Study with us

The scholarship is available for projects that align with CRADLE’s research themes and our current programs of research. Areas in which applications for PhD are being considered are listed below.

Alternative project topics that support CRADLE’s research agenda will be considered. Please note that each doctoral student has at least two supervisors. Please contact the person named for each topic for more information.

Supervisor Alfred Deakin Professor David Boud:

• Developing evaluative judgement in university courses: How can learners develop the ability to make judgements about their own learning? How can it be fostered in different contexts? How does it develop over time?
• Ensuring feedback influences learning: What strategies and models are effective in enabling feedback processes to have a positive impact on students’ subsequent work? What types of feedback processes can be effectively incorporated across programs? How can students influence the kinds of feedback most useful for their own learning?

Supervisor Professor Phillip Dawson:

• Feedback literacy for effective learning at university and beyond: Feedback literacy is the capability to seek out, understand and make use of feedback, as well as making productive use of emotions throughout the process. What frameworks and strategies help learners make the most of feedback across their studies and into their working lives? Using behaviour change techniques from the health and social sciences, this topic expects to develop ways to support students and graduates to seek out and use feedback, and to manage their emotions throughout the feedback process.
• Assessment security and online assessment: As assessment has rapidly shifted online, many educators have expressed concerns about cheating. A range of assessment designs and technologies have been deployed in response. This project involves an investigation of the effectiveness of those approaches in addressing cheating, as well as their potential harms and benefits.

Supervisor Professor Margaret Bearman:

• Learning and the digitally-mediated workplace: Workplaces are increasingly mediated by big data, analytics and artificial intelligence. This has implications for universities and for learning on the job. How do we navigate a world with new kinds of knowledge practices?
• Assessment and feedback cultures: Assessment and feedback cultures are often overlooked but have considerable influence on how assessment and feedback shape learners. This project offers the opportunity to research assessment/feedback as a cultural, social or socio-material practice. How might this change what learners, teachers or institutions do? This project could have a digital learning focus if this is of interest.


Supervisor Professor Rola Ajjawi:

• Feedback, emotions, and power: The relational aspects of feedback are increasingly coming to be recognised as crucial in how learners make sense of and incorporate feedback. This research seeks to extend our understanding of emotions and power relationships in feedback conversations by examining them across different disciplines and learning environments. The research asks how are emotions and power negotiated within feedback processes and how is this mediated through technology to influence the effects of feedback.
• Assessment, authenticity, and professional identity formation: Taking part in assessment not only drives students’ learning of knowledge, skills and attitudes, but it also shapes their professional identity. This occurs as students take part in authentic practices of the community, engage with standards and criteria and receive feedback on their work. This research asks: How do assessment practices influence students’ professional identity formation? Other angles might include what makes for authentic assessment and how to design assessment for inclusion.
• Inclusion and belonging in higher education: Higher education is in the grip of social acceleration, which can lead to alienation in relationships with educational processes being depicted as a technology or instrument, put to work to bring about pre-determined ends, rather than a deep and transformative experience. Relationships of students to space and time and to buildings, objects, interactions, forms of practice – and, therefore, forms of knowledge – need to be closely examined. This research seeks to explore notions of belonging and social inclusion/exclusion in higher education.

Supervisor Dr Joanna Tai:

• Assessment for inclusion: Assessment in higher education must ensure that a diverse student population can demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes. This project could explore diverse student experiences of assessment, and/or the affordances and limitations of current and emerging assessment designs, within the context of technology-enabled postsecondary environments.
• Peer learning in higher education: The benefits of peer learning for knowledge and skills are well described. There are emerging descriptions of peer learning contributing to desirable graduate learning outcomes such as evaluative judgement. This project seeks to explore and characterise the situations in which peer learning, including but not limited to peer assessments, feedback and discussion, contributes to students’ learning. This qualitative project could be undertaken in a specific disciplinary or professional context, or in a broader postgraduate education setting.

Supervisor Dr Mollie Dollinger:

• Co-design in learning and assessment: In a chaotic, diverse and rapidly evolving higher education context, it is increasingly important to engage with students, industry partners and other stakeholders in the co-design of learning and assessment practices. This research seeks to understand how to ethically and authentically engage with diverse stakeholders towards greater collaboration, and what benefits, challenges and considerations arise from a co-create higher education environment. This project could relate to specific marginalised groups within higher education (e.g., students living with disability, first-in-family) or could look more broadly at student and/or industry, community voices.

Thesis title
Developing First Year Students’ Evaluative Judgement of Academic Writing

Abbas’s thesis was supervised by Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi and CRADLE Director Alfred Deakin Professor David Boud. The thesis explored how assessment activities in the first-year academic writing context can be designed more effectively to set up situations for students to develop their own writing evaluation skills. The focus is on a paradigm shift away from how teachers should evaluate students’ work at the end of writing process toward how students can be actively engaged in reflective and social practices that develop their evaluative skills. Abbas graduated in 2022.

Highlights of Abbas’s PhD journey
During his PhD journey Abbas was awarded the Stuart D.B. Picken Memorial Grant & Full Scholarship to present his paper ‘Developing Evaluative Judgement Skills of Academic Writing: A Step towards Fostering Independent Writing Skills’ at the 2019 Asian Conference on Language Learning (ACLL2019) in Tokyo, Japan.

He was also engaged in a collaborative research project with academics at Deakin’s School of Architecture & Built Environment. The project aimed to explore a sustainable collaborative problem-solving assessment approach that contributed to engineers' longer-term learning needs. The outcome of the project has been the publication of a research paper and two book chapters:

• Designing collaborative problem-solving assessment tasks in engineering
• BIM education assessment: Guidelines for making it authentic
• Incorporating collaborative problem solving (CPS) principles in BIM education.

Besides research Abbas was also involved in professional development activities through which he could receive a Certificate of Achievement for completion of two courses in Educational Neuroscience: Neuroleadership and Conceptual Approaches in Educational Neuroscience, and Learning and Memory: Understandings from Educational Neuroscience.

Where to from here?
Abbas aims to make a meaningful contribution to educational knowledge through conducting research to meet the future needs of education and contribute to curriculum revisions in terms of learning-centered approaches to teaching and assessment. He is currently a reviewer for the Q1 journal Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education and is a member of the editorial review board of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE).

Biography
Abbas has a higher education background, with over seven years experience in teaching and research activities. Prior to commencing his PhD journey, he held positions as research fellow and EFL teacher at Isfahan University, Iran. He conducted a number of research projects at Isfahan and taught academic writing to senior undergraduates for four years. Motivated by learner-centered approaches in higher education, his current work focuses on sustainable pedagogical practices that assist undergraduates not only to adjust to their academic setting but to develop lifelong learning behaviours.

Thesis Title
Self-regulated Learning Strategies in Online Higher Education

Jaclyn’s PhD was completed by publication and she was supervised by CRADLE Director Alfred Deakin Professor David Boud and Professor Ernesto Panadero. Through a series of publications (listed below) Jaclyn explored self-regulated learning and how it affects learning. Jaclyn graduated in 2021.

Publications in thesis:

1. Broadbent, J. & Poon W. (2015). Self-regulated learning strategies & academic achievement in online higher education learning environments: A systematic review. The Internet and Higher Education, 27, 1-13. DOI: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.04.007
2. Broadbent, J. (2017). Comparing online and blended learner's self-regulated learning strategies and academic performance. Internet and Higher Education, 33, 24-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2017.01.004
3. Broadbent, J. & Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M. (2018). Profiles in self-regulated learning and their correlates for online and blended learning students. Educational Technology Research and Development, 66(6),1435–1455. DOI: 10.1007/s11423-018-9595-9
4. Broadbent, J. & Panadero, E, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M. (2020). Effects of mobile-app learning diaries vs online training on specific self-regulated learning components. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68, 2351-2372. DOI: 10.1007/s11423-020-09781-6
5. Broadbent, J. Panadero, E Lodge, J. M., de Barba, P. (2020). Technologies to enhance self-regulated learning in online and computer mediated learning environments. In M. J. Bishop, E. Boling, J. Elen and V. Svihla (Eds). Handbook of Research in Educational Communications and Technology (5th ed.). Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-36119-8_3
6. Broadbent, J., Sharman, S., Panadero, E. &Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M. (2021). How does self-regulated learning influence formative assessment and summative grade? Comparing online and blended learners. Internet and Higher Education, 50. DOI: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2021.100805

Where to from here?

Jaclyn will be working with CRADLE for the next 12 months as an Associate Professor in Educational Research. Look out for more publications from Jaclyn and the CRADLE Team.

Biography

Associate Professor Jaclyn Broadbent is an Associate Head of School (Teaching & Learning) in the School of Psychology at Deakin University. Jaclyn’s research focuses on self-regulated learning as well as the development, evaluation, and translation of effective teaching strategies to ensure student success. Jaclyn has won several awards for her teaching, including an Australian Award for University Teaching and Deakin University Teacher of the Year (twice). Find out more about Jaclyn on her website.

Thesis title
Open Education as Social Justice

Sarah’s thesis investigates how recent innovations in open, online education can act as social justice for socio-economically disadvantaged learners. Recommendations are made on how to design open education programs to overcome histories of disadvantage for many learners who are traditionally under-represented in or excluded from higher education. Sarah was supervised by CRADLE Director Alfred Deakin Professor David Boud,  Dr. Joanna Tai, Dr. Phillip Dawson, and Dr. Nadine Zacharias. Sarah graduated in 2020.

Highlights of Sarah’s PhD journey
6 publications, Galway via Doha, and Geelong, a DIY Graduation festival between COVID lockdowns

Where to from here?
Sarah co-edited and launched a special edition of the journal JIME devoted to Open Education and Social Justice with Professor Laura Czerniewicz from the University of Cape Town during her PhD candidacy. Sarah was successful in her first grant application and was the Chief Investigator on the Open Textbooks and Social Justice national scoping study throughout 2020. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at CRADLE, pursuing a number of related spin-off research, publication and practice projects. Sarah was awarded an Honourable Mention for Best Open Education Research Paper in the 2019 Fred Mulder GO-GN Awards for her important contribution to the open education literature, ‘Changing our (Dis)Course: A Distinctive Social Justice Aligned Definition of Open Education’. Sarah is currently developing an online course into Open Research for Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Canada. She is also employed part-time and using her research skills as an Equity Advisor at RMIT.

Biography
Sarah’s research builds on 16 years practice in technology-enhanced learning within higher education settings. Motivated by equity and social justice concerns, her most recent work has developed MOOCs and open education programs bringing accessible information to a wide international audience including: science-based medical information about our most common medical problems; lessons to support stressed maths learners transitioning to higher education; and digital literacies training as preparation for online study in higher education. Sarah also provides consultancy on the strategic development of distance education (online) programs.

PhD topic

Rebecca Awdry is undertaking her PhD on the top of assignment outsourcing, including assignment bidding sites, bespoke essay mill services, peer-to-peer sharing sites and obtaining work from others. She is exploring the applicability of criminological theories of deviance to contract cheating in higher education. Rebecca is conducting an international research component to establish whether there are differences in outsourcing behaviours across different languages. Professor Phillip Dawson and Associate Professor Wendy Sutherland-Smith are supervising the work.

Biography

Rebecca has spent 13 years working within higher education in Wales, England, Oman and Australia. Her roles have focused on the areas of improving academic quality, academic policy and governance, teaching and learning practices, and learning analytics.

Qualifications

• NVQ in Management, Level 5, National Centre for Business UK
• BScEcon (Hons) in Sociology and Criminology, 2.1, Cardiff University
• MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Distinction, Cardiff University

PhD topic

Christoffer Bjerre Haase is investigating how clinical reasoning in general practice is influenced by data intensification. Data intensification refers to the trend towards more data, faster access to data and increased integration of data through big data approaches, personalised/precision medicine, machine learning, health apps and wearables. The data intensification is currently developing faster than our knowledge can assess the generated data. This project investigates how doctors cope with uncertainty and trustworthiness of data in the clinical and diagnostic setting.

Biography

Christoffer is a medical doctor and PhD fellow from Deakin University and the University of Copenhagen. Based on the philosophy of science and evidence-based medicine, Christoffer is interested in the inter-relations between understandings of data and the concepts of diagnosis, and the ways science and societal discourses influence those concepts. Christoffer is also undertaking research in overdiagnosis and the concept of evidence-based medicine.

PhD topic

Damian’s PhD explores the tension between assessment for learning and assessment of learning in the context of specialist postgraduate medical education in anaesthesia. Damian’s supervisors are Professor Margaret Bearman (primary), Professor David Boud, and Professor Liz Molloy from the University of Melbourne.

Biography

Damian is a Consultant Anaesthetist at Monash Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. Damian is a full-time clinician with experience providing educational and clinical supervision for trainee anaesthetists. Past projects have involved the development of training and assessment tools for procedural skills, and implementation of updated curriculum and workplace-based assessment for anaesthesia training in Australia & New Zealand. Damian has previous research experience, including both qualitative and quantitative investigation of workplace-based assessment in anaesthesia training.

Qualifications

• Graduate Certificate in Educational Research Methodology, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Master of Clinical Education, University of New South Wales
• Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery, University of Melbourne
• Fellow, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists

PhD topic

Karla Wells-Duerr is undertaking her PhD exploring how belonging for higher education students studying online is facilitated.  Karla’s supervision team comprises Dr Sophie Mckenzie, Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi, Professor Jo Coldwell-Neilson, and Dr Elicia Lanham.

Biography

Karla is an academic with the Deakin Learning Futures Pod Learning Innovations team in the Faculty Science, Engineering and Built Environment.  She currently works on learning development, and on curriculum and assessment design. She has over 15 years experience working in the higher education sector and has developed an understanding and interest in the student experience both as a student and from her work. Karla is interested in online learning, agency, identity, inclusive practices and creating place.  She has also been involved in research on supporting students introduction to study and on learning to make connections in first year of university.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts (Sociology & Literature), Deakin University
• Master of Adult Education (Global), Monash University in conjunction with Linkoping University, the University of British Columbia and Western Cape University
• Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Learning and Teaching, Deakin University

PhD topic

Juan’s research explores how science students can develop evaluative judgement capabilities throughout their undergraduate studies. Using a Practice Theory framework, he is interested in how students engage in evaluative judgement practices inside and outside classrooms, and understanding how this might influence the development of their evaluative judgement.  At CRADLE, Juan is supervised by Dr Joanna Tai, Associate Professor Margaret Bearman and Alfred Deakin Professor David Boud.

Biography

Prior to commencing his PhD with CRADLE, Juan undertook a Master’s in education at Monash University, where he also collaborates as a research assistant. His minor Master’s thesis addressed the conceptions of assessment held by academics at a faculty of science, which led him to propose the doctoral research project he is currently developing. Before moving to Australia, Juan worked for four years as a research assistant at Icesi University in Colombia, where he had obtained a Bachelor in Social Psychology (Hons).

Master of Education (Research) topic

Chad’s research explores the significance of the concept of evaluative judgement in its ability to transform learners into professionals. Chad is supervised by Professor Phillip Dawson and Dr Joanna Tai.

Biography

Chad is a senior academic in the Built Environment Degree Programs Department at Holmesglen Institute. He has a strong interest in student-centred education including curriculum, delivery and assessment design. He strongly believes that educational experiences can be transformational for students. He is also interested in educational technology and the integration of online delivery with curriculum and pedagogical objectives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Applied Science (Built Environment), Holmesglen Institute
• Bachelor of Construction Management and Economics, Holmesglen Institute
• Master of Facility Management, Deakin University

PhD topic

Lasse Jensen is enrolled as part of a joint PhD collaboration between Deakin University and the University of Copenhagen. In his PhD project Lasse investigates what students do when they participate in online courses, in particular the actions they take in relation to dialogic assessment feedback. At CRADLE he is supervised by Associate Professor Margaret Bearman and Professor David Boud.

Biography

Since 2008 Lasse has been working in the higher education sector, mostly within education strategy, educational technologies, and communications. Previous projects have focused on MOOCs and open education, public/global health education, international humanitarian education, and the use of virtual reality technologies in education and training.

Qualifications

• Master of Disaster Management, University of Copenhagen
• Master of Arts in Cognitive Semiotics, Aarhus University
• Bachelor of Arts in Information Studies, Aarhus University

PhD topic

Olsi’s PhD project explores the developments induced by imaging and data-intensive technologies, what is known as digital pathology, in diagnostic and knowledge practices regarding cancer diseases at departments of pathology. The empirical approach in this research seeks to trace the collective practices involving digital pathology as an assemblage of technologies, practices, and actors. The theoretical perspective of this project revolves around science and technology studies, sociology of medicine, and philosophy of science. The purpose is to understand the opportunities and challenges prompted by digital pathology through a critical study of its clinical and epistemological impact in cancer diagnostics and treatment. This project is a joint PhD Program between University of Copenhagen and Deakin University. At Deakin, Olsi is supervised by Professor Margaret Bearman and Associate Professor Radhika Gorur.

Biography

Olsi Kusta has graduated from Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana, with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and sociology, specialized in the latter. As of 2019, he holds a master’s degree (MA) in science and technology studies (STS) from the University of Vienna. Main research interests focus on innovative and data-intensive technologies and their influence on clinical and biomedical settings, knowledge practices, and their impact on medical education. In his master thesis, he studied the impact of a virtual microscope in teaching histopathology courses at the Medical University of Graz, Austria.

PhD topic

Jessica Lees is enrolled as part of a joint PhD collaboration between Deakin University and the University of Copenhagen. In her PhD project Jessica will investigate how learning touch-based practice (eg physiotherapy, midwifery) is altered/affected in an increasingly digitally mediated environment. She is supervised by Professor Linda Sweet from the Faculty of Health, and CRADLE supervisors Professor Margaret Bearman and Professor Torsten Risor (Copenhagen).

Biography

Jessica has been working in the higher education sector since 2016 primarily focusing on effective and meaningful community engagement. Jessica has a keen interest in global health and the Sustainable Development Goals. She continues to pursue these areas of interest through her involvement in project work with the Universitas 21 where she has lead the development of The Global Learning Partnership, a project for interprofessional and international student electives in developing countries. Jessica has clinical experience working as a physiotherapist in a major tertiary hospital, professional sport and in private practice.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Physiotherapy (DPT), University of Melbourne
• Bachelor Health Science (Comp Med), Charles Sturt University
• Adv dip. Myotherapy, RMIT

PhD topic

Susie MacFarlane is undertaking her PhD investigating higher education students’ teamwork and collaboration, supervised by Professor David Boud and Dr Rola Ajjawi. She also conducts research in assessment feedback, educational technologies and multimedia, and social inclusion.

Biography

Susie is a Senior Lecturer and researcher working with the Deakin Learning Futures Health Pod team, undertaking capacity building and organisational change projects at Deakin University. She is thrilled to be working with committed and passionate colleagues in the higher education sector working to enhance the student experience, and is particularly interested in understanding systems and approaches that promote both educators’ and students’ agency and intrinsic motivation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science (Hons), Monash University
• Graduate Certificate of Higher Education, Deakin University

PhD topic

Bianka Malecka’s PhD research investigates the impact of ipsative feedback on the development of student feedback literacy. Bianka’s supervisory team includes Dr Rola Ajjawi, Dr Joanna Tai and Professor David Boud.

Biography

Bianka’s research builds on 20 years’ practice as an English language instructor in tertiary institutions in Poland and Australia. She currently teaches a direct entry course at UNSW Global in Sydney. Bianka’s recent projects include exploring the effects of e-portfolio on students’ writing skills (English Australia Action Research programme) and increasing student engagement with feedback through backfeed.

PhD Topic

Tegan’s research explores concepts in the feedback space. Her PhD topic is investigating the effects of student feedback literacy on peer feedback. Tegan is supervised by Professor Phillip Dawson and Dr Joanna Tai.

Biography

Tegan is a new face to the higher education sector. She graduated from her Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) in 2019 at Deakin University, where her fourth-year research centred on emotion regulation in romantic dyads. Fresh to the field, Tegan has a strong fascination with the student experience of feedback at University. Her interests lie in student agency, peer feedback, and online feedback delivery.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Psychology (Honours), Deakin University

PhD Topic

Ameena’s PhD project explores how social capital informs feedback seeking, interpretation and practice. Her supervisors are Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi, Professor Margaret Bearman and Dr Jessica Holloway (Australian Catholic University).

Biography

Ameena hails from Chicago, USA. She learned from her elders the paradoxical role educational institutions played in both suppressing and organising for revolution; this knowing has deeply influenced her academic positionality. She is interested in socially just and equitable education, technology-enhanced feedback and assessment design. Ameena is a recipient of her alma mater’s Outstanding Young Alumna Award (2022) as well as numerous teaching excellence commendations. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AdvanceHE) and the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA).

Qualifications

• Master of Education, Deakin University, Australia
• Graduate Certificate of Learning and Teaching (Higher Education), Swinburne University, Australia
• Bachelor of Science (Business Administration), Illinois Tech, USA
• Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, CBD College, Australia

PhD topic

Darci Taylor is undertaking her PhD investigating how higher education students conceptualise personal goals in the context of their placement learning experience. Darci also conducts research in staff–student partnerships and the changing nature of the higher education workforce. Darci is supervised by Professor David Boud and Professor Phillip Dawson.

Biography

Darci has spent the last 15 years working in higher education in a variety of roles that have seen her develop her research, learning and teaching, management and leadership capabilities – positioning herself as a ‘third space’ individual able to meet the changing demands of a contemporary higher education sector. She is currently a lecturer in the Deakin Learning Futures Health Pod with key responsibilities in curriculum development, online learning design and strategic project implementation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts/Science (Hons), University of Melbourne
• Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary), Monash University
• Graduate Certificate of Higher Education, Monash University

PhD topic

Lincoln Then James’s PhD explores the impact of higher education on students’ ability to make sense of information and make decisions in line with their life and career goals, i.e. their ability to self self-author. Lincoln’s research interests lie in career education, curriculum development and student learning. His supervisors are Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi, Dr Joanna Tai and Associate Professor Denise Jackson (external, Edith Cowan University).

Biography

Lincoln has worked in higher education since 2013, in a multitude of roles including student mentoring, marketing, teaching, and curriculum development. Currently he is employed as a Learning Designer in Deakin’s Faculty of Business and Law, and teaches in MWL101 Professional Insight, a first-year career education unit for Bachelor of Commerce students.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts/Commerce (Honours), Deakin University
• Graduate Certificate of Higher Education Learning and Teaching, Deakin University

PhD topic

Anastasiya’s PhD project explores the impact of students’ prior experiences (feedback histories) on their feedback practices. Anastasiya is supervised by Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi, Professor Phillip Dawson and Professor David Boud.

Biography

Anastasiya has an education background with more than 5 years' experience in teaching German and English as foreign languages and one year experience as a learning designer. Prior to commencing her PhD journey, she was a Research Assistant in a CRADLE project on inclusive assessment. Anastasiya’s research interests are in higher education, feedback and feedback literacy, digital learning, and student identity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Teaching, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Russia
• Graduate Diploma in Commerce, Lincoln University, New Zealand
• Master of Education in Digital Learning, Monash University, Australia