Auditor

Diana Austin is the Senior Advisor Midwifery Education at Te Tatau o te Whare Kahu | Midwifery Council.

She has had Senior Lecturer roles at both Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington and Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau | Auckland University of Technology, and has been involved in the accreditation of all five midwifery schools in Aotearoa.

In 2017, she gained a Doctorate in Health Science and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Ako Aronui). She is currently a student in Level 3 & 4 Te Pūtaketanga o te Reo at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Throughout Diana’s education, nursing and midwifery career she has had a strong focus on quality improvement and preparing the future workforce to meet the health needs of the community. 

Jo Gibson is the Director Student Experience at the University of Otago, where she has worked since arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand in June 2019.

Jo has over 20 years’ experience working in professional services roles in UK universities prior to her move to Aotearoa, including work as a consultant reviewing and advising Students’ Associations and University advice services on their service provision as it relates to the student experience.

At Otago, she serves on numerous committees, including the University Senate, Quality Advancement Committee, and Internationalisation Committee.

Since November 2022, Bill has been the Associate Dean Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences at Auckland University of Technology. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Macquarie University Medical School, Sydney.

Bill has held academic leadership roles at the Universities of Bradford, Gdańsk (Poland), Sussex, UNSW, Wollongong (UOW), Canterbury Christ Church (CCCU), Macquarie (MQ), Australian Catholic University (ACU) as well as in the corporate, and education sector with Blackboard International (Australia, New Zealand (ANZ) and the Asia Pacific (APAC) region).

He has served on numerous School, Faculty and University committees, including Senate, University Learning and Teaching Committees, Senate Academic Quality Standards Committee, Higher Degree Research (HDR) Training Management Committee, IT Committees, and Research Data and Technology Enhanced Learning Committees.

Before AUT, he was at the ACU as Associate Dean Learning, Teaching and Governance based in North Sydney. He worked on HDR Supervision Enhancement at MQ in the Office of the PVC HDR and Training. In 2018 he became the first Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA)/Advance HE at MQ.

In other roles, he was Head of Learning Technology at CCCU, UK, Strategic Consultant for Blackboard International, Associate Professor (UOW), Head of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and Head of the Student Voice Project (UNSW). Before moving to Australia, he was Director of Technology Enhanced Learning (2008-2012) at the University of Sussex, UK. 

A senior lecturer in Microbiology at the University of Bradford, UK (1992 – 2008), he became recognised as an international leader in online/blended learning in Higher Education. In 2006 he became the first UK academic to replace first-year lectures with podcasts accessible via Apple’s iTunes. He was a finalist for The Times Higher 2006 Awards for the ‘most imaginative use of technology in distance learning’.

In 2006 he was awarded an Executive MBA (Bradford), and in 2022 he obtained graduate status (GAICD) from the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). AICD is recognised for its work to strengthen society through world-class governance.

In his spare time, Bill works on a sheep farm in rural New South Wales with his Australian Kelpie and helps with mustering, yard work and shearing.

Margaret Morgan is Director, Quality Advancement at the University of Otago.  She has over 25 years, academic quality assurance experience at a national and local level and has led self-review and follow-up activities over three academic audit cycles at the University of Otago.  As head of Otago’s Quality Advancement Unit she has oversight for the University of Otago’s internal reviews process and large scale surveys of student and graduate opinion.  She also sits on the University’s Board of Graduate Studies, Board of Undergraduate Studies and Committees for Learning and Teaching, and Quality Advancement.  She is a former University of Otago Council member, and current co-chair of Te Manahua – New Zealand Universities Women in Leadership Steering Group.

Pam Thorburn is an organisational consultant who has worked extensively in areas relating to the student voice, pastoral care and wellbeing as well as university administration, technology and academic course design and delivery.

Additionally, Pam has extensive NGO governance, human resource, strategy and community development experience. Pam chairs a Māori Health Organisation and is working with several other organisations facilitating change and leading strategic planning. She has also been involved on a number of national and international Boards either as a trustee or in an advisory capacity. Pam has extensive government sector experience, primarily within Justice and Health.

Pam has had significant involvement in the development of tertiary education strategy, governance, quality assurance and operational management and leadership. She has been involved in the development and implementation of university policy and audit and assessment reviews, both within the university and externally with other organisations and service providers. Working for 21 years at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, she held senior leadership roles across a range of portfolios. These included student engagement and administration, learning and teaching, wellbeing and equity and inclusion. She was also a member of the University Academic Board. In her time at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, Pam was involved in academic audits, external reviews, crisis and risk management and conflict resolution.

I am Vice-Provost (Academic) and Professor in the Philosophy Programme at Te Herenga Waka--Victoria University of Wellington.  I am also CEO of the Australasian Association of Philosophy.

I have previously served as Head of the Philosophy Programme (2005-2007), Deputy Head of the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations (2012-2014), and Associate Dean (Students, 2007-2010) and Associate Dean (Postgraduate Research, 2015-2016) in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FHSS). I was Associate Dean (Academic Programmes) 2016-2018 in FHSS.

I received my PhD from Princeton University in 2002 and previously taught at Western Washington University in the United States.

Professor Sally Kift is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law (FAAL), President of the Australian Learning & Teaching Fellows (ALTF) and Executive Board Member (Australian Vice President) of the International Federation of National Teaching Fellows (IFNTF). Since 2017, she has been working as an independent higher education consultant and her current appointments include as Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, Victoria University (Melbourne) and Adjunct Professor at James Cook University (JCU), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and La Trobe University (LTU). Over 2018-2021, she was a Visiting Professorial Fellow with the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education.

Sally has held several university leadership positions, including as JCU’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and QUT’s inaugural Director, First Year Experience. Sally is a national Teaching Award winner, a national Program Award winner and a national Senior Teaching Fellow on the First Year Experience. In 2010, she was appointed an Australian Discipline Scholar in Law. In 2017, Sally received an Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) Career Achievement Award for her contribution to Australian higher education and she now chairs the AAUT Career Achievement Awards Panel.

Over 2018-2019, Sally was a member of the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Review Panel that reported to Government in September 2019. She is an Appointed Specialist with the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) (2017-2024) and has been an Australian TEQSA Registered Expert since 2013. Sally has frequently chaired and contributed to institutional and program level reviews, audits and assessment panels. She has been an inaugural member of the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) Australian Law School Standards Committee (since 2011), has conducted legal accreditation assessments of pre-admission law courses and advises on professional regulation of Australian legal education

Robyn is Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at the University of Waikato, having previously been Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Professor of Geography. She has received awards for teaching and postgraduate supervision. In addition, she has worked extensively in the areas of audit, review and quality assurance. In 2015 Robyn was a member of the Education and Human Society Panel for the Research Evaluation Committee (REC), Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA). In 2008, 2012 and 2018 she was a member of the Social Sciences and Other Cultural Social Studies Panel for the Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) Quality Evaluations. Since 2019 Robyn has served on the Marsden Fund Social Sciences Panel. In 2018 she was appointed Fellow of Te Apārangi Royal Society of New Zealand, and Laureat d’honneur by the International Geographical Union.

As Provost, Karen leads the Academic Division, which includes the Academic Affairs, Students and Academic Transformation Portfolios, the USQ College, and Library Services. In this role she is responsible for academic strategy, the quality of education and academic services, achieving excellence in student outcomes and enhancing USQ’s reputation and as a leading Australian university.

Between 2019 and 2021, Karen was the USQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, and prior to that she was the inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students) at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC). Before joining USC, Karen was at Queensland University of Technology as Director, Student Success and Retention, and Director, First Year Experience, positions which followed a series of traditional faculty-based academic roles.

A recognised authority in the first-year experience, and student engagement and retention, Professor Nelson’s research into the complex nature of the student experience has been instrumental in uncovering the factors influencing attrition and has advanced policy and practice nationally and internationally. Her contributions to higher education have been recognised by three national awards for university teaching and in 2016 she was made Principal Fellow of the UK based Higher Education Academy. In 2020, she was made Professor Emeritus of the University of the Sunshine Coast in recognition of her contributions.

Karen is widely engaged in the higher education sector and has served as the chair of the Australian Regional Universities Network DVC/PVC Learning and Teaching Group and Student Success Cluster (2014-2019), and is currently an elected member of the Universities Australia Deputy Vice-Chancellors Academic Executive group. She also serves the sector as the founding editor, and editor in chief of Student Success: an open access journal exploring the experiences of students in tertiary education; and has been a member of the organising committee, Chair or Co-chair of the annual STARS Conference and its predecessors for nearly 15 years.

Bridget Kool is a Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Auckland, where she has been an academic for over 20 years. Her teaching area of focus was evidence-based medicine and population health. Her research expertise lies in the epidemiology of injuries with a particular focus on child injuries, prehospital trauma care, and falls. Within the University of Auckland, she has served as Academic Director for the School of Population Health, Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, and is currently the Pro Vice-Chancellor Education. Professor Kool chairs the University’s academic Programmes Committee and the Education Committee, and is a member of the Teaching and Learning Quality Committee. She is the University’s representative on CUAP.