Academic Staff

Professor Julie McLeod

Professor Julie McLeod


 j.mcleod@unimelb.edu.au

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability) University of Melbourne; Professor, Curriculum, Equity and Social Change, Melbourne Graduate School of Education.

Julie McLeod is Professor in Curriculum, Equity and Social Change at the Faculty of Education and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Capability) at The University of Melbourne.

Julie researches in the history and sociology of education, with a focus on youth, gender and social change. She was an editor of the journal Gender and Education (2011-2016). She held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2012-2016) and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia.

Associate Professor Jessica Gerrard

Associate Professor Jessica Gerrard


 jessica.gerrard@unimelb.edu.au
 jessica.gerrard@unimelb.edu.au
 @Jess_Gerrard

Associate Professor

Jessica Gerrard researches the changing formations, and lived experiences, of social inequalities in relation to education, activism, work and unemployment. She works across the disciplines of sociology, history and policy studies with an interest in critical methodologies and theories.

Across her work, Jessica is interested in theorising the changing formations of ‘the public’, including its multiple and exclusionary forms. In the context of the so-called populist moment, a current interest is the social and institutional production of knowledge, authority and expertise, and the relationship of this to social inequalities. She has written two monographs- Precarious Enterprise on the Margins: Work, Poverty and Homelessness in the City (2017, Palgrave, Macmillan) and Radical Childhoods: Schooling and the Struggle for Social Change (2014, University of Manchester Press). She is currently Assistant Dean (Diversity & Inclusion) and the Faculty of Education. She is also Associate Editor for Critical Studies in Education and Editor of the Local/Global Issues in Education Routledge book series.

Jessica holds two Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects. First, she is co-leading an investigation of the shifting practices of public schooling, school governance and parental citizenship in disadvantaged contexts (with Glenn Savage). Second, she is researching community activism and education policy reform across Australia in the 1970s and 1980s (with Helen Proctor and Sue Goodwin).

Previously, Jessica was a McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne (2012-2015)

Dr. Ligia (Licho) López López

Dr. Ligia (Licho) López López


 ligia.lopez@unimelb.edu.au

Senior lecturer

Ligia (Licho) López López is Caribbean, Queer, and of Abiayala. She lives as an uninvited person on Wurundjeri-Woiwurung Country. Licho’s scholarship moves through the geographies of continental Africa, Europe, the US, and Australia and is located at the intersection of curriculum studies, Indigenous and Black studies in education, and Afrodiasporas and youth studies in the digital. She is the author of The making of Indigeneity, curriculum history, and the limits of diversity (Routledge, 2018), and Indigenous futures and learnings taking place (with Gioconda Coello. Routledge, 2021) and Interrogating the relations between migration and education in the South: Migrating Americas (with Ivón Cepeda-Mayorga and María Emilia Tijoux, Routledge, 2022). Her work has also appeared in the The British Journal of Sociology, Race ethnicity and Education, and the Curriculum Inquiry among others.

Licho's current research, drawing from the histories of dispossession and Black and Brown rising, interrogates what the notion of what diversity does in the social world (diverse from what?). She investigates Bla(c)k and Brown youth affect as curricular trans-formation. At the moment she is playing with propositions drawing from global histories of maroonage as Black future making in the 21st century, and Afrodiasporic youth Black geographical formations in the digital space of Tik Tok and Instagram.

Associate Professor John Quay

Associate Professor John Quay


 jquay@unimelb.edu.au

Associate Professor in Physical Education

My research and teaching interests include outdoor education, environmental education, physical education, curriculum theory and philosophy of education. In this way I connect educational practice and theory. My focus is chiefly on existential understanding that draws humanist and post-humanist perspective together. I am an editor-in-chief for the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education and an editorial executive member of Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education. My current leadership role in the Faculty of Education is as Associate Dean Learning and Teaching.

The best expression of my research projects is through my publications, visible through online profiles.

Dr Peter Woelert

Dr Peter Woelert


 pwoelert@unimelb.edu.au

Senior Lecturer

My research focuses on exploring governance and organizational dynamics in the contemporary university, under consideration of macro-level higher education policy trends and settings. I have researched and published on issues such as universities’ responses to national policy and funding changes, the politics of performance measurement, universities’ organizational autonomy, and the unintended effects of large-scale policy and governance reform on institutional diversity. More recently I have developed a growing research interest in novel forms and dynamics of bureaucratization within universities.

In addition to my role of Senior Lecturer I am responsible for the Faculty of Education's graduate research (GR) coursework programs in my role of GR coordinator.

Research projects

The 'new' bureaucracy at universities: Processes, technologies, and practices. MGSE Research Development Award (2019-2020).

Performance-based governance in Australian universities: A case of ‘coercive’ isomorphism? University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Award (2015-2017).

Postdoctoral Research Fellow on Knowledge building in schooling and higher education: Policy strategies and effects, ARC Discovery grant (DP110102466, CI: Prof. L. Yates) (2011-2014).

Dr Sophie Rudolph

Dr Sophie Rudolph


 sophie.rudolph@unimelb.edu.au

Senior Lecturer in Education/DECRA Fellow

My research is interested in the central problem of settler colonial racial domination in Australian contexts in which First Nations people have never ceded sovereignty, and its connection to global European colonialism and capitalism. Through historical and sociological work I examine the impact and dynamics of racial domination on education and the possibilities for education to address racism and achieve racial justice. As a non-Indigenous, white, settler scholar I attempt to engage critically with these issues of power and inequality even as I work within settler colonial institutions and am implicated by settler racial dominance. My PhD research investigated Indigenous education policy, its historical echoes and its political effects. My current project examines the history and contemporary effects of school discipline.

I am not currently teaching but have had involvement in sociology of education, Indigenous education and research methodology subjects.

Research projects

DECRA project: Examining the social, historical and political effects of school discipline.

Dr Aristidis (Harry) Galatis

Dr Aristidis (Harry) Galatis


 a.galatis@unimelb.edu.au

Lecturer in Teacher Education

After completing a PhD in Philosophy (on moral logic) and a Graduate Diploma in Education, both from the University of Melbourne, my teaching and research interests have converged on philosophical community of inquiry (CPI) practices, Philosophy for/with Children programs and the recent introduction in the Australian and Victorian curriculums of the Capabilities (and which include Ethical, Critical and Creative Thinking, Intercultural and Personal and Social capabilities).

I have a particular interest in the identification, development, implementation and assessment of  the intellectual values that sit within Critical and Creative Thinking, like questioning and perspective-taking competency. I teach into a range of philosophy of education-focused subjects and have previously coordinated the University’s Master of Education (International Baccalaureate) Primary Years Program, the Master of Teaching (Primary) and the Master of Teaching (Early Childhood and Primary) initial teacher training programs. I currently coordinate the Master of Teaching (Secondary) course and am on the Executive Committee of the Victorian Association of Philosophy in Schools (VAPS).

I am a current member of the Executive Committee of the Victorian Association for Philosophy in Schools (VAPS), and Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s [VCAA’s] Critical and Creative Thinking Assessment Panelist.

Research projects

VCAA Assessment Content Development Panel – Assessment Research Centre (ARC)

Assessment for Graduate Teachers (AfGT) Implementation & Improvement Committee 2021

Dr Chris McCaw

Dr Chris McCaw


 mccawc@unimelb.edu.au
 @ctmccaw

Lecturer in Education

Dr McCaw’s research focuses on the lives and work of teachers under conditions of social, technological and political change, drawing from resources in philosophy and social theory. His research interests include the nature of teaching and teacher professionalism, reflective and reflexive practice, the purposes of education, post-secularism in education, and questions of self, identity and agency. He has a specific interest in the integration of contemplative practices, such as mindfulness and yoga, into educational discourses and practices. Drawing from phenomenology, theories of social practice and contemplative philosophies, his doctoral work examined the role of contemplative practices in the lives and work of beginning teachers. Dr McCaw’s current research project explores the implications of ‘post-truth’ conditions for education, through the lenses of epistemic cognition and epistemic reflexivity. He conducts both qualitative, empirical studies as well as theoretical inquiries into the foundations of teaching and education. Chris has a background in secondary teaching, specialising in inquiry learning in the sciences, humanities and philosophy.

Dr McCaw teaches extensively into both coursework and professional practice aspects of the Master of Teaching program.

Research projects

Educators, epistemic cognition and post-truth conditions (2021)

Contemplative practitioners, becoming-teachers (2015-2020)

Professor Marcia McKenzie

Professor Marcia McKenzie


 marcia.mckenzie@unimelb.edu.au

Professor Of Global Studies & International Education

Marcia McKenzie is Professor in Global Studies and International Education in the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne. Her research includes both theoretical and applied components at the intersections of comparative and international education, global education policy research, and climate and sustainability education, including in relation to policy mobility, place and land, affect, and other areas of social and geographic study.

She is Director of the $4.5M Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education (MECCE) Project and the Sustainability and Education Policy Network (SEPN), and is an inducted member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. She is co-author of Place in Research: Theory, Methodology, and Methods (Routledge, 2015) and Critical Education and Sociomaterial Practice: Narration, Place, and the Social (Peter Lang, 2016), and co-editor of Land Education: Rethinking Pedagogies of Place from Indigenous, Postcolonial, and Decolonizing Perspectives (Routledge, 2016) and Fields of Green: Restorying Culture, Environment, and Education (Hampton, 2009); and co-edits the Palgrave book series Studies in Education and the Environment. She has recently authored or co-authored three global UNESCO reports, including ‘Country progress on climate change education: A review of national submissions to the UNFCCC,’ and ‘ESD and GCED up close: Cognitive, social and emotional and behavioral learning in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education from pre-primary to secondary education,’ and ‘Learn for our planet: A global review of how environmental issues are integrated in education.’

Dr Maree Martinussen

Dr Maree Martinussen


 maree.martinussen@unimelb.edu.au

McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Maree is a McKenzie Postdoctoral fellow working across sociology, identities studies, affect and emotion and critical studies of higher education. Her interests include diversity and inclusion and in/equities in higher education, particularly relating to social class and intersections with other gendered and racialised identities.

Maree is a co-ordinator of the Affect and Emotions Research Network and is an Associate Board member for Sociological Research Online.

Maree’s main research project investigates how social class identities are constructed by women enrolled in postgraduate studies, and their effects on student experience.

Dr Dianne Mulcahy

Dr Dianne Mulcahy


 monicadm@unimelb.edu.au

Senior lecturer in Education

A Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Dianne’s research and teaching interests concern pedagogy, education policy and materialist methodological approaches to research. Issues of difference, disadvantage and in/exclusions are at the heart of these interests and studied chiefly using the conceptual resources of affect and critical materialist theories. In the recent past, Dianne’s research has centred on pedagogic practice in learning environments within schools and museums. Presently, she is researching aspects of the ethics and politics of affect and their implications for pedagogy and professional practice. She is also undertaking research on citizenship and citizen subjectivity that takes the capacities of human and non-human entities such as climate and the environment into account, towards reconsideration of citizenship curriculum and normative approaches to citizenship education. Dianne publishes widely and reviews for leading education journals including Educational Philosophy and Theory, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, and Pedagogy, Culture & Society. Her recent scholarly works include: “Enacting affirmative ethics in education: A materialist/posthumanist framing”, “Pedagogic affect and its politics: Learning to affect and be affected in education” and “A politics of affect: Re/assembling relations of class and race at the museum”.

Research projects

Affective encounters: Teaching and learning for schools and communities through museums and collections

Pedagogic practices in new generation learning environments in Victorian government schools

Strengthening standards of teaching through linking standards and teacher learning: The development of professional standards for teaching school geography

Dr Melitta Hogarth

Dr Melitta Hogarth


 melitta.hogarth@unimelb.edu.au
 @melitta_hogarth

Assistant Dean (Indigenous), Senior Research Fellow

Melitta Hogarth is a Kamilaroi woman who is the Assistant Dean (Indigenous) and a Senior Research Fellow whose research interests are in education, equity and social justice.  Her PhD titled “Addressing the rights of Indigenous peoples in education: A critical analysis of Indigenous education policy” was awarded the Ray Debus Doctoral Award for Research.

Dr Nicky Dulfer

Dr Nicky Dulfer


 dulfern@unimelb.edu.au

Senior Lecturer in Education Policy, Academic Co-ordinator: Master of International Education: International Baccalaureate

Nicky Dulfer is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne who has over a decade’s experience undertaking research within the field of education. Her research covers several areas of expertise but the underpinning thread to all her research is access, equity, and inclusion. Since moving into an academic career, Nicky has published approximately 30 articles, reports and conference papers.  Her past research projects include both quantitative and qualitative studies which connect to three key themes. The first theme, post-compulsory educational provision has included research investigating high stakes assessment, post-compulsory educational provision, school based apprenticeships and careers education. The second theme of equity has involved research in low and high socio-economic classrooms looking at retention and engagement strategies, funding models and equity practices. The final strand of Nicky’s research focuses on pedagogy, and has comprised examining pedagogical practices, teacher efficacy, differentiation, engagement and retention in a range of secondary schools. Nicky’s current research focusses on differentiated instruction, professional learning communities, online learning, observation models, and approaches to classroom questioning.

Research projects

Understanding Digital Inequality, Melbourne Social Equity Institute (MSEI)

Differentiation in Action in Diverse Environments, Victorian Department of Education and Training (VDET)

Teaching Academies of Professional Practice, (VDET)

Different Countries, different approaches to teaching and learning, Jeff Thompson Research Award (IBO)

Dr Rhonda Di Biase

Dr Rhonda Di Biase


 dibiaser@unimelb.edu.au

Senior lecturer in Education

Rhonda is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education. She has a background in school teaching in Melbourne and internationally across Asia.  Previously she worked at the Maldives National University through a post-tsunami aid project promoting learner-centred education. In 2014 undertook an Endeavour Executive Fellowship promoting local research in the Maldives. Drawing on these experiences her research interests include: pedagogical renewal focusing on active learning reform and education for sustainable development; teachers’ professional learning; and education reform with a particular interest in the needs of small island states.

International research projects

Quality Education: initiatives to improve teaching and learning in low and middle-income countries (Philanthropic funding, 2021)

Investigating sustainable education reform in a Small Island Developing State (MGSE Early Career Researcher Grant, 2017)

Promoting Education for Sustainable Development in the Maldives (Special Study Program - Short, 2019)

Locally based research projects

A study of the effectiveness of a University of Melbourne summer school outreach program (Researcher Development Award, 2021)

Investigating how international students’ conceptions of teaching and learning develop through a Master of Teaching program (MGSE Seed Funding grant, 2017)

Dr John Doolah

Dr John Doolah


 john.doolah@unimelb.edu.au

Lecturer in Indigenous Education

Maiem (hello), I am a Torres Strait Islander of Erubam le (Erub person) and Meriam le (Mer person) heritage. I belong to the sager people of Mer. My Mer nosik (clan) division, is Samsep-Meriam.

My teaching background is in course development, course coordination and lecturing local, national, and international students in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies courses. In my current position at the University of the Faculty of Education I lecture and coordinate Indigenous Education undergraduate and the Master of Teaching First Nations Education courses.

My overall research interest is in the impact of colonisation on Indigenous Australians. I have researched the migration of Torres Strait Islanders from Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) to Keo Deudai (mainland Australia), with the application of the Indigenous research paradigm, ‘consisting of Indigenous ontology, epistemology, methodology, and axiology’. My PhD thesis is titled: “Stories behind the Torres Strait Islander Migration Myth: the journey of the sap/bethey.” The sap/bethey (driftwood) is one of my lubabat (totem). I am in the insider researcher position, taking on the characteristics of the sap/bethey, I am a traveller. The story of the sap/bethey is about travelling away from home (Zenadth Kes) to the land of the ‘Ladaigal’ (Aboriginal) people.

Dr Bonita Marie Cabiles

Dr Bonita Marie Cabiles


 bonita.cabiles@unimelb.edu.au

Lecturer

Bonita Cabiles is a lecturer at the Faculty of Education. Her research has focused on schooling, specifically in the primary setting, looking at curriculum and pedagogy by engaging with historical and sociological perspectives. She has engaged with Bourdieusian sociology and qualitative research approaches in her more recent work. She is interested in exploring educational practices, as well as the practice of educational research, to examine issues of disadvantage and social justice. Her work endeavours to attend to the intersections of theory, methodology, and practice to understand how issues of inclusion, participation, and diversity manifest and are addressed in schooling.

Bonita’s doctoral thesis examined the dynamics around student participation in the context of cultural and linguistic diversity. Her thesis entitled, ‘Participation and cultural and linguistic diversity: An in-depth qualitative inquiry of an Australian primary classroom’ was awarded the Penny McKay Award for most outstanding thesis.

Bonita teaches in the Master of Teaching and Master of Education programs. She coordinates the subject, Diverse and Inclusive Classrooms (DIC) for the primary, and early childhood and primary student cohorts. She is also coordinating the Engaging and Assessing Learners 1 (E&AL1) subject for the primary cohort.

Prior to joining academia, Bonita worked as a teacher and development worker. She has taught in her home country, the Philippines, and in Indonesia. Working in/with non-governmental organisations, she has contributed to educational assistance and curriculum reform projects for under-resourced and minoritised communities in the Philippines.