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Academic Staff

Professor Julie McLeod

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 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

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 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

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

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.

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

Dr Aristidis (Harry) Galatis

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.

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

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

Dr Chris McCaw

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.

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

Contemplative practitioners, becoming-teachers (2015-2020)

Professor Marcia McKenzie

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

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

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”.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Returning to study as a mature age student is more likely done by women, but it's often a juggling act

Stephanie Grieve has always wanted to work with animals in some capacity, but with four children and 16 pets, spare time is not something the 37-year-old has in abundance.

That changed earlier this year though when her youngest child started kindergarten and her husband encouraged her to chase her dream.

"I remember being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and I remember saying 'I want to be a vet'," Mrs Grieve said.

"It's always been sitting in the background. But when did I have time?

"It was [husband] Aaron who said to me 'come on, you're going to do your vet nursing'. He's my rock."

It is a common story for a lot of women who start or return to higher education, according to research from the University of Melbourne .

After having children and reassessing their lives, women often return to formal study to try and gain access to new employment opportunities.

But for many, Mrs Grieve included, it is often a juggling act.

Routine is key to study

On most days the mother-of-four, who range in age from five to 15, is up before the sun.

During the school week, with her train-driving husband already at work before his kids are out of bed, mornings are a mad rush for Mrs Grieve.

After getting everyone in the large Grieve household fed — the 16 animals included — the children are herded out the door and into the car with their packed lunches before the 37-year-old returns home to tidy up after the breakfast chaos.

After taking five minutes to catch her breath she settles down for a full day of study.

Thanks to her certificate in veterinary nursing being available via distance education Mrs Grieve is able to undertake it without any kind of commute.

Sometimes work takes place at her desk, sometimes on the couch, while the cats, birds, and various other pets hang about.

As she explains, it does not matter where in her house she studies, the key thing is sticking to a routine between dropping the kids off and picking them up again later that day.

"I have ADHD [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder] so learning has already been a hard thing for me. But I've gotten the help I need to concentrate and study," Mrs Grieve says.

"I'm really lucky with that side of things."

On weekends, with all the children home, that study routine is even more important — although keeping them and all the animals occupied is made easier by her husband.

As he works away building a new enclosure for the family's six pet pythons, the children are kept occupied with homework and video games so their mother can focus. 

Keeping the animals silent can prove a bit harder, with Sassy the moustached parakeet in particular wanting to frequently show off her impressive mimicking skills.

The three cats are more content to snooze quietly though.

Once parenting's done it's time for life goals

Mrs Grieve had always been an animal lover, but after volunteering as a wildlife rescuer and carer for Broken Hill's Rescue and Rehabilitation of Australian Native Animals (RRANA), she wanted to pursue it as a career.

It will be four years before she is fully accredited to work as a veterinary nurse, which involves completing certificate three and four, but with so much support from her family she said she feels she is on the right track to conquering her dreams.

It is something associate professor Jenny Chesters knows can be done despite the challenges of raising a family at the same time.

In addition to being the lead researcher into the motivations and barriers faced by mature age students returning to formal study, the senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne was 43 with three daughters when she enrolled as an undergraduate herself.

"My youngest daughter finished high school, I already had two daughters in university, so I thought 'why not?'" Dr Chesters said.

Prior to this big life decision she had been a casual cleaner at the local hospital.

After completing her undergraduate degree she did not want to stop there and applied for honours at the University of Queensland.

"When I did my honours year I went to the same university as my daughters. [They] wouldn't acknowledge me on campus!" she said.

Now with a doctorate under her belt, Dr Chesters' research interests include inequality in educational attainment and transitions between education and employment throughout the course of life.

Her work suggests women are more likely to return to education later in life, and for different reasons to their male counterparts.

"We find it's after they've had children and now they're thinking they want to go back to work. But [also asking themselves] 'do I want to go back to that profession?'," Dr Chesters said.

Back in Broken Hill, Mrs Grieve agreed with that assessment.

"Once you've done your part as a parent it's now time for you to reach for your goals," she said.

Her advice to anyone who is thinking of reaching for their career goals is simple — talk to those in the know and get moving.

"The more you talk to people in that field the more they'll be able to tell you what direction you'll be able to go," Mrs Grieve said.

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These are the best graduate school programs in Wisconsin, according to U.S. News & World

Top graduate schools in Wisconsin landed on the latest U.S. News & World Report list ranking more than 2,000 programs across the country. U.S. News & World Report published its 2024-'25 report in April, ranking graduate programs in business, education, law and nursing, among other fields.

University of Wisconsin-Madison's the School of Education tied for first overall with Teacher's College, Columbia University, according the report. That's up from third overall and second among public universities last year.

Several of Marquette University's graduate programs moved up on the list, including the master's program in the College of Nursing, which moved up from 66 to 58.

Schools were evaluated based on expert opinion and statistical data measuring the quality of the school's faculty, research and post-graduate outcomes. You can find the full list on the U.S. News website for graduate rankings on their website www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools .

Top business graduate programs in Wisconsin:

• University of Wisconsin-Madison: #43

Top law graduate programs in Wisconsin:

• University of Wisconsin-Madison: #36 (tie)
• Marquette University: #68 (tie)

Top nursing graduate programs in Wisconsin:

• Marquette University: #58 (tie)
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: #82 (tie)
• University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire: #107 (tie)
• University of Wisconsin- Oshkosh: #118
• Alverno College: #119 (tie)
• Milwaukee School of Engineering: #153-169

Top medical graduate programs in Wisconsin:

• University of Wisconsin-Madison: #35 (tie)

Top education graduate programs in Wisconsin:

• University of Wisconsin-Madison: #1 (tie)
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: #169 (tie)
• Marquette University: #192

Top Engineering graduate programs in Wisconsin:

• University of Wisconsin-Madison: #27 (tie)
• Marquette University: #142 (tie)
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: #177 (tie)

RELATED: Here's how Wisconsin universities ranked in the 2024 Best Colleges list

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Fellowship Offers Unique Teaching Opportunities for Doctoral Students

The Gordis Teaching Fellowship recognizes Dr. Leon Gordis’s commitment to excellence in teaching and his tremendous contributions to the Bloomberg School. 

The Bloomberg School of Public Health, together with the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, established the Gordis Teaching Fellowship in 2012. Named in honor of Leon Gordis, MD, DrPH, MPH, Professor Emeritus with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology and director of the Johns Hopkins Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, this teaching fellowship is designed to enrich the Zanvyl Krieger School’s undergraduate curriculum with innovative courses which highlight trends and topics in public health. In addition, the Fellowship creates new teaching opportunities for doctoral students and allows undergraduates the opportunity to take seminar size classes that build on their foundation courses.

In 2023, Department of Epidemiology doctoral student Tom Carpino was awarded the Gordis Fellowship to teach his course “Sex and Syndemics” during the Spring 2024 semester. “The Gordis Fellowship has been an incredible way for me to connect with students about pressing public health issues relevant to my doctoral studies,” Carpino said. “In my course, I get to discuss sexual health and STIs while introducing the concept of syndemics: colliding epidemics which synergistically result in worse health outcomes for populations. It was a huge surprise how much interest there was in this course, with several students joining the waitlist.” The creation of the Gordis Teaching Fellowship is in recognition of Gordis’s commitment to excellence in teaching and tremendous contributions to the Bloomberg School. Gordis was an award-winning teacher and author of the book, Epidemiology. The fellowship program supports up to 10 fellows per year to teach small, seminar-style courses in the Undergraduate Program in Public Health Studies. Each Gordis Fellow receives $8,000 for teaching a course. All Bloomberg School doctoral students are eligible to apply for the Gordis Fellowship program, with the application cycle typically opening in April or May each year. The selected fellows will teach a 3-credit, 13-week course for one semester and may be invited to return if selected by the program director. “For anyone at BSPH interested in teaching and engaging their passions in different ways, I highly recommend this fellowship,” Carpino added. Questions related to the Gordis Fellowship program should be directed to Natalie Boyd, [email protected] .   

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‘It is open season on DEI’

Scholars discuss the current environment in higher education and offer historical context and policy insights at the 45th Pullias Lecture.

At least 10 states have implemented restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) according to a recent ABC News story on the impact of anti-DEI legislation in higher education. Some policies ban state funds from being used for diversity-based programs, activities and offices on college campuses. While others ban diversity offices at universities altogether. On March 28, the USC Pullias Center for Higher Education’s 45th Pullias Lecture gathered leading DEI scholars to discuss the current environment in higher education and offer their historical and policy insights. Held at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the lecture’s theme was Understanding and Navigating an Increasingly Hostile DEI Environment in Higher Education . Over 300 participants—in-person and online—attended the event this year.

Moderated by USC Rossier Dean Pedro Noguera , the distinguished panel of national DEI scholars and researchers included Eddie Cole , professor of education and history, UCLA; Liliana Garces , professor of community college leadership, University of Texas, Austin; and Royel Johnson , associate professor of higher education, USC Rossier and a member of the Pullias Center faculty.

“As these [DEI] challenges emerge, it’s important to remember they come on the heels of progress and to remain hopeful,” said Adrianna Kezar , director of the Pullias Center, in her welcome remarks.

While attacks against DEI on college campuses appear to be in the news more lately, there is a longstanding history of controversy in higher education. “It seems to come out of nowhere,” said Cole. “But the historian of higher education in me reminds me that much of this is not new.” He goes on to say that the attacks on equity in higher education are as old as higher education in the U.S. From the oldest school in the country in 1636 all the way up to 2024, the challenges remain today of who enters college and who does not. The DEI challenge is “woven into the fabric of higher education” according to Cole.

“It’s a very well coordinated and very well funded campaign to see distrust in our higher education system,” said Garces. One main strategy she noted is to mischaracterize educational policies to legitimize them. The mischaracterizations are embedded into laws so that educators are forced to change their practice. The waves of anti-Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K–12 legislation and anti-DEI legislation may have infringements on academic freedom according to Garces. “We know that decades of social science research show that we need to attend to race,” she added. “We need to speak openly and candidly about it, to use Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s words in a prior court ruling, in order to stop race from mattering.”

Cole and Garces also contributed to a recent DEI report providing research-based facts to respond to attacks against DEI initiatives on college campuses. They were among 11 university DEI scholars who contributed to the report produced by the USC Race and Equity Center .

To add further context, Johnson discussed recent events and their connection to higher education. “It is open season on DEI,” he said. From the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020 to the storming of the U.S. Capital on January 6 to a wave of legislation targeting CRT, “what we’re seeing in higher education is an extension of that,” Johnson continued. As the country changes and becomes more diverse, there are implications for democracy. “The evidence is clear,” he added. “The educational benefits of diversity are overwhelming not just to the individual, but to society.”

According to Noguera, the attacks on DEI in higher education is a moment in history and there is no reversing our increasingly diverse society. While the attacks on DEI in higher education are significant and repressive, it does not define the future of education. “Inevitably diversity is in our interests as a nation,” Noguera said.

Adrianna Kezar

• Dean's Professor of Leadership
• Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education
• Director Pullias Center for Higher Education

Royel M. Johnson, PhD

• Associate Professor & Director

Pedro Noguera

• Distinguished Professor of Education
• Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean

Pullias Center for Higher Education

The University of Southern California Race and Equity Center

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Article topics.

• Diversity, equity and inclusion

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April 11, 2024 | Anna Zarra Aldrich, College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources

Advancing Approaches to Physical Therapy

From early mobilization to using neuroscience for physical rehabilitation, Daniele Piscitelli is helping patients and the field of physical therapy move forward

Daniele Piscitelli, assistant professor of kinesiology in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. (Jason Sheldon/UConn Photo)

Daniele Piscitelli, assistant professor of kinesiology in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources , seeks to advance physical therapy practice through approaches like utilizing novel algorithms and incorporating the latest developments in neuroscience into rehabilitation.

Despite the development of effective vaccinations, nearly four years after the emergence of COVID-19 in the U.S., people are still contracting severe cases of COVID-19. Critical illness due to COVID-19 can include symptoms such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Early mobilization is a clinical approach in which a physical therapist helps a critically ill patient resume basic movement like sitting up, stretching, and even walking in some cases.

The paper combined a scientific review of existing research on this topic and clinicians’ experiences with early mobilization in these patients.

Current guidelines for early mobilization restrict the practice to patients within a certain threshold of oxygen support. However, recent evidence suggests there are benefits for getting patients outside of this threshold moving again. Further, no one had yet addressed what to do with patients who have multiple safety concerns, such as those with severe COVID-19.

The team developed an algorithm to help clinicians in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) decide whether to implement early mobilization for individual COVID-19 patients. The algorithm uses information about the patient’s cardiovascular, pulmonary, skeletal, and neurological health. Then, using evidence-based criteria, if the patient meets certain standards, the clinician knows it is safe to engage the patient in early mobilization.

“The algorithm takes into account all the systems,” Piscitelli says. “For instance, by examining the cardiovascular, one can assess the status of blood pressure. Then, you look at the musculoskeletal system and you note, for example, that there are no unstable fractures.”

Critically, the patient and their family must consent to this treatment. Prior research has shown patients have better outcomes when they are part of the decision-making process in a patient-centered model of care.

“This cannot be applied without the patient, family members, and all other members of the team,” Piscitelli says.

The algorithm has not been fully evaluated, but it is an important first step. It also has potential applications beyond COVID-19.

“We think this kind of algorithm that we implemented can also be applied to other populations with respiratory distress,” Piscitelli says.

The next step will be to test this algorithm in ICUs throughout the country to determine if it produces better patient outcomes.

Piscitelli also recently co-authored a book on translating neuroscience into physical rehabilitation practices, addressing a lack of such connections.

Three of the authors of “ Progress in Motor Control: From Neuroscience to Patient Outcomes ” are licensed physical therapists (Piscitelli, Mindy F. Levin, and Maurizio Petrarca) and the fourth (Susanna Summa) is a bioengineer.

The book seeks to reach clinicians and scientists studying motor control, neurorehabilitation, and musculoskeletal rehabilitation.

“When we treat our patients, we are still striving to translate what we study in our research settings,” Piscitelli says. “We wanted to create a book that can help clinicians to apply the latest neurophysiological discoveries into neurorehabilitation.”

For example, Piscitelli says, translating studies from animal models on spinal reflexes to human incomplete spinal cord injury patients can help improve their locomotion.

Piscitelli, whose research focuses on how the brain controls movement and how we can use this knowledge to enhance recovery following a stroke, is working on implementing this kind of intervention in the patients with whom he works.

“So that’s the translation: from basic neuroscience towards a patient population,” says Piscitelli.

This work relates to CAHNR’s Strategic Vision area focused on  Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.

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Harnessing ai to bridge healthcare disparities.

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Sophia Velastegui: C200 member, AI business leader; AI advisor for the National Science Foundation; Former General Manager, AI, and Chief AI Technology Officer at Microsoft; formerly at tech giants Google/Alphabet & Apple; Board Director. Read more on LinkedIn .

In American healthcare, access to quality medical services remains a privilege often dictated by factors beyond one's control. These disparities, deeply ingrained in the fabric of society, manifest in differing life expectancies and unequal health outcomes. Yet, amidst these challenges, Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) transformative potential holds the promise of transcending barriers, democratizing healthcare, and fostering equitable access to vital services.

Healthcare leaders must lead the way in harnessing AI to promote equitable access to quality care. Through strategic leadership, advocacy, and collaboration, company leadership has the opportunity to leverage AI as a powerful tool for advancing health equity and improving health outcomes for all individuals.

Addressing Healthcare Disparities

The reality of living in the US means that skin color, social status, education level and zip code can determine a person’s life expectancy. Navigating the complexities of regular screenings, understanding diagnoses, and adhering to treatment regimens poses significant challenges regardless of one's educational level.

However, studies have shown that people without a college degree have mortality rates of more than four times their peers who attained a college education. While education isn’t the only factor, ensuring that patients receive information about their risk factors, diagnoses, and treatment plans in language they can easily understand is critical to improving their health outcomes. AI, with its large language models, has the power to help reduce healthcare disparities due to education gaps and increase access to disadvantaged populations.

Those innovations are coming fast and furious - and the potential to enhance patient literacy is a compelling reason for the healthcare industry to quickly embrace AI. Healthcare tends to move slowly, thanks to heavy regulation and the need for patient privacy, but leaders can’t wait to take action. As J.P. Morgan noted recently , the industry is ready and eager to execute AI solutions but has never had to respond to anything as fast or transformative as AI.

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Seizing the opportunity to improve patient outcomes while significantly lowering costs means that healthcare will ultimately be more accessible to more people. Leaders must begin to react quickly: the current moment represents the smallest gap for understanding and harnessing AI before the technology continues on a path of exponential growth. Infusing AI into health outreach and services for people with limited formal education will connect more patients to tailored care, more quickly and effectively than current methods.

Translating the Patient-Doctor Relationship

Understanding health conditions and treatment options can pose significant challenges for nearly every patient, as the complexities of science and medicine are inherently difficult for the average individual to grasp. All too often, errors or misunderstandings occur between doctors, patients and their caregivers. There’s no way for healthcare workers to provide the right-level of education and support for every patient, from every background. We’re left with a huge margin for communication errors, with no human-enabled solution in sight.

AI could enable streamlined conversations when a patient seeks care.

This scenario is ripe for AI intervention. Generative AI is trained on large language models and could potentially enable more streamlined yet customized conversations when a patient seeks care. Imagine a doctor being able to provide information to a patient at the appropriate level of easy understanding – spanning from elementary school to doctoral understanding. AI could also be upskilled to account for societal and cultural references, including formal and colloquial language, to ensure healthcare professionals are aware and can minimize the risk of misunderstanding or offense.

Adding an additional layer of complexity is the issue of trust between patients and the medical establishment. Lower income and minority patients have reported lower levels of trust in the clinicians who treat them, often rooted in historical injustices, unethical experiments, or personal experiences of mistreatment. This lack of trust can lead to decreased adherence to treatment recommendations and ultimately, poorer health outcomes compared to patients who have confidence in their healthcare providers. Again, effective communication that resonates with patients on their terms can help to build feelings of trust and partnership between medical teams, patients and caregivers.

Improving Research by Leveraging RWD and RWE

Incorporating real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) into research methodologies offers invaluable insights into patient behaviors beyond clinical settings, enhancing the evaluation of health outcomes. Both RWD and RWE rely on self-reporting by patients that may vary widely and lead to discrepancies in information sharing. If a patient is participating in an observational study or monitoring their own chronic condition, it’s critical that they’re able to provide the most accurate data. Researchers may need to combine self-reported patient data with sources such as health records and disease registries. This large trove of data is an opportunity for AI to synthesize and analyze RWD and RWE to provide researchers with perspectives on how patients are managing their health conditions.

When applied to patients of varying educational backgrounds, GenAI could combine self-reported data at the appropriate level and evaluate patient behaviors beyond clinical settings. The tools could be customized to formal or colloquial language and cultural background then translated into the appropriate language level for research purposes. In addition, LLMs are increasingly multi-modal, meaning that numerous data types such as photos and images could be included to train the AI model. The multi-modal capabilities will allow even more information to be included and reveal a more comprehensive 360-degree view of patients.

A universal example of this concept is pain management. People are notoriously terrible at assessing their pain levels using absolute numbers and scale. Conventional pain assessment techniques relying on subjective 1 to 10 scales or emoticon-based indicators are inherently flawed due to their reliance on individual interpretation. Instead, using AI, a patient could take a photo of themselves when they’re experiencing pain and describe their physical state to help train the tool and enable more accurate reporting of pain. That type of reporting would allow a doctor to ask for and assess comparisons: “Is your pain greater than yesterday? Is it greater than an hour ago?”, enhancing the overall quality of care.

Challenges for Adoption and How to Solve Them

Delivering AI to a complex industry like healthcare requires complex evaluations. Navigating regulatory authorities, safeguarding patient confidentiality, fostering linguistic inclusivity, and refining user experiences are just a few of the multifaceted challenges that must be considered and adequately planned for to ensure success. AI experts who also understand the unique healthcare environment can provide guidance as the technology becomes more advanced and better positioned to make a positive meaningful impact on patients.

Healthcare inequities have been prevalent in the US since the beginning of modern medicine. But as awareness, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment advance, the potential to leverage AI for widespread benefit across diverse demographics becomes increasingly apparent. Investing in technology today that will help close the language gap means improving the health outcomes of generations of Americans today and moving into the future.

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Graduate Research

Doctor of Philosophy - Science

• Course code:   DR-PHILSCI

How to apply

The University of Melbourne offers two graduate research programs: the Doctor of Philosophy (Science) and the Master of Philosophy (Science) . We recommend that you familiarise yourself with both these programs before deciding on the one most suitable for you.

When you have completed or are close to completing the prerequisite studies, please follow the steps below.

Step 1 – Check your eligibility

The entry requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) are the same. Check our entry requirements to confirm that you are eligible.

Please also check that you meet the University’s English Language requirements . We can assess your application even if you do not yet meet the English requirements, however, any course or scholarship offer will be issued conditional on meeting our English language requirements before enrolment.

Step 2 – Find a prospective supervisor

Before you apply, you must have the written support of an academic supervisor. You can search for potential supervisors by exploring the University’s Find an Expert directory or the Faculty of Science Research Prospectus . You can also browse the Faculty of Science School websites, which outline their research areas, themes and staff contacts:

• Ecosystem Sciences
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• Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
• Mathematics and Statistics

When contacting a potential supervisor, you should include the following documents and information:

• Copies of all higher education transcripts, including a grading scale
• A current CV/resume outlining any experience relevant to your proposed field of research, including work experience and prior research output
• A brief summary of your intended area of research, or a research proposal.

Step 3 – Check the scholarship deadlines

Applications for admission to one of our graduate research programs may be submitted at any time in the year. However, to be considered for one of the faculty's  Graduate Research Scholarships you are required to submit a complete application before one of the deadlines of our scholarship rounds. If you intend on applying for a course offer to then apply for a scholarship from a sponsor external to the Faculty of Science, such as an external government scholarship, you will not be considered for a faculty Graduate Research Scholarship and you will instead receive an outcome to your application outside of the below listed timelines.

*Please note that if you do not submit your application with all relevant documentation before this date your application will not be considered in the respective round.

Step 4 – Prepare your documentation

To ensure your application is assessed without delay, please provide the following documentation in your online application:

• Evidence of supervisor endorsement
• Copies of all higher education transcripts, completion statements and grading schemes
• Copies of, or links to, any prior research publications
• Evidence of having met the University's English language requirements
• The names and contact information of academic and/or employer referees.

If you completed a masters degree with an ungraded thesis, please also provide a copy of your thesis and any examiner reports (if available).

When you submit your application, your referees will be emailed a link to access the Graduate Research Referee tool and you will be notified when they submit their reference. It is important that you contact your referees before submitting your application to ensure that they will expect the request for a reference from the University of Melbourne.

Please ensure that your academic referees are able to comment on your most recent, relevant study.

Step 5 – Submit an application

Submit an online application by selecting the link at the top or bottom of this page.

Domestic applicants include all Australian citizens or permanent residents, holders of a permanent Australian humanitarian visa and New Zealand citizens. If you do not fall into one of these categories, you will need to apply as an international applicant.

To apply you will need to search using the course code 'DR-PHILSCI'. Please also note the following:

• International applicants select ‘PG Overseas Fee Paying’
• Domestic applicants select  ‘RTP / RTS / CTS’
• Attendance mode: select 'On Campus'
• Study mode: select 'Standard'.

Once you've submitted your application, you will receive an email stating that your application has been received. If your application is incomplete, you will receive an email requesting additional documents. Assessment of your application will only commence once you have provided all required documents.

Step 6 – Wait for the outcome

If you have submitted a complete application before the closing dates for any round, you will receive an outcome by the relevant date outlined above. We would encourage you to remain in contact with your supervisor while you wait for an application outcome.

Please note, if you have submitted your application but would like to provide additional documents, you can email them to [email protected] .

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Doctor of Education (300BB) // Notes

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Application Procedure: https://study.unimelb.edu.au/find/courses/graduate/doctor-of-education/how-to-apply/

Scholarships : Information about graduate research scholarships offered by the University of Melbourne is available from the Melbourne Scholarships Office .

Last updated: 10 February 2024