g., parents/carers, school-based health professionals, teachers), schools as health-promoting workplaces, and preparedness for practice during the pre-service and early career period.
Peter is the Director of Teaching and Learning for UQ's School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work. He teaches across both undergaduate and postgraduate programs and is also responsible for the International Portfolio.
Peter's research interests include: teaching and learning; eLearning and flexible learning; digital literacy; and interprofessional education.
Working in tertiary education since 2003, Peter's responsibilities have included but are not limited to: curriculum development and implementation; internal and external accreditation processes; interprofessional teaching and cooperation; development and implementation of School strategic plans; development and management of moderation processes which ensure transparency of standards of quality in implementation and outcomes; administration of programs; maintaining and developing domestic and international partnerships with both industry and external tertiary providers; and international consultancy particular to staff developoment and capacity building, teaching and learning and curricula development and review.
Jason Lodge is a lifelong student of learning and a staunch advocate of evidence-informed education. A chef by trade, a psychological scientist by training, and an educator by profession, for over 20 years, Jason has worked to better understand learning to enhance education, particularly via digital technologies.
Jason is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Director of the Learning, Instruction, and Technology Lab in the School of Education at The University of Queensland (UQ). With the lab team, Jason explores the cognitive, metacognitive, and emotional aspects of learning, particularly in higher education and with digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI). He and his team have a particular interest in self- and co-regulated learning.
Recently, Jason has been focused on the evolving role of AI in education. He serves as an expert advisor to the OECD and Australian National Task Force on Artificial Intelligence in Education and led the Assessment Experts Forum in partnership with the Australian Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). The resulting resource, Assessment Reform for the Age of Artificial Intelligence, is being used across education sectors in Australia and around the world to rethink assessment in light of the emergence of generative AI. His most recent work in partnership with the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) has been on developing a national framework for AI in higher education, a translation of the Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools.
Jason also serves as Deputy Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at UQ. He holds fellowships with the Psychonomic Society (US) and the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Jason has received numerous teaching awards, including the Australian Psychological Society’s Distinguished Contribution to Psychological Education and was an inaugural winner of the ASCILITE and CAULLT Award for Outstanding Leadership in Digital Learning in Higher Education in 2023. Additionally, Jason is an editor of Student Success and until recently served as the Lead Editor of Australasian Journal of Educational Technology.
Dr Stephanie MacMahon is a Lecturer in the Science of Learning and in Arts Education, teaching in both the ITE and post-graduate programs in the School of Education at The University of Queensland, and is the program coordinator for the newly established Science of Learning Field of Study. She has over 20 years’ experience as a P-12 educator and school leader, and draws on this experience to support her students in understanding how research can be used meaningfully in educational practice. Her constructivist philosophy underpinning her teaching also informs her approach to research, with two key focus areas that involve learning with and from others: human connection and learning, and knowledge mobilisation (translation) of research into practice.
Stephanie is also the Program Director of the UQ Learning Lab: a group of multi-disciplinary researchers, educators, and industry partners who collaborate to transform learning, teaching and training in diverse school and post-school contexts through the science of learning. Her research within the UQ Learning Lab aims to better understand the barriers and enablers to effective knowledge mobilisation in real-world teaching, learning and training contexts. This insight is then used to work with industry partners to develop, implement and evaluate contextually relevant, actionable, scalable and sustainable solutions to industry-identified teaching, learning and training needs.
Stephanie collaborates widely with multi-disciplinary researchers on science of learning projects using a range of methodologies.
Kiara is a social psychology researcher at the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at The University of Queensland as a research fellow. She is currently focused on strengths based approaches to sexual health and relationships and sexuality education for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She received her doctorate from the University of Queensland in July 2021 for her PhD research project, The role of idealising jealousy in inhibiting the identification of and response to non-physical intimate partner violence: a schema theory approach. She has since completed a post-doctoral research fellowship on sexual consent in Australia.
Kiara has a passion for applying quality research techniques to identify practical strategies for real improvements across a range of social issues. Kiara is experienced in quantitative and qualitative research methods, and holds a strong commitment to research transparency, methodological rigour, and collaborative research as the foundation of positive social change. She is also dedicated to research communication and has previously written and edited a blog page for social change research.
Aisling Mulvihill is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland. Her research activities span the topics of social cognition and self-regulation from early childhood to adolescence.
Aisling has extensive clinical expertise in supporting children with learning and social-emotional challenges relating to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). In 2013, she co-authored the Ant Patrol Children’s Stories, a series of six educational children’s stories that aim to support children’s social and emotional learning. The series has been well-received by educators, allied health professionals and parents.
Aisling’s current research investigates the relationship between language and theory of mind, and the use of self-talk to regulate thinking and behavior in young children. She is also involved in an interdisciplinary science of learning research project investigating the effect of metacognitive training on attention control in young adolescents.
Dr Shiralee Poed is an Associate Professor within the School of Education at the University of Queensland. Her career spans more than 30 years, and includes working as a teacher and leader in Australian state, Catholic and independent primary, secondary and special schools. She was awarded the 2023 International Positive Behaviour Leadership Award for her extensive leadership of Positive Behaviour for Learning in Australia, and internationally.
Jenny is the Deputy Director (Training) at Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland. In this role Jenny leads the development and implementation of ISSR's training programs. This includes professional short courses aimed at Industry, tailored capability training for industry, Higher Degree Training, external and internal internships/placements, internal staff capability training, and teaching opportunities for ISSR staff in the schools including Honours supervision. In addition to leading this portfolio of work and teaching professional short courses, Jenny continues to lead a Research Group (Social and Educational disadvantage), contribute as an Associate Investigator to research for the ARC Centre of Excellence on Families and Children over the Life Course (the Life Course Centre), and supervise HDR students. She is a Psychologist and obtained her BA Honors, MA and PhD from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. Before coming to ISSR, Jenny worked as a Chief Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa in the area of Education effectiveness.
Jenny’s research focuses on education effectiveness, parent engagement, student wellbeing, evidenced-based practice, and research that impacts policy and practice. She has extensive experience in large scale mixed methods evaluations, using administrative data together with survey and qualitative data. Jenny has worked closely with Government Departments and Ministries both in Australia (e.g., Tasmania DHHS; Australian DoE; Qld DoE; CESE NSW; Australian DSS; Qld DCSSD; Department of Home Affairs) and internationally (e.g., South Africa, Eritrea, Cambodia and the Solomon Islands) to gather research evidence from a wide range of disadvantaged communities to inform policy. Jenny is a Chief Investigator on an ARC Linkage project which investigates how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children experience Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) using elicitation methods and a longitudinal qualitative research design to provide evidence to improve service agencies’ understanding of children’s experiences in OOHC and how agencies can best support families, carers and communities to promote the social, emotional, and cultural well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous children in OOHC. This research will improve service provider capability and test Government reform interventions. In addition to leading large commissioned evaluations and academic grants, Jenny is continues to build her research focusing on understanding why and how some schools located in disadvanatged areas are more effective at parent engagement than others and how improving parent engagement in these schools effects the learning and wellbeing of students living in these communities over their life course.
