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Keynote speakers

Dr
Mary C. Wright

Day 1 keynote speaker

Professor of Educational Scholarship at the Division of Teaching and Learning, DVC (Education & Students),
University of Sydney

Dr Mary C. Wright

Dr Mary C. Wright is currently serving as Professor of Educational Scholarship at the Division of Teaching and Learning, DVC (Education & Students) at the University of Sydney, Australia. Prior, Mary served for over eight years as Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning, Executive Director of the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, and a Professor (Research) in the Department of Sociology, Brown University (US). Previous to Brown, Mary worked at the University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching for 13 years.

Mary is a co-editor of the International Journal for Academic Development (IJAD), the journal of the International Consortium for Educational Development. She is a former president (2017-18) of the POD Network, the US professional association for educational development, and in 2024, she won the organisation's highest honour, the Pierleoni Spirit of POD Award. Her books include: Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape of Higher Education (Johns Hopkins Press, 2023), Developing High-Impact Course Design Institutes: A Model for Change (Troisi, Palmer, Wright, Hostetler & Hurney; Routledge, 2025); and Always at Odds? Creating Alignment Between Faculty and Administrative Values (SUNY Press, 1998). Educational Development in an Age of Change (Wright, Tracie Addy, Brey Eynon & Jaclyn Rivard) has anticipated publication from JHUP in 2026.

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Dr Mary C. Wright

Pedagogical Leadership for an Unknown Future

In his 2012 article, "Learning for an Unknown Future," philosopher Ronald Barnett writes, "A pedagogy for an unknown future becomes a pedagogy with the unknown built into it as living principles of educational exchanges and accomplishments." If we are to think about organizational learning for an unknown future—with academics and institutions themselves as learners—what does pedagogical leadership with the "unknown built into it" look like?

Here, I argue that distributed pedagogical leadership is both more critical than ever and increasingly challenging to enact in today's complex higher education landscape. As the issues facing higher education have multiplied, organizations must shift their approaches. Drawing on recent research about pedagogical leaders and theories of change, I examine levers and frameworks for building this capacity—enabling higher education organisations and the academics within them to adapt and reimagine their practices for unknown futures.

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Professor
Sarah Maddison

Day 2 keynote speaker

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education & Student Experience)
University of New South Wales

Professor Sarah Maddison

Professor Sarah Maddison is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education & Student Experience) at UNSW Sydney, providing executive leadership for the university’s education strategy, shaping learning and teaching, curriculum innovation, and the overall student experience. Her work focuses on reimagining pedagogy and learning ecosystems to deliver inclusive, digitally enabled and globally impactful education at scale. With more than 25 years’ experience across teaching, research and senior university leadership, Sarah has led institution-wide transformations in digital education, student experience, and innovative pedagogy. Prior to UNSW, she served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education, Experience & Employability) at Swinburne University of Technology. A prominent voice on the future of university education, Sarah advocates for evidence-led practice that responds to technology advances, societal complexity and the evolving needs of global lifelong learners to achieve long-term educational impact.

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Professor Sarah Maddison

From societal impact as an outcome to a pedagogical approach: rethinking optimism in higher education

In an era defined by overlapping global crises where universities are under pressure to demonstrate their societal value, this keynote argues that societal impact should be understood as a form of pedagogy —one that actively engages students and educators in shaping more optimistic futures.

Much of higher education continues to treat ‘impact’ as an outcome of research, rather than as a core feature of learning and teaching.  Drawing on global and Australian frameworks, we explore how universities can embed impact within curriculum, academic practice, and partnerships. A model for delivering societal impact at scale is presented, which incorporates curriculum design, staff recognition and incentives, and community partnerships,  illustrating how these elements can be aligned through practices such as project-based learning, transdisciplinary education, and impact-oriented assessment to help frame optimism as a capability rather than an attitude. 

Importantly, we also address key tensions facing the sector, including the relationship between impact and academic autonomy, the risks of extractive community engagement, and the challenge of sustaining optimism in conditions of uncertainty. Rather than resolving these tensions, which is not possible, we propose considerations of designing within them.

By repositioning societal impact as integral to student learning, rather than a ‘nice to have’ add on, this offers a reframing of higher education’s role in fostering agency, responsibility and optimism in our students and graduate in uncertain times.

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Associate Professor
Chng Huang Hoon

Day 3 keynote speaker

Associate Professor (English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies),
National University of Singapore

Assoc Prof Chng Huang Hoon

Dr Chng Huang Hoon is an Associate Professor (English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She has degrees in Linguistics (PhD, University of Texas at Austin and MA, NUS) and Philosophy (B.A. Honours, NUS). She has held several academic leadership positions in NUS, including as an Associate Provost (Undergraduate Education, 2012-2020) and as Director of Teaching and Learning (2008-2012). She is currently the Director of the Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre (2019-present). She has served on the ISSOTL Board of Directors, first as Regional Vice President and then on the Presidential team (2019-2022). Her most recent publication is a book chapter with Phyllis Blumberg entitled, “Institutional Infrastructure and Support for Learning-Centred Teaching and Faculty Development” (2026).

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Assoc Prof Chng Huang Hoon

Building Capabilities for a Complex Future: Habits of Mind, Mindset and Youth Leadership

Unless one has been hidden under a rock all this while, we would all have heard about the complexities, uncertainties and volatilities of our collective future. In fact, the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) /BANI (brittle, anxious, nonlinear and incomprehensible) reality is no longer something we have the luxury of preparing for - it is here! In this current landscape, what challenges are we and our students already facing on a daily basis? What more will all of us continue to have to face up to as we step into the next decade?

This talk is not about sounding alarm bells – it is an urgent call for action, for us as educators to intentionally reflect about this reality, and to actively invest in our students’ development beyond the academic – to support their growth as citizens and as leaders who will play key roles in community building in an increasingly complex, brittle, and nonlinear world. This is a call to all educators that we contribute to building capabilities in our youths, to inculcate relevant habits of mind, and to infuse a mindset that can shape a community that is agile, adaptable, and resilient. I believe that though the world may be complex and filled with uncertainties, if equipped with a growth mindset that is characterized by a spirit of persistent and continuous learning, our students will not only be successful “tomorrow’s learners”, they can also be capable changemakers in our community today. I am optimistic that such a possibility can be realized if all of us, as educators and institutions, focus on and invest in building capabilities in our student body.

Keywords: growth mindset; youth leadership; VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) / BANI (brittle, anxious, nonlinear and incomprehensible) world

Overview

Associate Professor
Vahid Aryadoust

Virtual program keynote speaker

Associate Professor of Language Assessment at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Associate Professor Vahid Aryadoust

Vahid Aryadoust is an Associate Professor of Language Assessment at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research focuses on generative AI in language assessment, meta-analysis, and sensor-based technologies such as eye tracking, brain imaging, and galvanic skin response (GSR). Dr. Aryadoust has published extensively in leading journals, including Language Testing, Applied Linguistics, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, System, Language Assessment Quarterly, Computer Assisted Language Learning, etc. He has also (co)authored several books and chapters with major publishers such as Routledge, Cambridge University Press, and Springer. Over the years, he has secured over SGD $6 million in competitive research funding from agencies in Singapore, the US, the UK, and Canada. He is the recipient of multiple awards such as the International Language Testing Association’s (ILTA’s) Best Article Award (2024), NIE Excellence in Research Award (2025), Nanyang Education Award (School, 2024), etc. A strong advocate of knowledge-sharing and equitable education, Dr. Aryadoust founded the YouTube channel Statistics and Theory, which received the John Cheung Social Media Award in 2020 for its innovative contribution to open education.

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Associate Professor Vahid Aryadoust

Generative AI and Assessment in Higher Education: Opportunities from Language Education and Spoken Dialogue Systems

The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is transforming how learning and assessment are designed across higher education. While GenAI tools raise concerns about academic integrity and assessment validity, they also offer opportunities to rethink how educators design assessments that better capture complex learning processes. This keynote examines the implications of GenAI for assessment design, using language education and spoken language assessment as illustrative domains.

The talk begins with a brief overview of recent developments in GenAI and their relevance to language education. Drawing on findings from several systematic reviews, it summarizes current research on the use of GenAI in language learning and assessment, highlighting both opportunities and emerging challenges. Particular attention is given to spoken dialogue systems (SDS), a form of conversational AI that enables learners to interact with automated interlocutors in simulated communicative environments.

The keynote further introduces the evolution and types of SDS, ranging from rule-based systems to contemporary large-language-model–driven conversational agents. Examples from ongoing interdisciplinary research will demonstrate how SDS can support both learning and assessment by enabling interactive, scenario-based tasks that approximate real-world communication. Finally, the keynote presents emerging work on neuroadaptive SDS that integrate multimodal data to adapt interactions to learners’ cognitive states. This line of research illustrates how AI-mediated environments may connect language education with broader strands of educational research, including adaptive learning and human-AI interaction. The session concludes by outlining practical considerations for designing assessments in the age of GenAI. Suggestions for future interdisciplinary research are offered.

Overview