The Educational Turn

Dr Kathryn Coleman is an artist, arts-based researcher and senior lecturer in Visual Arts & Design education at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. Kathryn’s research is practice related, focused on visual digital methodologies and digital Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS) methods for data making and generation. As an accomplished visual and digital co-researcher, Kathryn is CI on the University of Melbourne Social Cultural Informatics Platform and a co-editor of the open-access Journal of Artistic and Creative Education. She has six co-edited books on pedagogy and technology in education, supporting interdisciplinary pedagogical and practice-led research in the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. Kathryn was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award, Melbourne Graduate School of Education (2020), and has been recognised for innovative approaches to learning and teaching at Deakin University and Vice Chancellor’sAward for Outstanding Contribution to Creating Innovative Learning Environments (2013). She is also an active member of several collaboratives, including co-research projects in Australia and overseas on teaching, ePortfolios open recognition, and art education. Kate’s research into practice includes teacher practices, creative practices, practices of identity, knowledge as practice and digital practices. Kate is the AARE, AEPR SIG co-lead, co-director of Melbourne, UNESCO Observatory of Arts Education, InSEA World Councillor, and Art Education Australia Committee member. 

Dr Dina Uzhegova is an early career researcher at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. Dina completed her Ph.D. in 2019, investigating factors influencing internationalisation in Russian regional universities in Siberia and the Far East. With her research interests focusing on different aspects of the student experience, Dina is a member of the Student Experience in Higher Education and International Higher Education research groups at the Centre. In 2019, Dina was a part of a University of Melbourne research team working on a national project, Pathways to Success in International Education, and assisted in writing a report for the Australian Government Department of Education, presenting the project findings and providing a list of recommendations on institutional supports and services that effectively contribute to the success of international students in Australian tertiary institutions.

Dr Bella Blaher is the manager at Research and Industry at the Melbourne Education Research Institute in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia. First with Monash University and currently with the University of Melbourne, Bella has been immersed in the university environment, in research, and then administration for over twenty-five years. Working in various departments, she has coordinated efforts in achieving relevant research goals and outcomes that are in alignment with the funding bodies around the world. Bella was the project manager for a multimillion dollar interdisciplinary project involving universities from around the world. She has also been involved in the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) since 2015 and was elected as NCURA Chair of Region VIII in 2019. In 2018, she was awarded the Conference Delegate’s Prize for her poster at the Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Professor Sophia Arkoudis is a professor in Higher Education at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education and an associate dean (Research) in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She is a national and international researcher in higher education. Her research program spans English language teaching and assessment in higher education, student employability, quality of teaching and learning, academic workforce, and internationalising the curriculum. Sophie has led major national studies in recent years, including projects commissioned by Australian Education International, Federal Government, and Universities Australia. She has published widely in the area of English language education and has presented keynotes both nationally and internationally on her research into language and disciplinary teaching, English language standards, international students in higher education and English language development.