HEDx

For those looking for some joy and inspiration about the mission of Australian universities, it is right here.In 20 minutes, this conversation between 2026 Australian University Teacher of the Year Associate Professor Roma Forbes, UQ undergraduate student Madi Piper, and Professor Kelly Matthews offers a grounded reminder of what higher education can be at its best: relational, human, intellectually stretching, and deeply committed to student success.This is a conversation about teaching that values people, learning that makes room for uncertainty, and why student experience is shaped every day by the cultures teachers create. It will leave you feeling better about the state of the sector.

Professor Lucy Marshall is DVC of Community and Leadership at University of Sydney. In this episode she joins Peter Chun as CEO of UniSuper to explore the comparative issues of culture, change management and staff wellbeing between academic and commercial organisations. The transformation and disruption facing the sector, and the rapid emergence of AI and changing market demands, are adding to the loss of social license in making universities tough places to be. Stabilising workplace culture as a prerequisite to leading change and caring for staff wellbeing makes tough calls on leaders which this episode explores.

This week's podbite follows 3 major milestones of Annabel Murphy becoming the first HEDx FT employee, the launch of the Sydney June event program, and the kick off of new AI sandbox projects with collaborators in the UK, US and Australia. Get a summary with this 3 minute overview from the new HEDx offices in Brisbane.

Most PhDs are built on original ideas and critical thinking—so what happens when AI enters the equation? On this episode of the HEDx Student Experience Podcast, three researchers confront the daunting yet exciting challenges AI poses to research integrity, authorship, and the very core of scholarly originality.Join HEDx Associate Sharon Saunders as she hosts an expert-driven discussion about how AI tools are already reshaping doctoral work across disciplines. Discover how AI influences research practices, the importance of balancing AI-assisted productivity with critical thinking, and the ethical dilemmas around authorship in an AI-enabled world. Perfect for doctoral candidates, research supervisors, and policymakers, this episode offers vital insights into navigating AI’s complex landscape.

CEO Margot McNeill and Chief Industry and Innovation Officer Georgia von Guttner host HEDx at the Canberra Institute of Technology to share insights into the new Woden campus at the heart of the tertiary harmonisation agenda. They outline its history, philosophy and strategy allowing a radical approach to skills development, AI mastery and giving voice to students as human capital is developed to be future-fit for a changing world of work. And Michelle Lincoln as Deputy Vice-Chancellor joins us in the foyer of the UA summit to comment on CIT and its success and outline the nature of its partnership with UC in the second episode in a HEDx tertiary harmonisation series.

This episode is from a site visit to the Wyndham Tech School in Werribee. A tour of a real tertiary harmonisation centre of excellence with Director Sam Nikolsky and VU's newly appointed Chief Transformation Officer Gail Bray. In the presence of some of the many thousands of students who get to have their curiosity sparked by a place that comes alive as you go through the front door, this is a great example of STEM and tech study aspiration-building in action. And it is set in the context of wider VU and sector-wide tertiary harmonisation strategies by Senior DVC and Chief Academic Officer John Germov of VU and CEO Patrick Kidd of FSO. A very good place.

This episode reflects on what members in UTS and USyd are bringing to the next HEDx event. It follows meetings making plans for workshops on collective intelligence, AI agents for HEDx content, and the further development of the Castlereagh Statement. And it gives updates on what partners notably MCDS, AWS, Salesforce and many others are collaborating on for shared standards and human capability records to increase equity of access for lifelong learners. This is set in the context of great charitable work to support recovery for victims of domestic violence and sufferers of eating disorders on the Sunshine Coast as we all reflect of what we all do this for. For many of us, it's not for the money .

What happens when students listen in as teaching academics from across Australia speak with Professor Barney Glover – Acting Chief Commissioner of the new national body shaping higher education or ATEC – about the future of higher education?UQ students Madi Piper and Ben Roden-Cohen share what stood out, what surprised them, and what they want leaders to understand about the real student experience.

Professor Kelly Matthews steps in to host a special Teaching and Education Focused Academics (TEFA) Network conversation. Academics from across Australia come together to speak with Professor Barney Glover, Acting Chief Commissioner of the new national body shaping the future of higher education.This episode explores the evolving landscape of the sector, offering insights, questions, and perspectives from those at the forefront of teaching and learning.

This latest weekly reflection follows the second week of visits to UK Vice-Chancellors in London. In a collaboration with Rose Luckin and EDUCATE Ventures Research we are embarking on two pilots of university innovation coalitions in the UK and Australia. They will allow sharing of practices in using AI for experiments as varied as: developing critical thinking, tertiary harmonisation pathways, school to uni transitions and employer engagement. They allow universities to combine their bandwidth to make comprehensive responses in how best to use AI to improve student experiences to regain social licence. The links of such a coalition to a HEDx partnership with the UNE Next70Lab, in building leadership learning resources is also covered.