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I received my Bachelor's in Biology (2001) from Yarmouk University in Jordan, followed by postgraduate degrees from the University of Houston in Houston-Texas (2002-2007). My studies are integrative in nature, joining the best of both the Neuroscience world and Circadian Biology (the study of biological clocks). In the laboratory of Prof. Arnold Eskin, I investigated how processes as complex as learning and memory are modulated by biological clocks i.e. the circadian (about 24 hours) system, using Aplysia californica as the experimental model. After completing my Master's in Science in 2005, my research focused on the mechanism by which biological clocks modulate learning and memory. This work was performed in the laboratories of Prof. Gregg Cahill and Prof. Greg Roman, experts in chronobiology and behavioral neuroscience, respectively. Using Zebrafish as a model system, I investigated the role of melatonin, a night-time restricted hormonal signal, in modulating long-term memory consolidation. My findings, published in Science in 2007, shows that the circadian system via the cyclic night-time confined synthesis/release of melatonin “the hormone of darkness” functions as a modulator, shaping daily variations in the efficiency by which memories are processed. After receiving my Ph.D. in 2007, I joined as a postdoctoral fellow the laboratory of the pharmacologist and melatonin researcher Prof. Margarita Dubocovich. My postdoctoral work engaged in elucidating the role of melatonin in circadian physiology and pharmacology during development and ageing in rodents (Mus musculus) and non-human primates (Macaca mulatta) at the Feinberg School of Medicine (Northwestern University-Chicago) and the State University of New York (SUNY). From 2010-2015, I held a teaching/research position in the Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomy and the Dept. of Neurology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt-Germany. During this time, I was involved in teaching gross human anatomy while continuing my endeavor in understanding the mechanistics involved in shaping memory processes (acquisition, consolidation and retrieval) by the circadian system.

The School of Education is one of the most productive and high profile schools of education in Australia.

Professor Peter Renshaw's research has focussed on learning and teaching processes both at school and tertiary level. With a team of colleagues in the School of Education at UQ, he is currently investigating the quality of teaching and assessment practices in schools across Queensland. In two current ARC projects, with his co-researchers (Dr Ray Brown and Dr Elizabeth Hirst) he is investigating how teachers group and label students, and the effects of these practices on learning outcomes. These projects are framed by a sociocultural theory of education that foregrounds the social and cultural construction of knowledge and identity, and the responsibility of educators to create challenging, inclusive and supportive learning contexts for diverse groups of students. Professor Renshaw was President and Secretary of Australian Association for Research in Education and a member of the Executive for over a decade (1991-2002). He currently is on the International Advisory Board of CICERO Learning, an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He has active collaborations with European researchers in the Netherlands and Sweden, studying how teachers deal with student diversity and how they provide inclusive contexts for learning in multicultural classrooms.

Dr Vicente Chua Reyes, Jr. is with the School of Education, University of Queensland, Australia. He is co-editor of the Policy and Leadership Studies Working Papers Series of the National Institute of Education (Singapore). He is a Fellow of the Centre for Chinese Studies of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the National Taiwan Normal University and the University of Macau (China). He is also a Visiting Academic at the Institute of Education, University of London. Vicente has experience in educational settings spanning Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, the UK and the US. Vicente used to be a Teaching/School Principal for an elementary and high school in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. Vicente taught humanities in high school (Philippines and Singapore) and in elementary school levels (Philippines and Spain). Trained as a political scientist, his current research interests are in comparative education. Vicente also pursues inquiries into the application of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education, educational leadership, research methodologies as well as investigating the phenomenon of corruption alongside governance in educational reform.

Dr Emily Ross is a Lecturer in the School of Education at The University of Queensland. She has extensive experience in curriculum implementation, supporting school leadership teams and teachers to implement some of the most exciting and cutting-edge curriculum initiatives. She has led the design and implementation of key curriculum and assessment initiatives for the state of Queensland and at a national level. Emily's doctoral research on curriculum interpretation and implementation has shaped government policy in Queensland. It has influenced the method and messaging for implementation support of the Australian Curriculum, and the professional development and resources that have been developed to aid teachers in the curriculum planning work. After completing her doctoral studies, Emily was asked to lead the project for the renewal of the QCAA Australian Curriculum website, including the redevelopment of over 500 curriculum support resources.

Emily's expertise in curriculum development and implementation has continued to be drawn upon by several national organisations, including the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and Education Services Australia. Through these organisations, she has been invited to continue to serve on Advisory Groups and National Expert Panels to support the development and delivery of the Australian Curriculum and resources to support its implementation in Australian schools.

Previously, Emily held senior leadership positions at the QCAA, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and the interim National Curriculum Board, as well as in Queensland government and independent schools. Emily’s research focuses on curriculum and assessment policy and its implementation, particularly in areas of STEM education.

Dr. Steven Rynne is an Associate Professor and Program Convenor for Sports Coaching with the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at The University of Queensland, Australia. The major theme that runs throughout Steven’s work is learning in sport. Within this broad theme he has worked and conducted research with a variety of peak domestic and international sporting bodies aimed at fostering high performance through learning (e.g. how elite coaches learn their craft) and understanding outcomes for sport participants (e.g. sport for reconciliation). Steven teaches undergraduate and graduate students, is a cycling coach and registered HPE teacher, and has been immersed in junior and community sport settings for more than two decades.

Dr Shapter's background was originally in Agricultural Science and higher education which evolved to the completion of her PhD in molecular genetics in 2008. Prior to her current appointments she was the senior researcher on ARC linkage, Australian Flora Foundation and RIRDC research grants looking at the genetic foundations of domestication and adaptation in Australian native grasses. She supervised two HDR students and has a strong publication record in this field. Her research interests centre on identifying and developing practical applications for gene sequencing. Fran is passionate about teaching and has worked as a facilitator commercially and trained early career researchers and PhD candidates in Project Management, IP and commercialisation and Leadership. She was a participant in the 2020 summit and was appointed to the federal advisory Rural R&D Council in 2009. Dr Shapter was also a sitting member of the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator's Ethics and Community Consultative Committee, 2016-2020.

Fran began tutoring at the UQ School of Veterinary Science in 2011, in large animal production, parasitology and microbiology. Since then she has held a variety of teaching, research and professional roles based around project management, curriculum design and blended learning design. She was the project manager for a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) grant which developed 40 vertically and horizontally integrated, online, adaptive tutorials for veterinary science students and was co-author on the manual developed by this project. She assisted with the development of a new flexible delivery laboratory animal science course in 2015 and delivers 5 weeks of online learning units into this course currently. She has been part of the SoTL research and evaluation associated with both these projects and has reported outcomes at University showcases annually since 2016.

In 2017 Fran became the new Student Clinical Skills Hub Coordinator, a purpose-built, state-of-the-art self-directed learning facility for students of veterinary science. Whilst undertaking this role student usage, resource availability and online support for the Hub has increased more than tenfold. Fran's aim is to provide a safe, authentic, self-directed learning environment where students can practice their clinical skills in accordance with individual competences, beyond the scheduled contact hours of their programs and further enhance their capacity for self-directed, lifelong learning whilst acknowledging the vast array of qualifications, previous training, life experience and cultural backgrounds each student brings with them to the Hub.In 2020 Fran recieved a UQ Teaching Excellence Award due to the demonstarted impact of the SVS Student Clinical Skills Hub.

In 2019 Fran was appointed as a Lecturer in Veterinary Science, while continuing her role as the Hub's coordinator. She continues to maintain her teaching roles into the veterinary program in animal handling, animal production, reproduction, microbiology, parasitology and plant identification. Fran has an additional role in the School with regard to asissting with the design, development and integration of blended learning resources, after working with the Science faculties blended learning design team in 2018. However her SoTL portfolio is best showcased by the development of the online learning community and training resources she has developed for the Student Clinical Skills Hub. As of June 2021, Fran has also taken on the role of the School of Veterinary Science Honours Program Coordinator.

Associate Professor Marnee Shay is a Principal Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. She is an Aboriginal woman whose maternal family is from the Ngen'giwumirri language group (Daly River, Northern Territory), born in Brisbane, with strong connections to Indigenous communities in South East Queensland. Dr Shay is an experienced and qualified secondary teacher.

A/Prof Shay has an extensive externally funded research program that spans the fields of Indigenous education, policy studies, flexi schooling, and youth studies. She has published in many journals, books and scholarly media outlets. A/Prof Shay advocates for strengths approaches in Indigenous education and Indigenous-based evidence to inform policy futures. She is the lead editor of a critical text in the field of Indigenous education, “Indigenous education in Australia Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures”, published by Routledge in 2021 (with Prof Oliver). The book won a national award for ‘The Tertiary/VET Teaching and Learning Resource (wholly Australian) category at the Education Publishing Awards Australia.

A/Prof Shay’s research has substantially impacted policy and practice in her field. She has contributed to numerous policy submissions, non-traditional research outputs (such as podcasts) and school reviews. She serves on multiple Government and school boards and committees, including the Queensland Department of Education Ministerial Advisory Committee for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education. Dr Shay’s research contributions to education were recognised in 2020 through a National Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) award, a Queensland branch ACEL Excellence in Educational Leadership Award, and the 2021 UQ Foundation for Research Excellence Award.

Dr Chase Sherwell is a Research Fellow at the UQ Learning Lab and the Principal Research Technician for the Compassionate Mind Research Group in the School of Psychology. His research combines neuroscientific, psychological, and educational perspectives to provide tools for enacting learning, well-being, and behavioural change in real-world contexts. With a focus on application, Dr Sherwell’s work aims to identify metrics of internal psychological mechanisms that can be easily interpreted and integrated by professionals and end-users to facilitate skill development and mental health in everyday life.

With a background in cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and education research, Dr Sherwell leads projects that aim to explain learning, development, and mental health across disciplinary lines: from the level of neural networks through to everyday experience. Integrating multi-modal techniques including digital interaction, biometrics, and neurophysiology, Dr Sherwell develops tools, user experiences, and analytics that provide actionable metrics and insights for professionals and researchers.

Dr Sherwell is a Research Fellow in the UQ Learning Lab: a team of multi-disciplinary researchers, educators, and industry partners who collaborate to transform learning, teaching, and training in diverse school and post-school environments through the science of learning. In this role, Dr Sherwell lends his expertise in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to develop projects aimed at understanding and measuring the barriers, facilitators, and mechanisms of self-regulation in professional contexts. He leads projects designing digital tools providing educators with real-time feedback on learner states and skill development integrating smartphone apps and biometrics from wearable devices.

Dr Sherwell is also the Principal Research Technician for the Compassionate Mind Research Group – the leading research hub for Compassion Science in Australia, based at the UQ School of Psychology. In this role, he oversees research design and development across projects investigating the mechanisms of prosocial behaviour in everyday life, barriers to clinical interventions, and the efficacy of online interventions for mental health.

Dr Lynda Shevellar joined The University of Queensland in 2009. Based in the School of Social Science, Lynda won an early career award for teaching excellence in 2011, a University of Queensland Award for Teaching Excellence in 2019 and an Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2019). She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the Principal Practitioner - Participation and Engagement (Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation), and is currently one of the Deputy Associate Deans (Academic) for the HASS Faculty. Lynda has previously held roles in government and the community sector and is influenced by over thirty years of experience in community development, the disability sector, mental health, education, and psychology.

Lynda's research explores three closely aligned agendas: understanding the experience of people who live with heightened vulnerability; developing the awareness, agency and capacity of communities to respond to social disadvantage and inequality; and aligning community development theory and education to inform practice in working alongside people who live with heightened vulnerability. Lynda has a particular interest in the development of inclusive learning communities, through creative teaching practices, participative research strategies, and engaged citizenship.

Lynda coordinates the courses SOSC2288: Community Development - Local and International Practice; and SOCY1070: Inequality, Society and the Self.

My research interest may be seen to lie within one or more of the following areas

· Postcolonial sociologies of education

· Critical governmentality studies

· Student mobilities.

· Studies of globalization and transnationalism in relation to education institutions, policies and practices

· International higher education governance

· Development and education

These interests probably have something to do with my personal biography. I am a first generation ‘education migrant’ whose parents migrated to Australia at the tail end of the 1970s, their postcolonial dream unraveled by the cultural politics of new nationhood. We came to live in Western Australia at the end of one mining boom (this one was Japan driven), and the start of a major economic restructuring project that would transform the Australia economy, and the lifestyles and livelihoods of many of its citizens. I finished high school and then majored in Microbiology at the University of Western Australia, before working for two years in a genetics laboratory on the molecular aspects of change in anaerobic bacteria. I subsequently moved disciplines to the social sciences, completed a degree in Social Work, and worked for a decade in a number of areas ranging from child protection and juvenile justice to ‘educational development assistance’, multicultural counselling, refugee settlement and international student advising. In 1999, I commenced my PhD studies. My thesis investigated the workings of the education export industry using postcolonial and poststructuralist frameworks. It critically appraised the concept of globalisation and its use to govern international education. Through this work, I developed an interest in the different actors in the cast of globalization - international students, transnational scientists, and refugees and asylum seekers.

My more recent research has focused on emerging education hubs in Singapore and Malaysia and the transnational mobilities of ‘knowledge workers’ recruited to these emerging knowledge spatialities. I am also investigating the temporal reach and recontextualisation of colonial knowledges and practices on assembling ‘postcolonial’ subjectivities in the context of Southeast Asia. I have a strong interest in empirical work and welcome enquires from students who are interested in deep and substantive engagement with theoretical frameworks. Being a cultural, professional and disciplinary hybrid, I am keen to work across disciplines.

I am actively involved in three research projects at present, all concerned variously with investigations of mobility:

• Globalising Universities and International Student Mobilities in East Asia, Funded by the Ministry of Education, Government of Singapore
• Transnational Knowledge Workers in the Life-and Technosciences, Funded by the University of Queensland
• Inbound and Outbound Student Mobility, Funded by the University of Queensland.

Associate Professor Christine Slade PhD GCProfLearning BA (Com Plan & Devt) PFHEA MPIA ATCL

Assessment and Academic Integrity

In my role as Associate Professor in Higher Education, in the Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI) I contribute to the UQ strategic priorities, with leadership in assessment and academic integrity. I have been a member of the UQ Assessment Sub-committee since 2016. I have leadership responsibilities in the delivery of the UQ Academic Integrity Action Plan and the UQ Assessment Action Plan 2022-2027 and facilitate professional learning activities for academic staff through workshops and resources.

In late 2019, I was a member of the TEQSA National Academic Integrity Workshop team, with Professor Tracey Bretag (Leader), Dr Guy Curtis and Dr Margot McNeill, delivering 19 workshops across Australia. These workshops brought together representatives of higher education providers to help strengthen institutional detection, prevention and responses to breaches of academic integrity. The team also developed an Academic Integrity Toolkit for the sector, based on workshop feedback, which was launched recently in the TEQSA webinar . In February 2020 I co-facilitated (with Dr McNeill) two similar academic integrity workshops in New Zealand at the request of the Academic Quality Agency for New Zealand Universities and contributed expertise to workshops at University College London on assessment design that strengthens student authorship verification. The corresponding research has been published online by HERD

Towards Digital Maturity

Engaging in technology is part of everyday life, more so during COVID-19. I advocate for the inclusion of digital aspects in curricula and support educators and students in building their digital capabilities for learning and professionals in the workplace. Since 2012 I have advanced folio pedagogies to facilitate students using ePortfolios to demonstrate learning over time, reflect on their developing practices, and to showcase their digital brand to wider audiences. Important aspects of these practices is understanding and applying digital ethics and eProfessionalism principles when engaging online. Therefore, I am a member of the international Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-based Learning (AAEEBL) Taskforce on Digital Ethics and ePortfolios which has produced guiding ethical principles, strategies and scenarios for institutions, educators, administrators and students. I also partnered with the UQ Library to develop a new eProfessionalism digital essentials module for educators and students to use when building their online presence. I have a particular interest in Digital Healthcare and work with international academics and industry representatives to advance student preparation for clinical placements and future work.

Teaching

I have been a lecturer, course coordinator and tutor over a number of years. both in the discipline fields of planning and community development, and teaching and learning. My background is in social planing and I am a member of the Planning Institute of Australia. My PhD thesis critiqued the capacity of local government to address complex, contemporary sustainability challenges through two food security case studies. In 2017-2018 I contributed to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programs in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and in 2019 I contributed to Faculty of Science Employability courses for STEM students preparing for entering their professions. I currently teach into international development courses delivered through the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Awards and Recognition

I received a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in the 2022 Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for my sustained leadership in providing all students with an equitable and trustworthy assessment enviroonment through scholarship, policies, staff professional learning, and sharpening students' ethical decision-making.

In May 2018 I was recognised as a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) UK for inter/national and institutional teaching and learning thought leadership and sustained strategic impact, as measured by the UK Professional Standards Framework. I mentor both academic and professional UQ staff in the development of their fellowship applications as part of the new HEA@UQ program.

Research Interests

My research and teaching interests include innovative pedagogies, assessment and academic integrity, digital curriculum, ePortfolios and ethics. I have written a number of journal articles and other publications, and presented at national and international conferences about my research and practice (see the 'Publications' tab above).

Teacher Education

Dr. Simone Smala is a senior lecturer in teacher education, educational psychology and multilingualism in education. Drawing from a background as a middle years and secondary teacher, Simone now focuses her research on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in bilingual, immersion and TESOL settings, and the emerging world of Generative AI in K-12 education. Simone's research is based in socio-cultural learning theories, educational policy and blended learning.She publishes in both English and German and has extensive research connections in Europe and the USA.

Michelle Smith is a Associate Professor in Physiotherapy and a Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist. She is Program Director for the Masters of Sports Physiotherapy and Masters of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy programs at UQ, Co-director of the International Ankle Consortium, Co-director of the Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Prevention for Health (SIRPH) research unit and Associate Editor of Physical Therapy and Sport.

The overarching theme of Michelle's research is lower limb joint health. Her research focuses on the prevention and management of lower limb joint injuries and pathologies across the lifespan to enable unrestricted participation in sport, physical activity and work. There are three key areas of her research:

1. To improve understanding of ankle injuries and osteoarthritis across the lifespan: Ankle sprains are the most common injury seen in emergency departments and are a primary cause of ankle osteoarthritis, which in light of its post-traumatic nature, often affects young adults. To optimise outcomes and participation for people with ankle pathologies, my research characterises impairments and participation restrictions in the continuum from ankle injury to osteoarthritis and establishes the efficacy of interventions to manage these conditions.
2. To understand the effectiveness and implementation of injury prevention strategies: While neuromuscular exercise program and taping/bracing have been shown to decrease injury risk, translation of research into practice is limited. My research investigates the implementation of injury prevention initiatives in adolescent athletes and involves stakeholders to better understand barriers and facilitators.
3. To evaluate the implementation of lower limb osteoarthritis interventions: Exercise and education for hip and knee osteoarthritis have been shown to improve quality of life and functional outcomes. My research investigates the implementation of such programs in public hospitals and private physiotherapy practices on patient outcomes and service delivery.

Michelle has presented her research and delivered keynote and invited presentations at national and international multi-disciplinary conferences. She teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy curriculum in the areas of musculoskeletal health and sports injuries. She has been recognised for her high teaching quality and impact at both School and Faculty levels through receipt of Teaching Excellence Awards. She is the Chair of the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences External Engagement Committee and Deputy Chair of the Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy Group of the Austrailan Physiotherapy Association. She is a member of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Foot and Ankle Working Group, International Foot and Ankle Osteoarthritis Consortium, and Australian Foot and Ankle Research Network.

Dr Leigh Sperka is a Lecturer in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences. She graduated with First Class Honours from the Bachelor of Health, Sport and Physical Education in 2013 and completed her Doctor of Philosophy in 2018.

Her research focuses on the outsourcing of education. This includes investigating decision-making around the practice, how outsourcing impacts curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, and student perspectives of outsourced lessons.

In her teaching, she emphasises the importance of creating an inclusive environment in Health and Physical Education that allows all students to participate and experience success. Students are at the centre of her teaching. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has been awarded:

• U21 Health Sciences Teaching Excellence Award (2021)
• UQ Commendation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning (2020)
• Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences Awards for Teaching Excellence (2020)

Associate Professor Stahl's research interests focus on the relationship between education and society, socio-cultural studies of education, student identities, equity/inequality, and social change. Currently, his research projects and publications encompass theoretical and empirical studies of youth, sociology of schooling in a neoliberal age, gendered subjectivities, equity and difference as well as educational reform.

To date his scholarship has focused upon:

· Social and educational inequalities

· Learner Identities

· Student mobilities

· Masculinities

· Widening participation

He holds a PhD in Education (University of Cambridge), a Masters degree in International Education (New York University) and a Bachelors Degree in Secondary Education and English (Indiana University). He is a member and SIG Convener for the Australian Association of Researchers in Education (AARE) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Associate Professor Stahl was awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) from the Australian Research Council (2017-2019) where he researched the relationship between extreme disadvantage, masculinities and widening participation (DE170100510). In 2019, he was ranked by The Australian newspaper as one of the top 40 researchers in Australia who were less than 10 years into their career. Dr. Stahl is particularly interested in qualitative research methods, visual research methods and ethnography. At the University of Queensland, Dr. Stahl's teaches at the Undergraduate, Masters and PhD levels.

Recently, he was awarded two ARC Discovery projects: Including the voice of boys and young men in their health and well-being education (DP250102623) and Investigating how boys and young men experience their digital lives (DP250104014).

His research has been published in a range of international journals, including the Pedagogy, Culture and Society, the Journal of Educational Policy and Gender and Education. His books include Identity, neoliberalism and aspiration: educating white working-class boys (2015, Routledge), Ethnography of a neoliberal school: building cultures of success (2018, Routledge), Working-class masculinities in Australian higher education: policies, pathways and progress (2021, Routledge) and Gendering the First-in-Family Experience: Transitions, Liminality, Performativity (2022, Routledge) co-authored with Sarah McDonald.

He has held leadership positions in the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE).

Prior to working as a researcher, Stahl taught in secondary schools in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dr Sally Staton is a Senior Research Fellow in the Science of Learning Research Centre at the Queensland Brain Institute, UQ. Dr Staton has a strong commitment to research that can inform and ensure positive early life experience for all children. Her research focuses on the role of early education and care settings in supporting young children’s immediate and on-going social-emotional, cognitive and physical development. Dr Staton’s research spans a range of study designs and methodologies, including evaluation studies in educational settings (applying randomised control trial and quasi-experimental designs), longitudinal studies tracking large child cohorts (>2000 children), standard observation techniques (in vivo and video), survey and individualised standard child assessment (using educational and psychological measures), as well as studies employing physiological (cortisol, actigraphy, heart rate variability) and qualitative (child, educator and parent interviews, socio-metric) designs. She has a particular expertise in the development, application and interpretation of observational measurement for educational practices and teacher-child interactions in education contexts, including early childhood settings. Dr Staton has a strong track record in research translation and community engagement, including delivery of reports for government and non-government organisations, professional development packages for early childhood professionals and teachers, presentations, workshops, videos and articles for parents, government regulatory officers and the early childhood sector. In 2016, she was named among Queensland’s Young Tall Poppy Scientists for her contribution to science translation and engagement. In 2019 her succesful research partnerships with industry and government was acknowledged in a Partners in Research Excellence Award from UQ.

My research is in the discipline of higher education and focuses on university teacher beliefs, thinking and practices in relation to the use of educational technologies in teaching & learning. I am also interested in learning designs to support authentic learning approaches using new and emerging technologies such as Web 2.0/3.0 technologies, mobile technologies and 3D immersive environments.

Caroline Steel’s research is in the use of current and emerging educational technologies primarily in university and more recently as applied to the field of Technology-Enhanced Language Learning. She is President and Executive Member of ascilite (Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education). Her research into educational technologies draws on teacher and learner beliefs and affordance theories to investigate learner and teacher preferences and current uses of technology in education. She was lead researcher on a large multi-university research project that investigated the transitional experiences, motivational factors, technology preferences and uses of language students across 3 universities.

Caroline has worked in education-related fields for nearly 20 years as a language teacher, curriculum designer, university teacher educator and now research fellow. Caroline's PhD investigated university teachers' pedagogical beliefs, beliefs about web technologies and how these are enacted in practice. In her research she draws on a number of qualitative research approaches and methods including stimulated recall and concept mapping. Caroline teaches the Masters of Education course ‘Creating classrooms of the future with educational technology' and an undergraduate course in ‘Languages and Technology’.

Dr Heather Stewart has been a journalist for 20 years, including almost a decade with the ABC in news and current affairs and covering content for ABC Radio National. She is a Walkley award winner and two times nominee and her work received a Gold and Bronze Medal in the New York Festival world's best radio documentary and for social equity coverage.

As a media, marketing and communication contractor and consultant in the mining, oil and gas, education, and the not for profile and public sectors in Queensland and Federal government departments she has honed her digital skills preparing integrated marketing communication plans and advertising campaigns and mentored executives in business digital transformation.

in 2016, she received a peer nomination for teaching innovation at TAFE Queensland where she ran two iterations of the Advanced Accelerated Diploma of Marketing positioning mature age student teams with small and medium businesses to create business plans and integrated marketing campaigns.

She completed her PhD at the University of Queensland in 2018 conducting a longitudinal study into the impact of technological change on ABC journalists and journalism while teaching students in media and communication at UQ and QUT.

Joining UQ as a teaching and learning academic in 2006, she has coordinated courses and received a UQ Teaching and Learning Excellence Award. She was the joint winner of the UQ Vice Chancellor's Award, a high commendation in the UQ Trailblazer award for her teaching model empowering students to tell First Nation stories in an informed way. She co-led the United Nations World Press Freedom Day Indigenous Voice Communication for Social Change Forum at UQ in 2010.

She currently is a Post Doc Researcher at The University of Queensland,with Associate Professor Sarah Jane Kelly and Associate Professor Remi Ayoko.

As Chief Investigator she is leading the Digital First Business Transformation Project and the Rapid Transition to Online Learning study with partners in eight regions. She is the leader of a team in a bilateral Australia Indonesia Centre SRR PAIR grant investigating the impact of COVID-19 on Indonesia's Small and Medium Enterprises.

Heather is a Visiting Professor at Universitas Indonesia.

Heather specialises in digital media, marketing and communication change management, journalism work practice research, digital transformation in the media, work-integrated learning, and change management, and best practice for coverage of mental health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories.

In 2020, she supported the Service Learning Online Internship Program at Griffith University as a research assistant and cofacilitator with a focus on mental health and well-being, digital inclusivity, environmental sustainability, and all abilities inclusivity. The pilot project is the subject of a book chapter and series of research publications.

Dr Stewart is a UQ Mental Health Champion and First Responder supporting students and staff. If you are in need of support please email heather.stewart@uq.edu.au