Featured speakers
Keynote speaker
Professor Sue Bennett
Sue Bennett has more than 30 years’ experience teaching in Australian universities. She started out in science, completing an honours degree in physics, followed by a Masters degree in science communication, later moving into education with a graduate certificate and PhD. She has worked as a writer, programmer, educational designer, higher education teacher and university academic. Sue’s research has explored living and learning with technology, working with multidisciplinary teams across the life course from the early years through to adulthood. She is committed to working collaboratively with practitioners and organisations, and disseminates the findings of her work to researchers, teachers, students, higher education leaders and policymakers. She is currently Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at La Trobe University.
Featured speakers
A/Prof Marian Mahat
Associate Professor Marian Mahat is an internationally recognised expert in learning environments, known for her influential work on the relationship between learning environments and pedagogy. She leads innovative, practice-informed research that empowers educators to design and use learning environments more effectively. Her work on spatial competency has shaped policy, professional learning, and school design across multiple countries. With over 100 publications and extensive experience collaborating with schools, systems, and industry, Marian brings a powerful, evidence-based perspective on creating future-ready learning environments that improves teaching and learning outcomes.
A/Prof Mark Merolli
Associate Professor Mark Merolli is a Physiotherapist. He is an expert in digital health and health informatics and has an extensive active portfolio in digital health capability building in tertiary education and within workforce advancement. He is Director of Innovation & Enterprise (program delivery & support) in the Faculty of MDHS. Mark has projects that cross-cut research, education, and innovation in the Melbourne Entrepreneurial Centre (MEC). He is one of the educational technology Community of Practice chairs over at MEC
A/Prof Margaret Osborne
Margaret Osborne is an Associate Professor in Psychology and Music (Performance Science) at the University of Melbourne. In addition, she maintains a performance psychology practice. From Margaret's earliest music performance experiences when she struggled to achieve her best performance under pressure, she's been fascinated by the elements that support supreme performance execution when it counts. One key aspect is simulating high stress performance scenarios ahead of the “main event”, so that performers of all types – musicians, athletes, public speakers, health students etc - can learn how to execute the required task at the required time to the best of their ability, all whilst managing the heightened emotional and physiological load that typically accompanies it. In this panel Margaret will reflect on her experiences using design methodologies to enhance her teaching activities and learning experiences for students in performance and clinical health domains.
A/Prof Kate Tregloan
Dr Kate Tregloan is Associate Professor in Higher Education at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education. Kate focuses on the intersections of design and higher education. These include the design of contemporary curriculum, as well as the development of design skillsets by students of all disciplines. She is most interested in the decisions and values that impact creative engagement as well as quality assessment in higher education. Outcomes deliver innovative and learning-centred responses to community need. She has long-standing research interests in the design and evaluation of environments that support people with disability, and the development of digital tools that enable interdisciplinary learning and making.