Project Team

Team Leader: A/Prof Abhaya C. Nayak, Department of Computing, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW.

Abhaya Nayak is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computing, Macquarie University. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Rochester (USA) with a dissertation on formal models of rational belief change, a topic at the interface between Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy. He is well published and well cited, and is internationally known for his work in this field of research. In recent years he has been interested in areas related to academic honesty and integrity. In 2011 he organised the Macquarie Symposium on Academic Integrity that was very well received. He has been a member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Educational Integrity (APFEI) since 2011. He organised the Sixth Asia Pacific Conference on Educational Integrity (6APCEI) that was held in Sydney in October 2013. Jointly with co-chair Sonia Saddiqui he is in the process of editing a Springer volume based on a selection of papers presented at the 6APCEI.

Professor Deborah Richards, PGrad Cert HigherEd, PhD, MAppSc, B.Bus (Department of Computing, Macquarie University)

Deborah commenced her career in the ICT Industry in 1980 performing roles such as data-control, operator, analyst, programmer, manager and director. In 1999, she joined Macquarie University as a lecturer and has taught software engineering since that time. In 2003, Deborah received a Macquarie University Outstanding Teachers award in 2003, and received Business Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) Honourable mention for "Outstanding achievement in collaboration in teaching and industry" (2003 runnerup). She was a team member of the 2008 ALTC Implementing Effective Learning Designs and in 2010/11 was a member of the subteam on leadership in the ALTC PELT (Peer Evaluation of L&T) project. Her main research focus is on Intelligent Virtual Agents in the field of Artificial Intelligence. She is currently a CI on an ARC Discovery with USyd on the use of "Multi-User Virtual Environments for Science inquiry in Australian secondary high schools". Since 1995 she has published over 220 refereed research papers.

Associate Professor Judi Homewood, PhD (Department of Psychology, Macquarie University)

Judi is a psychologist who is currently the Associate Dean of Higher Degrees Research in the Faculty of Human Sciences. She has also in the past been the Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching in the same faculty. Judi was chair of the committee that developed the academic honesty policy at Macquarie University.

Associate Professor Ian Solomonides, B.Ed (Hons), PhD (School of Education, Macquarie University)

Ian has taught extensively in art and design and he held positions as Program Leader for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Furniture and Product Design, and Learning and Teaching Coordinator at Nottingham Trent University in the UK before moving to Australia and Macquarie in 2006. As Director of the Learning and Teaching Centre Ian and his team are responsible for service and support in areas such as learning technologies, academic and educational development, student feedback, and the conversion of materials for students with accessibility needs, as well managing a wide variety of projects on behalf of the University.Ian's research is located in the area of higher education, primarily focusing on the quality of student learning, student engagement and the student experience more broadly. He has produced several publications related to the quality of student learning, motivating students, the conceptions of learning and teaching held by students and staff, teaching and assessment methods, and student engagement. He has also produced work in relation to curriculum design and sustainability in the curriculum. Ian is currently the Secretary and Treasurer of the Council of Australian Directors of Academic Development, and was recently appointed to TEQSA Register of Experts as an expert in Higher Education Learning and Teaching.

Nicholas McGuigan, BCom (Hons) (Cant), Cert. Adult Teaching, Dip. Tertiary Teaching (Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Macquarie University)

Nicholas is a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of Department in Accounting and Corporate Governance at Macquarie University and recent recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award 2013. His research interests include the integration of graduate attributes within the accounting curriculum, student conceptions of and learning approaches towards accounting and innovative teaching practice. He has published in international accounting and education journals and leads the Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Teaching and Research Innovation Group, and is Co-Chair of the Accounting Education Special Interest Group for Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ). Nicholas is the Associate Editor for Issues in Accounting Education and Higher Education and Research (HERD) Journal and is an active member of both educational and professional accounting associations including Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA), European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), The New Zealand Association of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (DEANZ), AFAANZ, European Accounting Association (EAA) and American Accounting Association (AAA).

Associate Professor Fiona White, BA (Hons), PhD (School of Psychology, Sydney University)

Fiona has a strong track record of research outputs conducted with large multi-disciplinary teams, across multiple sites. She is co-designer of the Constructive feedback and plagiarism reduction program in the School of Psychology, University of Sydney. For her efforts, along with Dr Caleb Owens, she was awarded a University of Sydney Vice Chancellor’s Award (2012) and an OLT Citations Award (2013). Fiona has also been widely published and funded by significant and nationally competitive grants form the ARC, OLT and ViChealth

Dr. Caleb Owens, BSc. Psych, PhD (School of Psychology, Sydney University)

Dr. Roger Vallance, PhD (Faculty of Education, Australian Catholic University)

Roger completed his PhD at Cambridge University in 1998. Subsequently, he has conducted teaching and learning audits in secondary schools, leadership and AUSAid supported workshops in PNG, the Solomons Islands, supported research skills of staff and students in PNG and in the Philippines. In 2009 Dr Vallance joined ACU at Strathfield here he supports research students and research staff with methods workshops as well as teaching research skills to undergraduates and postgraduate students. His own research includes quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. He is considered an expert teacher and mentor of QSR NVivo.

Leanne Cameron, M. Ed (ICT in Education), Grad Dip (Computers in Education), BA (InfoSci), Dip. Ed (Faculty of Education, Australian Catholic University)

Leanne is currently Lecturer in Educational Studies (ICT) in the Faculty of Education at the Australian Catholic University. She has previously worked at both Sydney and Macquarie Universities in Australia and regularly co-ordinates online courses and workshops with universities in Singapore, Malaysia and the UK. Leanne is currently sought after for her presentations and workshops on the use of social media and Web2.0 tools in education. The focus of her work for some years has been the investigation and promotion of how technology can be used to introduce different teaching and learning approaches in different disciplines. While working with MELCOE (Macquarie University’s E-Learning Centre of Excellence) in Sydney, she managed a number of influential research projects that developed scaffolds to help new university lecturers and teachers integrate technology into their teaching. She still does consultancy work for this group. Leanne previously spent a number of years working as a teacher in both primary and secondary schools and as Technology Trainer for the NSW Department of Education’s Training & Development Directorate.

Sonia Saddiqui, B. SocSci (Hons) (Department of Computing, Macquarie University)

Sonia is the research project manager for this study, newly-appointed Deputy Chair of the Asia Pacific Forum on Educational Integrity and a co-convenor and presenter at the recent 6th Asia Pacific Forum on Educational Integrity. Since completing an applied social research degree at UNSW in 2004, she has worked as an Academic Advocacy Officer at Central Queensland University Student Association, where she developed her interest in the area of academic integrity. Sonia has also recently collaborated on a project with the Brain and Mind Research Institute at Sydney University as part of her ongoing research interest in neuroscience.

Meredith Taylor, BCSc (Hons) (Department of Computing, Macquarie University)

Meredith is the research officer for this study. She graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Computer Science in 2007 then completed Honours in 2008 with her thesis 'Finding and validating experts', which explored methods of creating and regulating an expert recommender system which would return the most valuable results to users. She is currently the senior programmer on several other projects including a web-based system to assist with the processing of Macquarie University student equivalence and exemption applications; a web-based system to assist the moderation process of Macquarie University units being taught at other institutions; and an ARC Discovery with Usyd on the use of "Multi-User Virtual Environments for Science inquiry in Australian secondary high schools". Meredith has been involved with several research projects at Macquarie University in the past, including developing a Ripple Down Rule system for the ARC 2007-2009 Discovery grant "Risk Management using Agent-Based Virtual Environments" and working on a 3D gesture-based interface using the PPT optical tracking system. Her main areas of interest are in 3D graphics, web programming, knowledge systems, and agent based systems.


Reference Group

Reference Group Member: Professor Daniel E. Wueste, Director, Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics

Reference Group Member: Professor Aditya Ghose, Vice-President, Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia

Reference Group Member: A/Prof Jacquelyn Cranney, School of Psychology, UNSW

Reference Group Member: A/Prof Maurice Pagnucco, Head, School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW

Reference Group Member: A/Prof Maurice Pagnucco, Head, School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW

Reference Group Member: Dr John Willison, School of Education, University of Adelaide


Independent Evaluator

Associate Professor Margaret Wallace, Academic developer in the Centre for Educational Development, Innovation & Recognition (CEDiR), University of Wollongong

Margaret Wallace serves as Committee Secretary for the Asia Pacific Forum on Educational Integrity and was co-chair of the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Educational Integrity in 2009. At present, she is a member of the Academic Integrity Standards Project and serves on the external reference group for the OLT Strategic Project Plagiarism and Related Issues in Assessments Not Involving Text.