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My teaching practice is anchored in the scholarship of reflective practice, an evidence-based approach proven to enhance teaching quality and improve student outcomes and grounded in the conviction that quality teaching is fundamental to student success.

As the Academic Lead for Advancing Teaching at UQ’s Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation (ITaLI), I design programs that enhance teaching excellence. Through these programs, my leadership and expertise impact governance, curriculum innovation, and has shaped inclusive academic communities within and beyond UQ.

My research impacts Higher Education globally and focuses on recognising and rewarding teaching expertise, shaping policies across higher education institutions. I have contributed to 24 curriculum reviews of academic programs, published 84 scholarly works, secured $1.9M in funding to investigate and innovate university education practices, and spearheaded international collaborations that influence teaching recognition and career progression globally.

A dedicated mentor, I have supported over 800 UQ staff in achieving HEA Fellowships, guided senior leaders globally in attaining their Principal Fellowship status. I have established similar schemes in partnership with 8 universities across in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the UK.

I am the program convener of the Graduate Certificate of University Teaching Practice which enables UQ staff develop teaching expertise. Successful completion of this accredited program leads to HEA Fellowship.

Professor Kelly Matthews is a higher education researcher at The University of Queensland whose work focuses on student experience, curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. Her research examines how students and staff participate in shaping learning, teaching, and governance, and how these relationships influence educational quality, responsibility, and institutional change.

Kelly’s research is grounded in a sustained commitment to informing practice and improving educational outcomes. Her work on student–staff partnership has clarified distinctions between partnership and representation, examined the conditions under which participation is meaningful rather than symbolic, and analysed how responsibility and expertise are negotiated in educational settings. Across her research program, she emphasises translating evidence into practical guidance for teaching, curriculum design, assessment, and governance. This orientation has supported changes in institutional policy, academic development programs, and classroom practice in Australia and internationally, with attention to feasibility, context, and accountability.

More recently, Kelly’s research has focused on students’ experiences of artificial intelligence in higher education, with particular attention to assessment and learning practices. She co-leads the multi-institutional Students & AI project, which investigates students’ access to, use of, and beliefs about AI in learning and assessment. Following the initial large-scale survey conducted in 2024, the study is being updated and re-run in 2026 to enable longitudinal analysis of change over time. Findings from this work are intended to inform practical decision-making about assessment design, academic integrity, and responsible teaching practice in AI-rich learning environments.

Kelly’s scholarship is widely cited and published in leading international journals, including Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education, and Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. As of early 2026, her work has attracted more than 6,400 citations, with an h-index of 39 and an i10-index of 89 according to Google Scholar. Citation impact analysis using Scopus indicates a Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of 2.46 in her field, indicating that her publications are cited more than twice the global average for comparable research. Usage and readership data indicate sustained international attention, with a substantial proportion of outputs appearing among the top 10% most-viewed publications worldwide and a consistent share reaching the top 1%.

Kelly is the inaugural editor of the International Journal for Students as Partners, an open-access journal founded on an innovative editorial model comprising equal numbers of student and staff editors. Over its first decade, the journal has published more than 250 contributions, many co-authored with students, and has become a key global outlet for partnership scholarship, including work from underrepresented regions and the Global South. The journal plays a practical role in shaping the field by supporting accessible scholarship, diverse authorship, and research that is closely connected to educational practice.

Kelly is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE and an Australian Teaching and Learning Fellow, recognising sustained leadership and impact in higher education teaching and learning. She has been recognised with several awards, most recently a UQ Excellence Award for Leadership with a multidisciplinary team for positive impact on UQ's Teaching-focused (TF) academics.

She holds senior roles, including Academic Lead (Student Experience and Strategic Initiatives) and Director, Scholarship and Translation, at UQ's Institute of Teaching and Learning Innovation. Read more about this and her governance roles here.

Associate Professor 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 held a conjoint appointment between the School of Pharmacy, UQ and Mater Pharmacy, Mater Health, South East Queensland between 1996 and December 2022. She was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in 2006, Associate Professor, Clinical in 2021 and since 2023 Honorary Associate Professor. Treasure also holds a conjoint appointment between Mater and the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University as Associate Professor of Pharmacology. In her clinical role at Mater, she is Assistant Director of Pharmacy (Practice and Development). At UQ, she coordinated a graduate clinical pharmacy course within the Master of Clinical Pharmacy program for over a decade. 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, focusing 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 Emeritus Fellow of the Australasian College of Pharmacy, Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and Foundation Fellow, Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy. 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.

Adriana Penman is a Senior Teaching-Focused Lecturer in Speech Pathology and the Acting Head of Speech Pathology for the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences (HMBS) at The University of Queensland (UQ). She is an elected Academic member of the UQ Academic Board (2026-2028). Adriana is an experienced speech pathologist who has worked clinically in the areas of adult swallowing and communication disorders across the continuum of care and stuttering or fluency disorders across the lifespan. Adriana is passionate about sharing her knowledge, experience and expertise in these clinical areas through her teaching and research.

Adriana's teaching and research programs are driven by the need to create innovative and authentic solutions such as embedding simulation-based learning within health professional curricula to support students’ preparation for practice. Adriana leads a program of research that aims to assist the growth of new graduates who are prepared for future success in speech pathology through their enriched student educational experiences. As a previous ITaLI Affiliate Academic, she is interested in embedding experiential learning opportunities such as simulation-based learning into university classrooms more broadly to assist student learning and engagement, and to build their confidence and readiness for placement. Additionally, within her Affiliate Academic role in 2023-2024, Adriana is the ITaLI representative on the UQ Fitness to Practise Working Party review which is necessitated to continue to guide and support students as developing practitioners.

Adriana's program of research is focussed on the investigation of teaching and learning practices within speech pathology and more broadly, within health science professions with a specific focus on graduate preparedness for placement and the transition to professional practice. She maintains national and international collaborations with a learning community of academics interested in scholarship of teaching. Adriana’s PhD (2021) investigated the use of simulation-based learning to prepare speech pathology students for clinical practice. Her research utilises mixed methodologies however, she has a particular interest in qualitative studies. Adriana is an active researcher in stuttering across the lifespan, teaching and student learning practices, practice education and simulation pedagogy. She is also interested in exploring students’ engagement in interprofessional education and collaborative practice.

Awards and Fellowships:

• Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy (2025)
• UQ Award for Teaching Excellence (2024)
• Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences (HaBS) Award for Teaching Excellence (2023)
• Fellow, Higher Education Academy (2019)
• Faculty of Heath and Behavioural Sciences (HaBS) Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2018)
• School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) Early Career Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2017)
• School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) Commendation for Early Career Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2016)

Dr Emily Ross is Deputy Director of Teaching and Learning, Director of Primary Preservice Programs, and 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.

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.

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 former 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.

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.