Daniel Edwards is Director of the Tertiary Education Research Program at the Australian Council for Educational Research. He is also an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne and a Director on the ACER Board. Between 2018 and 2021, Dr Edwards was a member of the Australian Department of Education’s Equity in Higher Education Advisory Panel.

Dr Edwards is responsible for coordinating ACER’s higher education, and vocational education and training research. He leads a team of researchers with a wide range of expertise in policy research, assessments and surveys.

Dr Edwards’ research encompasses a range of educational issues, with particular emphasis on higher education. He is currently the Facility Manager for the DFAT Australia Awards Global Tracer Facility, a research facility designed to collect, analyse and disseminate insight into the outcomes of Alumni from the Australia Awards and similar Australian Government scholarships.

Dr Edwards has also led numerous large projects in higher education designed to enhance policy development such as National Project Management of AHELO in Australia, the National Research Student Survey, the Japanese University Experience Survey, the Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration, a stocktake of Work Integrated Learning in STEM, the development of the AHELO Contextual Dimension, research and advice to the Victorian Higher Education Expert Panel and analysis and modelling of supply and demand for researchers in Australia.