Associate Professor Faith Valencia-Forrester
Academic Lead (Work-Integrated Learning), Charles Sturt University
Faith brings interdisciplinary expertise to our work, combining media experience with qualifications in Arts, Law, and Business alongside her PhD in inclusive work-integrated learning. Her specialisation in innovative projects that unite students, academics, and industry demonstrates exactly the kind of collaborative social impact our initiative champions.
Dr. Preeti Nair
Director, Center for International Relations and Research, Parul University
Dr. Preeti brings exceptional international education leadership to our work, directing internationalisation efforts for over 50,000 students at Parul University's Center for International Relations and Research. Her extensive partnership network across 25+ countries and development of 48+ international programs demonstrates exactly the kind of collaborative approach our initiative champions.
Dr. Preeti's three National Awards for Internationalisation and coordination of mobility for 1,500+ participants demonstrates how strategic partnerships create meaningful outcomes for students while advancing global educational understanding.
Dr. Michelle Smith-Tamaray
Senior Lecturer in the School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University
Dr Michelle Smith-Tamaray is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Allied Health at ACU and serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for the national Speech Pathology degree. She has worked for over 22 years as a speech pathologist and academic across a range of settings and communities. Her clinical work has involved working directly with communities to facilitate communication accessibility. This experience cemented her commitment to working beyond the traditional individual model many health services are based on.
Dr Smith-Tamaray’s work has involved working with communities to enable students to undertake meaningful experiences, in a spirit of solidarity. She has been proactive in undertaking opportunities to develop her theoretical understanding of community-engaged learning, and deepen her understanding of how this relates to Catholic Mission. She is an active member of ACU's CE Community of Practice and has commenced research and interdisciplinary course design with colleagues in the SL/CE area.
Felicity Small
Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Charles Sturt University
Felicity specialises in Social Marketing and Behavioural Change and is passionate about travel, and understanding how travel experiences can leave an indelible imprint on students as part of their learning journey. Felicity's research practice is primarily applied, working with industry partners on projects covering topics such as community gardening and social capital, cybersecurity in agriculture, and soil stewardship. The most recent project is focused on transforming and sharing knowledge amongst stakeholders in the Murray Darling Basin.
Felicity has skills and expertise in both qualitative and quantitative methodology, and is focused on understanding the ripple impact that projects can have on communities and other stakeholders. Professionally, Felicity is currently the marketing coordinator for a not-for-profit called Australasian Business Ethics Network (ABEN).
Dr. Nicholas Ruddell
Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Education, Charles Sturt University
Nick brings vital Indigenous perspective to our work, focusing on culturally grounded partnerships across the Pasifika and Pacific Rim region. His research framework Mutual Cultural Responsivity models exactly the kind of reciprocal relationships our Collaborative champions.Nick's work with First Nations employment, education, and languages demonstrates how authentic partnership creates meaningful outcomes for communities while advancing scholarly understanding.
Dr. Astrid Vachette
Lecturer in Emergency Management , Charles Sturt University
Astrid Vachette is an interdisciplinary social scientist working at the intersection of social and ecological systems in an era defined by compounding and borderless disasters. She is a lecturer in Emergency Management at the Australian Graduate School in Policing and Security, Charles Sturt University. She holds a Bachelor and Masters from France in international crises management, a graduate diploma in Psychology at the University of New England, and completed her doctoral thesis at the Centre for Disaster Studies, James Cook University, on integrated disaster resilience in Vanuatu.
Associate Professor Mellita Jones
International Community Engagement Coordinator, Australian Catholic University
Associate Professor Mellita Jones OAM (PhD, MEd(Research), MICD, GCHE, GDED(Secondary), BSc) has an established applied research record concerned with effective teacher education for a socially just future, with a particular focus on science education, community engaged learning, and international development. Mellita’s early research work explored university-school partnerships for enhancing science teacher professional learning. She was a key member of the Science Teacher Education Partnerships with Schools (STEPS) project and the Victorian team leader on the Principals as STEM Leaders (PASL) project.
She also has research pertaining to more general teacher education pedagogies including personalising learning, critical reflective practice, and social justice. She has also conducted extensive research in the Asia-Pacific regions with a focus on co-design and development, winning multiple grants and consultancies to further education in the region. Mellita has also won a number of awards across her career including awards for teaching excellence, community engagement, ACU mission, and she was recently awarded an Order of Australia for service to education. She currently serves on the Executive Committee for the World Federation of Associations of Teacher Education (WFATE).