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LEaRN
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About
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People
LEaRN functions through the dedicated contributions of many different people in a wide variety of roles. Our team of staff are supported by an Executive Group, which provides guidance and acts as our governing body. We are also supported by our industry Partners and our Graduate Researchers, whose invaluable input provides direction and inspiration for research towards creating meaningful change in design for learning.
LEaRN Executive Group
The LEaRN Executive Group governs the activities of LEaRN in response to research needs communicated by our Partners. The Executive values applied research that is both collaborative and interdisciplinary. Its members include:
LEaRN Staff
LEaRN is powered by a small team of academic, research and administrative staff, together with collaborators, based at the University of Melbourne. They include:
LEaRN Graduate Researchers
LEaRN supports a number of Graduate Researchers undertaking PhD or Masters studies in learning environments. Collectively, their work crosses a diverse range of topics which contribute to our evolving understanding of how to design, build and use learning environments.
LEaRN Past Members
LEaRN would like to acknowledge the contributions and support of the following people who have worked to shape and grow our network in an executive or staff capacity.
Past executive members include:
- Prof Tom Kvan, Honorary Fellow, Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
- Prof Julie Bines, Deputy Head, Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine Dentistry & Health Sciences
- Dr Dianne Chambers, Assistant Dean (Learning Technologies) & Senior Lecturer, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
- Prof Geoff McColl, Head of the Melbourne Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Science
Past staff members include:
- Dr Terry Byers, ILETC Research Fellow, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
- Dr Philippa Soccio, LEaRN Research Fellow, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
- Isabella Bower, Research Coordination and Communication Officer, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
- Lachlan Stewart, ILETC Research Assistant, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
- Kirra Liu, Research Assistant, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
- Roz Mountain, Research Assistant, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning
- Heather Mitcheltree, Project & Research Manager, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
- Joann Cattlin, ILETC Project Manager, Melbourne Graduate School of Education
- Dr Sianan Healy, Building Connections Project Manager, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning
LEaRN has also mentored a number of Research Higher Degree students through their studies who have made valuable contributions to the network. These include:
- Leanne Rose-Munroe, M.Ed (Research) Completed, LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
- Sarah Healy, LEaRN Affiliated Researcher, Satellite PhD Candidate
Tom Kvan
Honorary Fellow
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Professor Tom Kvan is the founding Director of LEaRN and Professor of Architecture. He is also the founding and current Director of AURIN, an NCRIS research capability to support urban research that is hosted at the University of Melbourne. In an earlier role as Pro Vice Chancellor (Campus and Global Developments) he provided leadership on campus in the alignment of academic and research strategies with opportunities for campus developments. Tom has served as Dean in three leading universities and is internationally recognised for his pioneering work in design, digital environments and design management.
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Lachlan Stewart
LEaRN/ILETC Research Assistant
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Lachlan is an experienced secondary teacher with a background in educational research. He is a research assistant on several LEaRN projects, where his background in graphic design and publishing helps create easily accessible research for the wider educational community. He has global teaching experience, coordinating faculty transitions to new curriculum and assessment programs and implementing new pedagogical processes for use in both traditional and innovative learning spaces. He currently teaches design at Melbourne High School, and runs a design practice that focuses on publication of academic literature as well as working with select private clients.
Terry Byers
ILETC Research Fellow
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Dr Terry Byers is the Director of the Centenary Library at the Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie). He oversees the strategic direction of the Library, while, working with teachers to understand better their practice and how this affects learning. Terry is also a Research Fellow on the 2016-2019 Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change. He completed his PhD dissertation on the Evaluating 21st Century Learning Environments ARC Linkage. His thesis, in which he was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award, derived quantitative methods to ascertain the impact of different learning spaces on teachers and students.
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Caroline Morrison
LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
PhD Candidate (supervised by Dr Dianne Mulcahy & Dr Ben Cleveland)
Caroline is a PhD Candidate and APA recipient at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne. Her PhD is an empirical inquiry into the influence of policy on practices enactments of teachers, students and leaders in New Generation Learning Environments (NGLEs). Data were gathered in four Melbourne Catholic schools, two primary and two secondary schools that have had significant infrastructural renovation and construction. Questions are: What entities are assembling in teacher, student and leader practices in schools which are working to become NGLEs? And, who and what are NGLE policies for and what do they produce?
Leanne Rose-Munroe
LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
M.Ed (Research) Completed
Leanne is currently the Manager of Learning Spaces at Monash University. Her research interests are evaluating innovative learning environments and the design affordances that enable inclusion in learning opportunities. After working in Education for 18 years, and becoming a member of the LEARN team, Leanne started Learning Space Consultancy working alongside architects providing advice on integrated technology and learning space design solutions. Leanne has consulted on major projects for the Department of Education and Catholic Education Office. More recently, research intiatives have shifted to evaluating innovative learning environments in the tertiary sector and their impacts on learning and teaching.
Fiona Young
ILETC Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by Dr Ben Cleveland, A/Prof Wes Imms & A/Prof Kenn Fisher)
Fiona is an architect with a specialisation in learning environments. She has previously worked as an exhibition designer within leading cultural institutions including The Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences (MAAS), The Australian Museum and The Museum of Wellington City and Sea in New Zealand. She is a Studio Director at Hayball in Sydney where her focus is on schools and the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum) sector. Fiona's research focuses on the affordances of innovative learning environments. Over the course of the project she will explore existing evidence around how affordances are understood and used by teachers to support student deep learning, and how teachers can be empowered to enhance the use of ILEs. The research will involve gaining an overall picture, gathering data and presenting case studies across a wide variety of schools.
Ethel Villafranca
ILETC Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by A/Prof Wes Imms, Dr Marian Mahat & A/Prof Clare Newton)
Ethel completed master's in Museology, on a Fulbright Scholarship, at the University of Florida and bachelor's in Philippine Arts at the University of the Philippines. She has been involved in cultural/museum work since 1998 having held roles/internships at Ayala Museum, Lopez Museum and Library, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Florida Museum of Natural History, Harn Museum of Art, and San Diego Museum of Art. She currently holds a Melbourne Research Scholarship and has previously been awarded fellowships by the Asian Cultural Council, American Alliance of Museums, Florida Association of Museums, and Museum and Galleries Australia.
Marian Mahat
ILETC Research Manager
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Marian Mahat is the lead Research Fellow of the ILETC project. As the Research Manager, she oversees all research activities and the dissemination of project findings including the management of Research Fellows and graduate researchers. Marian has over twenty years of professional and academic experience, spanning several Australian universities, the Australian Federal and local governments, as well as the private sector. Highly proficient in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, she has worked on collaborative projects, written numerous publications and presented in conferences in education. Her research focus is in student learning and outcomes in different learning and teaching contexts.
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Raechel French
ILETC Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by A/Prof Wes Imms, Dr Marian Mahat & A/Prof Clare Newton)
Raechel French is visiting LEaRN in 2017 as a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar. She has undergraduate degrees in both Architecture and Psychology from Texas A&M University and a Master's in Human-Environment Relations from Cornell University. Raechel, based in Austin, Texas, has spent the past four years as an educational planner and currently works for DLR Group. Raechel is completing research this year with the Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change project, specifically looking at what can lead to a successful transition from traditional spaces to more innovative ones in the context of the design and construction process.
Philippa Soccio
LEaRN Research Fellow
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Pippa has a PhD in Architecture (Building Science) from the University of Melbourne. She undertook her PhD as a member of the Future Proofing Schools team, and during this process developed a new post occupancy evaluation (POE) tool for diagnosing indoor environment quality issues inside learning spaces.
Since January 2015, Pippa has been applying her knowledge of learning environments as a Research Fellow with LEaRN. In this role Pippa is leading the three year evaluation program Towards Effective Learning Environments in Catholic Schools, using POE tools to collect data about the pedagogical effectiveness of different learning environment typologies.
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Dion Tuckwell
ILETC Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by Prof Lisa Grocott & A/Prof Wes Imms)
Prior to commencing his academic career at Monash, Dion worked as a designer in a number of multi disciplinary studios in Melbourne. His research interests derive from a transdisciplinary reappraisal of design practice, aiming to study the role and agency of design. As traditional disciplinary boundaries dissolve, design can aid the facilitation of generative conversations by a diverse array of stakeholders, re-positioning the expertise of the designer.
Mark Osborne
LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
Satellite PhD Candidate (supervised by A/Prof Wes Imms & Dr Ben Cleveland)
Mark has been a teacher, school leader and consultant for more than 20 years, working internationally in the areas of future-focused education, innovative learning environments and educational leadership. Mark's work supporting schools to implement innovative learning environments means that he is well positioned to research how to lead disruptive change.
Prior to becoming a consultant, Mark was on the foundation leadership team at Albany Senior High School in Auckland, New Zealand. He has also worked extensively in libraries and makerspaces, seeking to create diverse, inclusive spaces to help communities learn, innovate and find fulfilment.
Sarah Healy
ILETC Project Manager and Research Fellow
Sarah Healy recently finished her PhD at the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education. Her background is in the creative industries and visual art education. She is now researching affective pedagogies across in/formal learning environments, and has an interest in poststructural theories related to new materialities. Sarah took on the role as the ILETC Project Manager and Research Fellow in February 2020.
Vicky Leighton
ILETC Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by A/Prof Wes Imms & Dr Terry Byers)
Vicky has a first class honours degree in Art History and Visual Art from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She gained a scholarship to undertake a Master's degree in Art Theory and Art, and completed a PGCE with Oxford Brookes University in 2008. Vicky is currently a project PhD candidate with the ILETC project team, Head of Art at the ILETC partnership school, Anglican Church Grammar School, Brisbane and vice-chair for The National Churchie Emerging Art Prize. Vicky is currently investigating how to measure a teacher's environmental and spatial literacy in order to develop and provide tools for environmental competency.
Joann Cattlin
ILETC Project Manager
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Joann Cattlin is the Project Manager for the ILETC project. Her role is to coordinate project administration, information management, scheduling of activities and communication with partners and stakeholders. Joann has worked in universities for the last 15 years as a researcher, project manager and librarian. Joann has co-authored a number of articles, book chapter, project reports, conference papers and websites. She is an experienced reference librarian and recently completed a Masters of Information Management (RMIT). She has an interest in information seeking behaviours and communities of practice.
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Chris Bradbeer
ILETC Research Fellow
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Chris Bradbeer is an Associate Principal at Stonefields School in Auckland, opened in 2011. He has a strong interest and experience in the development of Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs) in New Zealand schools; how design affordances can support approaches to contemporary pedagogy, and the opportunities engendered by the provision of new educational spaces. He is currently completing a PhD at the University of Melbourne, focussing on the nature of collaborative teacher practices in ILEs. He is also a Research Fellow (part time) on the 2016-2019 Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change project (ILETC).
Anne Knock
ILETC Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by A/Prof Wes Imms and Dr Ben Cleveland)
Anne has worked in education, commencing as a primary school teacher, and has been the state executive officer for registration and accreditation of an independent school system. Since 2010 Anne has been Director at Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning (SCIL), an activity of Northern Beaches Christian School. In this role she consults with a wide variety of schools in the areas of rethinking education, learning space design and leadership. She holds a Masters of Special Education from the University of Sydney, with particular interest in student behaviour and how teachers can provide the optimal conditions for students to learn.
Ana Sala-Oviedo
E21LE Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by A/Prof Wes Imms & Dr Ben Cleveland)
Ana has a background in architecture and academia and is the Director of the educational planning consultancy New Learning Environments (NLE). She is a member of the SA Chapter of the Association for Learning Environments and is currently undertaking a PhD as part of the 2013 - 2016 ARC Linkage Project Evaluating 21st Century Learning Environments at the University of Melbourne under the LEaRN umbrella. Her focus is on the evaluation of learning environments to determine their effectiveness in supporting contemporary practice for the development of 21st century skills and the role that the educational space planner can play in this evaluation.
Isabella Bower
Research Coordination & Communication Officer
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Bella provides research support across a range of education and health sector projects. She also leads the communication and wider dissemination of LEaRN's activities and research findings. Prior to joining LEaRN, Bella worked with the Office of the Victorian Government Architect in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and was involved with the coordination of the Victorian Design Review Panel. Outside of LEaRN, Bella is completing her PhD at Deakin University and is the 2019 President for the Students of Brain Research (SOBR) association. Bella holds a Bachelor of Design (Architecture) and Masters of Architecture.
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Nick Donaldson
LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
M.Ed (Research) Candidate (supervised by A/Prof Wes Imms & Dr Ben Cleveland)
Nick is a graduate researcher at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, the University of Melbourne. Following his study at the Victorian College of the Arts and his work as an actor in film, TV, and theatre, he completed a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education at Victoria University (where he received numerous awards for excellence in Post Graduate studies and teaching). Nick currently works at Woodleigh School (Langwarrin South) where he teaches the Arts and Humanities and contributes to development and implementation of innovative, collaborative and inquiry-based educational approaches.
Julie Bines
Deputy Head of the Department of Paediatrics
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
Professor Julie Bines is the Victor and Loti Smorgon Professor of Paediatric and Deputy Head of the Department of Paediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. She played a key role in the design of innovative teaching spaces on the Melbourne Childrens Campus and the development of models of education for medical and healthcare professionals. She is a Paediatric Gastroenterologist and Head of Clinical Nutrition at Royal Children's Hospital. Professor Bines also leads the Rotavirus Program at Murdoch Childrens Research Institute that is developing a novel vaccine to prevent infants from severe rotavirus gastroenteritis from birth.
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Wesley Imms
Head of Visual Art Education
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Wesley Imms is an Associate Professor in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, is the Head of Visual Art Education, and the Research Higher Degree Coordinator for Curriculum and Teaching. He is the lead Chief Investigator of the ARC Linkage Project Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change which will run from 2016-2019, and also leads the Evaluating 21st Century Learning Environments ARC Linkage Project, which is being run from 2013 to 2016. He has been involved in a range of solo and collaborative projects since 2000 involving approximately $11 million of external funding, has published over 70 peer reviewed articles, chapters, conference papers and books, numerous reports and invited lectures here and overseas. He is an experienced educator and is involved teaching subjects spanning visual art curriculum and studio practice, innovative learning spaces, and Masters-level learning spaces capstone and teacher/practitioner subjects, in addition to supervising 19 Doctoral, Master of Education/Philosophy and Master of Teaching honours theses.
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Clare Newton
Associate Professor in Learning Environments
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Clare Newton is an Associate Professor in Learning Environments at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. As an architect and Doctor of Education her research is always interdisciplinary. Clare has received four Australian Research Council Linkage Projects on learning environments and led the first two. The first called Smart Green Schools received the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award for engagement. The second, called Future Proofing Schools led to the establishment of PrefabAUS, Australia’s first peak body for prefabrication. Clare is a Co-Director and founding member of the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN). She is Chair of the Hallmark Ageing Research Initiative (HARI) at the University of Melbourne.
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Geoff McColl
Head of the Melbourne Medical School and Professor of Medical Education and Training
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
Geoff McColl is currently Senior Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science and the Professor of Medical Education and Training and Director of the Medical Education Unit in the Melbourne Medical School. Since 2008 he has led the development and implementation of the new Melbourne MD. He has previously held the positions of Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and Clinical Dean of the Royal Melbourne Hospital/Western Hospital Clinical School. Professor McColl’s current research interests are related to the teaching and assessment of diagnostic reasoning skills in medical students.
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Ben Cleveland
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Dr Ben Cleveland is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne, where he is Co-Director of the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN). His current research activity includes leading the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project, ‘Building Connections: Schools as Community Hubs’ (2019-2022) and actively contributing as a Chief Investigator to the ARC Linkage Project ‘Innovative Learning Environments + Teacher Change’ (2016-2019). He recently led a three-year program of learning environment evaluation for Catholic Education Melbourne and Catholic Diocese of Parramatta and reviewed the Victorian Department of Education and Training’s school area standards, resulting in significant policy updates including the development of new School Facility Area Schedules. Ben teaches a range of cross-disciplinary subjects and supervises more than ten PhD and Masters students in the field of Learning Environments Research. Ben has consulted widely on the design of new school facilities in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Northern Territory, and New Zealand. He is immediate past Chair of the Victorian Chapter of Learning Environments Australasia.
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Dianne Chambers
Assistant Dean (Learning Technologies) and Senior Lecturer
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Dr Dianne Chambers is Assistant Dean (Learning Technologies) and Senior Lecturer at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Dianne has taught undergraduate and postgraduate students studying early childhood, primary, and secondary education, and in on campus, online and intensive modes. Dianne was a co-author of the University of Melbourne’s Teaching Spaces Management Plan 2003-2007 and has chaired the University of Melbourne's Teaching Infrastructure Committee. Dianne has won a number of awards for her teaching, including the inaugural Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and a Universitas 21 Fellowship from the University of Melbourne.
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Kenn Fisher
Associate Professor in Learning Environments
Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning
Kenn is recognised as one of the leading learning environment specialists practising internationally. As a consultant to the OECD and UNESCO he has practised in Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He is multi-skilled in a range of disciplines having practiced in all education sectors as a teacher and academic, a strategic facility and campus planner and as a project, facility and design manager.
Through his specialist practice in campus masterplanning and educational facility strategic consulting and architectural briefing, Kenn acts as the prime interface between designers and teachers to co-create learning environments for new and emerging teaching, learning and research paradigms.
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Dan Murphy
ILETC Project
PhD candidate (Supervised by Prof John Hattie and A/Prof Wes Imms)
Dan developed an interest in quantitative education research while completing his MA in Education and Globalisation at the University of Oulu, Finland. His thesis research involved secondary analysis of OECD PISA data and was published in Policy Futures in Education.
Prior to undertaking his PhD he worked as a journalist for trade unions and as federal research officer for the Australian Education Union.
His PhD studies will develop measures of key ILETC project variables and conduct statistical analysis to investigate relationships among these.
Joanne Blannin
Plans to Pedagogy Research Fellow
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Dr Joanne Blannin has taught in four countries and developed an in-depth understanding of learning and teaching. Her many education roles have included outdoor education curriculum director, language tutor, bilingual teacher, curriculum leader, leading teacher, teacher trainer, Victorian Department of Education project officer, lecturer, and school leadership coach. Having taught in both the private and public sectors, Joanne now presents internationally on digital technologies and digital pedagogies. Her research foci include teachers' uses of technology, teachers’ technological/pedagogical skills, and technology’s impact on student learning. Joanne is currently the Digital Learning Leader at Graduate School of Education (MGSE) at the University of Melbourne.
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Julia Morris
Plans to Pedagogy Honorary Research Fellow
Melbourne Graduate School of Education
Dr Julia is the Visual Arts Education (Secondary) Coordinator at Edith Cowan University and an Honorary Fellow with Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. Julia is primarily a mixed methods researcher with an interest in the area of engagement. Her doctoral research investigated how students respond and think critically about visual artworks. It resulted in the creation of a diagnostic tool to help teachers monitor student responses to artworks. Her publications are often cross-disciplinary, focusing on the use of data to change practice. Julia also engages in creative arts research as a visual artist and educator.
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Raed AlBanna
LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
PhD candidate (supervised by Dr Ben Cleveland & A/Prof Wally Smith)
Raed is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. His research of interest focuses on the concept of embodiment in designed environments. He aims to investigate how architecture, technology, and fellow student (peers) can influence students experiences of learning with their bodies in Primary Schools. Raed holds a Masters in Multimedia Design from Monash University (Australia), and a Bachelor Degree in Architecture from Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University (Saudi Arabia). Raed has been granted a scholarship from Saudi Arabia to pursue his PhD study.
Qusai Anteet
LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
PhD candidate (supervised by Dr Ben Cleveland & Prof Kim Dovey)
Qusai holds a Master of Architecture and is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, having previously worked in both academia and industry. His research investigates the alignment of emerging pedagogies, school architecture and decision-making process (briefing/programming) in the context of the Saudi Arabian education system - towards fostering evidence-based school design. The research explores how school architectural design, integrated technologies and the social organisation of students contributes to students embodied learning experiences. Qusai has been granted a scholarship from Saudi Arabia to pursue his PhD study. He is a member of Learning Environments Australasia.
Scott Alterator
LEaRN Research Fellow
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Scott is Research Fellow with Learning Environments Applied Learning Network (LEaRN). Scott is currently investigating Special Education Needs environment performance. Scott's recent book, School Space and its Occupation (Alterator & Deed (Eds), 2018), brings international authors together to conceptualise and investigate the lived experience of learning environments. Scott consults on learning environment design and innovative occupation across the world. Scott is a committee member of Association for Learning Environments and is driven to share insights on the meaningful combination of education and design narratives.
Sarah Backhouse
Building Connections Project Manager
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Sarah is a registered architect who has been facilitating future focused conversations about workspace and learning environments for the past 20 years. She has consulted on projects as diverse as Global Workplace Guidelines for Microsoft and User Briefs for more than 20 Universities in the UK, Europe and Australia. Sarah's research interests and expertise span learning environments, academic workspace transformation, architectural briefing, and psychological wellbeing in the built environment. With expertise in higher education learning and working environments, Sarah managed the Academic Workspace Evaluation (AWE) project which aims to provide universities and research institutions with guidance on appropriate workspace typologies for the future. Since May 2020, Sarah has taken on a new role as the Project Manager for Building Connections ARC Linkage Project.
Philippa Chandler
Research Fellow
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Dr Philippa (Pippa) Chandler is Research Fellow with Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN) where she is investigating how schools can double-up as community hubs. Philippa is a member of the Institute of Australian Geographers and is particularly interested in how people ‘perform’ community in everyday Australian life. Her recent PhD explored place-attachment, community and environmental conflict among return visitors to the Ningaloo Reef region of Western Australia. In her spare time, Philippa dabbles with journalism and occasionally contributes articles about arts and culture to Guardian Australia.
Sianan Healy
Research Fellow
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Dr Sianan Healy is Project Coordinator for the ARC Linkage project ‘Building Connections: Schools as Community Hubs’, based in LEaRN. She provides research support, leads the dissemination of research findings and coordinates communication with partners and stakeholders. Sianan recently completed a research fellowship on histories of Aboriginal housing projects in postwar Victoria; prior to that she was research fellow and project manager on the ARC Discovering Project ‘Designing Australian Schools: A Spatial History of Innovation, Pedagogy and Social Change (University of Melbourne).
Lucio Naccarella
Associate Professor
Melbourne School of Population and Global Health
A/Prof Lucio Naccarella is a health systems & program researcher and evaluator with interests in: systems change; workspace environmental design evaluation; building evaluation capability; evaluating health system literacy initiatives and workforce models of care; and supporting health workforce reforms, from a policy, research and practice perspective. Since completing his PhD in 2006, he has made a whole of career commitment to an interdisciplinary academic practice, as witnessed by his collaboration with LEaRN on the Academic Workspace Evaluation (AWE) project's exploration of optimum academic workspaces for the future.
Natalie Miles
Building Connections Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by Dr Ben Cleveland & Dr Philippa Chandler)
As part of Building Connections Project, Natalie is researching ‘Spatial Analysis of School and Community Interaction, identifying and recording who, where, when and how community members are using school facilities.
Natalie is also a registered architect in Victoria and has been practicing architecture as an Associate at Austin Maynard Architects with several award-winning projects under her belt since completing her Master of Architecture in 2013. This PhD project sees a return to her interest in schools and education after her master’s thesis titled School/City.
Carolina Rivera Yevenes
Building Connections Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by Dr Ben Cleveland & Dr Philippa Chandler)
As part of Building Connections Project, Carolina's research will focus on how schools can be planned, designed, governed and managed to thrive as community hubs.
She holds a Master of education from the University of Melbourne and a degree in education and philosophy. She has more than ten years of experience as a teacher and is also working with schools as an academic consultant and formulating intervention programs. In 2012, she co-founded NGO Innovacien, Chilean organisation working in the development of 21st-century skills, technology and innovation in schools.
Phuong Nguyen
Research Communication Coordinator
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning
Phuong is experienced in project management, public relations and stakeholder engagement in non-profit organisations, community-based projects and education sector. Since 2017, Phuong has held multiple positions across the University of Melbourne while and after completing her Master's degree in development studies. Her main responsibilities with LEaRN include managing the communication and implementation of the network's research and engagement activities.
Elizabeth (Ella) Masters
LEaRN Affiliated Researcher
PhD candidate (supervised by A/Prof Clare Newton)
Part-time PhD student Elizabeth is researching the relationship between recent education policy and learning space innovation in NSW and Victoria. She is also an architect and runs the ACT-based Howff Design linking learning with place. Clare Newton and Ben Cleveland are supervisors for her PhD with Kenn Fisher and Wes Imms on her supervisory panel.
Hayley Paproth
Building Connections Project
PhD Candidate (supervised by Professor Janet Clinton - MGSE)
Hayley Paproth joins the Building Connections team as a PhD Candidate in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at The University of Melbourne. Hayley will be evaluating the social impact of community hub schools, seeking to identify cases of improved social outcomes due to community hub schools, and the factors that lead to this success. She will also investigate ways to support community hub schools to conduct their own monitoring and evaluation.
Hayley holds a Bachelor of Engineering, a Bachelor of Science, a Masters of Teaching, and a Masters of Evaluation and has over 7 years’ experience as a teacher and leader in Victorian schools. She also has experience in diverse evaluation projects, including managing large-scale projects being conducted for the Victorian Department of Education and Training, as part of her work with the Centre for Program Evaluation at the University of Melbourne.
Robert Polglase
Building Connections Project
PhD Candidate (Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University)
Joining the Building Connections team culminates Rob’s long held dream to collaborate to build research based evidence for sharing knowledge to influence policy settings, connected to planning, design, delivery of learning and community sites to meet diverse community needs as flourishing centres.
Rob’s research proposal is steeped in years of project work related to Building Connections objectives for evaluating policy-planning-design-governance settings. This experience includes education, health, community sectors, commercial, multi-residential, public realm, transport infrastructure, urban renewal and land development programs. These projects have incorporated urban policy development, strategic planning, funding submissions, setting site planning and development vision, concept to final agreed design, contract procurement to delivery with advocacy for clients, stakeholders, communities, and all levels of Government.
Rob has extensively participated in industry forums and academic teaching throughout his career. Rob’s recent teaching focus has included affordable, socially inclusive design for education, community health, housing density, connected neighbourhoods.
