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.
Professor Kelly Matthews is a highly respected scholar of higher education curriculum, pedagogy, and student experience, multiple award-winning university teacher, and senior leader collaborating on university-wide teaching, learning, and student experience strategic initiatives.
Her research has shaped the discourse of student voice, arguing for students as partners in higher education. With over 120 academic publications and 80 invited talks, Kelly aims to impact the everyday relational practices of students, academics, and staff associated with connection, care, community, and commitment to collaborative learning.
Her strategic leadership has had a positive impact across disciplines and universities, and she has been recognised with an Australian Teaching Fellowship and a UK-based HEA Principal Fellowship. Kelly has played a key role in establishing international collaborative writing groups and change institutes, creating and sustaining the Students as Partners Network (now in its 10th year), co-founding the International Journal for Students as Partners, and mentoring scholars to write and publish about their teaching and learning.
In 2024, Kelly is collaborating on a cross-institutional study to explore student perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI), co-funded by Deakin, Monash, UQ, and UTS. She is also co-organising the 10th annual Students as Partners (SaP) Roundtable with students and staff from Australia, Pakistan, South Africa, the US, and the UK. With teaching-focused colleagues at Monash, UNSW, UQ, and Sydney, she is co-creating an Australian Teaching/Education Focused Academic Network to connect academics committed to positive educational impact through university teaching. At UQ, she is collaborating with colleagues to develop the Women at E (WE) Network to nurture the leadership capability and positive impact of women professors.
Kelly stepped into the Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) role in July 2024.
Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn and read her latest co-authored book, Writing about teaching and learning in higher education.
Treasure McGuire graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy and a Bachelor of Science (Pharmacology) from the University of Queensland UQ). She also completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy and Graduate Certificate in Higher Education at UQ. In 2005, she completed her PhD in the School of Population Health, UQ, entitled Consumer medicines call centres: a medication liaison model of pharmaceutical care.
She has held a sennior conjoint appointment between the School of Pharmacy, UQ and Mater Pharmacy, Mater Health, Brisbane since 1996, and was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in 2006. In her Mater role, she has been Assistant Director of Pharmacy (Practice and Development) over this same time period. At UQ, she coordinates a graduate clinical pharmacy course within the Master of Clinical Pharmacy program. In 2016, this program received a UQ Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences Team Award for Programs that Enhance Learning and in 2017 a citation in the University of Queensland Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Treasure’s research is translational, focussing on patient centred-care and quality use of medicines in the domains of medicines information, evidence-based practice, medication safety, reproductive health, complementary medicines, communicable diseases and interprofessional education. She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Pharmacy and a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.In recognition of her services to medicines information, she received the Lilly International Fellowship in Hospital Pharmacy and the Bowl of Hygeia of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Sr Eileen Pollard Medal (Mater Research-UQ) for excellence in incorporating research into clinical care provision.
Christy is registered pharmacist with more than 17 years’ experience as a clinical educator and educational researcher, in both academic and clinical settings. Her clinical education experiences have been underpinned by my formal postgraduate qualifications, Master of Education (Clinical Education) and Doctor of Philosophy (Pharmacy Education). Her Doctor of Philosophy (University of Queensland, 2014) examined pharmacy curriculum and its influence on professional identity formation. This research has served as a platform for an ongoing research program in workplace learning in medical and health professional education, which has been recognised internationally.
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. 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.
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. 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.
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 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
Damon Thomas is a senior lecturer in literacy education. His current research interests include theories of writing, writing development, pedagogy, and assessment, systemic functional linguistics, argumentation, standardised assessment, and classical rhetoric. Damon's research has made important contributions in the following areas:
Understanding the complexities of student writing development
Exploring writing instruction in situ
Unpacking and critiquing the results of Australia's only large-scale test: the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy.
Damon completed his PhD at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) in 2015. He began lecturing at UTAS in 2014 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2019. He took up a senior lecturer position at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2021. Before starting his academic career, Damon taught as a primary school teacher in Tasmania after completing a Bachelor of Education degree with First Class Honours.
Damon was part of a team of Chief Investigators from the University of Tasmania, Deakin University, and La Trobe University that secured a successful ARC Linkage Project in 2015 in partnership with Anglicare Tasmania (LP150100558). The project investigated conditions that improved learning and wellbeing outcomes in regional, low-SES schools in Tasmania and Victoria. Damon oversaw the literacy component across school sites and conducted in-depth case studies in Tasmanian primary and high schools.
Damon is currently a Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Project investigating talk for learning in early years mathematics classrooms. Damon's main role is to employ several linguistic frameworks to understand the complexities of student dialogue and features of productive talk.
Damon is a member of several professional organisations including the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association (ASFLA), the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia (PETAA), and the Australian Literacy Educators' Association (ALEA). Damon also translates literacy research for practising teachers via his blog: Read Write Think Learn
I am a senior lecturer in mathematics education at the University of Queensland. My research centres around design and theorising of resources for teaching mathematics well. This includes development of classroom mathematical activities, in which students encounter significant mathematical ideas and joy of the experience; support of mathematics teachers’ work so that they can organise their classrooms for their students' meaningful engagement with mathematics; and inquiries into history of mathematics and education aimed at understanding of possibilities for change. I have served as an editor of the Australian Mathematics Education Journal and currently am the Vice President for Publications within Mathematics Eudctaion Research Group of Australasia (MERGA), and an IPC member for the International Symposium on Elementary Mathematics Teaching.
I completed a Magister degree in mathematics at Comenius University in Slovakia and a PhD in mathematics education at Vanderbilt University in the USA. Before taking my role at UQ, I have taught middle-years mathematics and lectured in mathematics and mathematics education at Comenius, Vanderbilt, and University of California, Santa Cruz. As part of my research, I regularly spend time in schools and classrooms.
