This keynote panel brings together diverse voices to explore what it means to engage critically with AI in higher education today. Through shared reflections and conversation, the panel will open up new ways of thinking about the opportunities, challenges, and future directions of critical AI practices in teaching and learning. Designed as a catalyst for dialogue, the session invites the audience to reflect, question, and contribute.
Associate Professor Jonathan Boymal, College of Business and Law, RMIT University
Associate Professor Jonathan Boymal is an applied economist and higher education leader with 30 years’ experience across Melbourne, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, and Vietnam. He holds a PhD in Economics and a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from Monash University, and has served in senior roles at RMIT’s College of Business and Law, including Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor (Learning, Teaching and Quality) and Academic Director, Quality and Learning and Teaching Futures.
His academic work spans the digital economy, urban economics and the economics of fertility. He has published in leading journals, undertaken commissioned policy research for State and Federal governments, and has led innovative program design and delivery across diverse business disciplines internationally.
Beyond economics, Jonathan writes and speaks on the intersection of learning, philosophy, and technology. Through LinkedIn and his Substack newsletter The Last Analogue, he shares reflections on learning and teaching in rapidly changing times.
Dr Ruwangi Fernando is an accomplished IT expert, AI specialist, and recognised leader in diversity and inclusion. She completed her PhD at Victoria University in collaboration with Data61, CSIRO, and the Department of Transport in Victoria.
She currently chairs the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Australian Computer Society Victoria and is a member of the Department of Home Affairs Multicultural Women’s Reference Group. A strong advocate for gender equity in STEM, Dr Fernando has a particular focus on addressing the intersectional challenges faced by Women of Colour (WOC).
She is the founder of STEM Sisters, a pioneering organisation empowering WOC in STEM through award-winning programs that break down systemic barriers and promote equal access to opportunities. Under her leadership, STEM Sisters has received multiple accolades, including the TechDiversity Business and Media Awards (2023) and the Victorian International Education Excellence Award (2022).
Dr Fernando also founded iSTEM Co. and launched DEIR, an award-winning recruitment-tech platform eliminating bias in STEM hiring. In 2025, she was appointed Executive-in-Residence at Victoria University and serves as Country Researcher for Australia on the Global Index on Responsible AI.
Dr Ruwangi Fernando, Founder Stem Sisters/ Victoria University Executive in Residence
Associate Professor Jessica Russ-Smith, Wiradyuri Wambuul, Chair, Indigenous Research Ethics Advisory Panel, Australian Catholic University
Associate Professor Jessica Russ-Smith (she/her) is a sovereign Wiradyuri Wambuul woman whose scholarship First Nations sovereignty and knowledges. As Associate Professor of Social Work at Australian Catholic University (ACU) and Chair of ACU's Indigenous Research Ethics Advisory Panel, she leads transformative work in decolonising higher education and research practices.
She is a two-time University Medallist and the 2024 National recipient of the AAUT Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning—the Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Education.
Jess co-authored the groundbreaking 2024 book "The AI (R)evolution: Valuing Country, Culture and Community in a World of Algorithms", which challenges dominant narratives about artificial intelligence by centring First Nations perspectives and sovereignty.
Her research spans First Nations research ethics, critical disability justice, First Nations health and wellbeing, and the complex relationships between AI systems and Indigenous communities, consistently demonstrating how First Nations knowledges offer essential frameworks for ethical technology development and use.
Danny is a molecular biologist by training, programmer by night, researcher and faculty developer by day, and educator at heart. A multiple international and national teaching award winner, he is Professor of Educational Technologies at the University of Sydney where he co-chairs the University's AI in Education working group and leads the Cogniti.ai initiative that puts educators in the driver's seat of AI.
Professor Danny Liu, Educational Innovation Team, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), University of Sydney and Founder, Cogniti