Nikhar Pandya is a higher education researcher and educator based in India, with a background in engineering education and academic development. He is currently a faculty member in the Civil Engineering department at B & B Institute of Technology, Vallabh Vidyanagar. His teaching and research interests lie at the intersection of teaching and learning, assessment design, academic integrity, and the pedagogical implications of generative artificial intelligence in higher education. Nikhar’s work critically examines how curriculum and assessment practices can be reimagined to support authentic learning, student agency, and ethical engagement in AI-mediated educational environments. He is particularly interested in pedagogy-first approaches to academic integrity, inclusive curriculum design, and the integration of Indigenous and plural knowledge systems in contemporary higher education. His scholarship is informed by design-based research and reflective teaching practice across undergraduate and postgraduate contexts. Nikhar actively contributes to academic conferences and scholarly conversations on educational innovation, responsible AI, and faculty development. His broader professional interests include interdisciplinary education, experiential learning, and the role of universities in shaping civic and societal futures.

Yi'En Cheng is Lecturer at NUS College of the National University of Singapore. He concurrently holds a courtesy joint appointment with the Department of Geography and serves as an Associate of Asia Research Institute's (ARI) Migration & Mobilities Cluster. His research focuses on the geographies of education and young people through the lenses of mobilities pedagogies, organised into three intersecting strands: international student and youth mobilities; youth citizenship; and internationalisation of education. Yi'En is editorial board member of Global Networks and Children's Geographies and steering committee member of the IGU Commission on Research Methods.

Dr Benito Cao is Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Adelaide. Benito has a vast teaching experience and has received numerous teaching awards, including the Faculty of Arts Executive Dean’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2011 and 2016, a Beacon Commendation for the Enhancement and Innovation of Student Learning in 2016, a Special Commendation COVID 19 Emergency Teaching Response in 2020, and the Stephen Cole the Elder Award for Excellence in Teaching and Support for Learning in 2020. He is the Academic Lead in Learning and Teaching in the School of Society and Culture. He is the author of Environment and Citizenship (Routledge, 2015) and the editor of Environmental Citizenship in the Indian Ocean Region (Routledge, 2021). He is currently experiencing and exploring the impact of generative artificial intelligence in learning and teaching, particularly regarding academic integrity. His approach to this challenge, titled "Don't Be Sorry, Just Declare It", has received significant attention and recognition, including recent publication in Times Higher Education Campus.

Peter Wagstaff (Wags) is a senior lecturer (education-focused). He has taken a leading role in introducing flipped learning, educational design and delivery, and educational leadership at Monash. His work has been recognised nationally and globally, including three Dean’s Awards for Teaching Excellence; a special commendation and citation at the Monash University Vice‐Chancellor’s Awards; a Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, Carrick (OLT) Australian Awards for University Teaching; and the ANZMAC-Pearson Distinguished Marketing Educator of the Year. He has recent publications in the Journal of Marketing Education and the Journal of Business Research, along with numerous conference papers and invited presentations.

Erica Brady is an Education Focused Associate Professor in Marketing at Monash University. Currently the Course Director for the Bachelor of Business Administration at Monash University, she previously spent 10 years as the Director of Education in the Department of Marketing. In these roles she focused on enabling academics to develop their skills and knowledge in education practice and the design and development of organisational systems and processes that remove barriers to innovation. Throughout her career Erica has been responsible for teaching thousands of students, ranging in scope from large 500+ undergraduate units through to boutique Honours and specialised Masters courses. She has received numerous awards for teaching, most recently a 2025 Australian Awards for University Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. Her SoTL research explores assessment at three tiers; educational systems, program design and teaching practice.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Optometry in 2013, Jonathan Ng is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Having completed a Graduate Certificate in University Training in 2020, Jonathan began as a casual demonstrator in the Doctor of Optometry program in 2017 and currently coordinates the second year stream Preclinical/Clinical Training. His interests lie in reflective practice and feedback processes for students.

As a Student Success and Learning Adviser at the University of the Sunshine Coast, I support academic skill development and socio-emotional learning through individual appointments, multimodal workshops, and targeted interventions for diverse student populations. My approach draws on nearly 20 years of university teaching and advising experience, supported by my PhD in Linguistics (University of California, 2013) and international experience as both learner and educator across France, Mexico, the USA, and Australia. My career includes roles as Associate Instructor in Communication, Linguistics and Anthropology, and English as an Additional Language educator. This cross-cultural and interdisciplinary foundation enables me to understand the interplay between linguistic competence, cultural adaptation, and academic success, informing my holistic approach to student advising that addresses learning barriers and builds self-efficacy for diverse university populations.

Demi Wang is an Education Focused academic and Lecturer in Accounting in the Faculty of Business & Economics at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include academic identity, technology enabled teaching innovations, gamification and teaching and learning strategies for financial accounting. Demi is a past recipient of the Faculty of Business & Economics Dean’s Award for Excellence in Tutoring and, as a Certified Practicing Accountant, brings a strong practitioner focus to her teaching.

Ya Ping Lee is a Senior Lecturer in the Curtin School of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Science with experience in clinical teaching and research. A first‑class Honours graduate and registered pharmacist, she completed her PhD at the University of Western Australia in 2008. Her clinical experience spans community and hospital pharmacy, and she currently practises as a credentialed consultant pharmacist providing medication review services in residential aged care. Her research focuses on quality use of medicines, including the use of psychotropics in managing behavioural and psychological symptoms (BPSD) of dementia. She recently received funding from the Dementia Centre of Excellence to develop training on managing aggression related to BPSD. This project builds on her group’s cross‑sectional study, which showed that aggression was the most frequently exhibited behaviour among referrals to Dementia Support Australia from 2016–2020, highlighting the need to prepare the future workforce to improve care for patients with dementia.

Dr. Hilary Coleman is a senior lecturer in the School of Science at the University of Canberra. As an education-focussed academic, she has formal qualifications in both teaching and research and is an evidence-based practitioner. Originally trained as a research chemist, and having also taught as a school teacher, her passion is in aiding students through the school-to-university transition and in enhancing teaching quality in a supported, practical manner. She has previously participated as a team member and leader of education research projects and presentations. The work presented at HERDSA 2026 is her first instance as a chief investigator and she has chosen to collaborate across Learning and Teaching and the Faculties at the University of Canberra. In 2024 she led the university-wide student feedback consultation across all staff and students. This research project forms and ongoing part of that work.

Yanjuan Hu is an associate professor in Higher Education at the Faculty of Education, Southwest University. She obtained her PhD from Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching, the Netherlands. Her current research interests include transcultural teaching and learning, virtual internationalization, supervision of student research and teacher professional development.

Sharon is a sociologist at the University of NSW with experience in educational research, development, instructional design and analysis. She is deeply interested in who succeeds in education, how and why. In her research she explores how different knowledges are produced and successfully transmitted in secondary and tertiary education and through families. She focuses on teaching research methods, policy and sociology and skilled in social research and analysis, instructional design, course and curriculum development, writing and teaching. Her recent research interests include scholarship focus on understanding the impact of AI in government and the social sciences and what this means for social science curriculums and classrooms and career destinations of social science, policy and international studies students.