Keynote Speakers

We are excited to announce our Keynote Speakers for the 2026 Conference.

Keynote 1

Professor Braden Hill
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education)
Edith Cowan University

Professor Braden Hill (he/him) is a Noongar (Wardandi) man from the south-west of Western Australia and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students and Education) at Edith Cowan University (ECU), where he leads a portfolio spanning teaching and learning, student experience, access and equity, student success, and graduate outcomes. A trained secondary teacher, Professor Hill brings both professional expertise and personal insight to conversations about educational access, pathways and opportunity. Having entered university through a non-ATAR pathway, he is a strong advocate for broadening participation and ensuring higher education remains accessible through diverse entry pathways.

He has held several senior leadership roles at ECU, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students, Equity and Indigenous), Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Equity and Indigenous), and Head of Kurongkurl Katitjin, ECU’s Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research. Prior to joining ECU, he was Director of Aboriginal Education, Equity and Inclusion at Murdoch University.

Professor Hill is nationally recognised for his leadership in Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ research, and for his work advancing equity, inclusion and student success across higher education. He also reaches a wide public audience through social media, with more than 70k followers on TikTok, using the platform to translate education, equity and policy issues for broader community impact.

Keynote 2

Inclusive assessment in the generative AI era

Dr Nicole Crawford
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE)
Deakin University

Nicole Crawford is a researcher and educator in higher education, working at the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University. She previously had roles at the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education and taught in the University Preparation Program at the University of Tasmania. She initiated the NAEEA Special Interest Group on Mental Health. Her work focuses on equity and inclusion, student and staff wellbeing, and the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence in higher education. She is particularly interested in creating more inclusive and supportive learning environments in a rapidly changing higher education landscape.

Sue Sharpe, SFHEA 
Lecturer, Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education
Deakin Learning Futures
Deakin University 

Sue Sharpe is the Lecturer of Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education at Deakin University, where she leads academic development initiatives with a strong equity focus. Her work addresses emerging challenges in higher education, including assessment reform in the age of generative, agentic, and wearable AI.

Sue has a pragmatic approach to inclusion, grounded in over 15 years’ experience in higher education, both inside and outside the classroom. She has held roles spanning professional, academic and management spaces, including program director of a Bachelor of Health Science. Her leadership in curriculum renewal and academic capability-building has driven improvements in student retention and engagement.

Keynote 3

Dr Jacinta Oldehaver PhD, MEd, PGDip, BEd, Dip Tchg
Associate Head of School (Pacific) Senior Lecturer (School of Education & Social Practice)
Arts and Education, Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland

Jacinta Oldehaver currently serves as Associate Head of School (Pacific) in the School of Education and Social Practice and a Senior Lecturer with extensive experience across primary education, professional learning and development, and tertiary education. She teaches in the Initial Teacher Education (undergraduate) programme, specialising in primary literacy and dialogic pedagogy. She also teaches postgraduate courses in Contemporary Pedagogies and Research Methods and supervises doctoral candidates.

Her research is grounded in partnerships with schools and communities across Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pacific, and South America. Through collaborative and co-design approaches, she focuses on enhancing critical discourse, strengthening teacher practice, and improving Pacific education and literacy outcomes.

Jacinta has led Ministry of Education evaluation research and was Co-Principal Investigator on Te Pae Tawhiti, a cross-faculty research initiative exploring equity in STEM education for Māori and Pacific learners and women, in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering. She is also an advisor on Tupu, a multi-year initiative that supports teachers and school leaders to build capability in inclusive education practices across five Pacific nations, the Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Tonga, and Vanuatu. Her methodological expertise includes design-based research and Pacific research methodologies, particularly Talanoa-informed approaches.