Welcome!

I am an academic with a over thirteen years of professional experience spanning universities, think tanks, federal parliamentary offices, community advocacy groups and other non-government organisations. I work at the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University where I'm a Policy Fellow examining policy reform, system coherence, quality and opportunity across the education continuum, with a focus on the early years and schooling.

My research covers federalism, education policy (early childhood, schooling and tertiary), Australian politics, comparative public policy, governance, interest groups, networks, reform processes and multiculturalism. My work has won multiple national and international awards and my analysis frequently appears in print and broadcast media.

My PhD examined how federalism shapes policy reform, using State and Commonwealth school funding reforms as case studies. This was an interdisciplinary study located in in the School of Social and Political Sciences – where I have taught Public Policy Making and Australian Politics - and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. My first book, Many Hopes, One Dream: The History of the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria, was published by Australian Scholarly Publishing in 2009 and launched by former prime minister Malcolm Fraser and the current Victorian education minister (then responsible for multicultural affairs) James Merlino. More recently, I wrote the chapter on education policies for Social Policy in Australia, published by Oxford University Press, a commissioned report for Melbourne School of Government evaluating federalism white paper taskforce's proposals for reforming roles and responsibilities in Australian schooling, a book chapter on education in Australia for the Forum of Federations, a speech for UNESCO, and co-authored a major report on early education in Australia. 

I live and breathe education policy and am passionate about enabling all children access to top quality education from their toddler years to tertiary years. I'm mother of two sweet, curious and creative little kids aged three and five. Between 2014 and 2016 I was the Vice President of a public, parent-run preschool in Melbourne's outer suburbs where I was responsible for policy, processes, educator support, and the implementation and observation of the National Quality Framework and associated state and federal regulations. 

Please browse the pages above for additional details of my work and get in touch if you'd like to learn more.  Please note the blog contains my personal views and analysis and does not necessarily reflect the views of my current or previous employers.

Thanks for visiting!