the ILETC team

About the Project

The ILETC Team

ILETC Methodology and Methods

ILETC Resources

ILETC resources for teachers and schools

ILETC Research Outputs

ILETC research outputs

chief investigators

Project Lead Investigator – Wesley Imms

At the beginning of the project, Wesley Imms was an Associate Professor in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, was that Schools Head of Visual Art Education, and was the Research Higher Degree Coordinator for Curriculum and Teaching. He was the lead Chief Investigator of the ARC Linkage Project Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change which ran from 2016-2020, and also led the Evaluating 21st Century Learning Environments ARC Linkage Project (2013-2017). He has been involved in a range of solo and collaborative projects since 2000 involving approximately $11 million of external funding, has published over 70 peer reviewed articles, chapters, conference papers and books, numerous reports and invited lectures here and overseas. He is an experienced educator and is involved teaching subjects spanning visual art curriculum and studio practice, innovative learning spaces, and Masters-level learning spaces capstone and teacher/practitioner subjects, in addition to supervising 19 Doctoral, Master of Education/Philosophy and Master of Teaching honours theses.

John Hattie

At the beginning of the project, John Hattie was Professor and Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne and a Chief Investigator for the Science of Learning Research Centre. He is the author of over 800 publications and papers, including the influential books Visible Learning and Visible Learning for Teachers. He has been involved in numerous national and international research groups and has directed over $57 million in research grants. Professor Hattie has held numerous senior appointments and consultative roles including advisor to New Zealand Ministers of Education, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the US, chief moderator of the NZ Performance Based Research Fund, past-president of the International Test Commission and is a Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders and the American Psychological Association. He has held senior roles at The University of Western Australia, University of North Carolina, University of Western Australia and The University of Auckland. He was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours, received a Gold medal for contributions to the study of educational administration and leadership by Australian Council for Educational Leaders in 2011, the Hedley Beare Award for Writing in Education by the Australian Council for Educational Leadership in 2010, and a Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of Auckland in 2010.

David Clarke

At the beginning of the project, David Clarke was a Professor in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and Director of the International Centre for Classroom Research (ICCR). Over the last twenty years, his research activity has centred on capturing the complexity of classroom practice through a program of international video-based classroom research and has involved national and international research collaborations. He has also researched in the areas of teacher professional learning, metacognition, problem-based learning, mathematics education and assessment (particularly the use of open-ended tasks for assessment and instruction in mathematics). Professor Clarke has written books on assessment and on classroom research and has published his research work in over 150 book chapters, journal articles and conference proceedings papers. He has been a chief investigator on 11 ARC Linkage and Discovery projects, as well as other national and international grant schemes and established an active international network of classroom researchers.
Sadly Professor David Clarke passed away in January 2020.

Tom Kvan

At the beginning of the project, Thomas Kvan was the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Campus and Global Development) at the University of Melbourne, a Professor of Architecture and former Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. He is internationally recognised for his work in the management of design practice and development of digital applications in design. During his academic career he has worked at the Universities of Melbourne, Hong Kong and Sydney and is an active researcher and author in design, digital environments and design management. He was founding Director of the University of Melbourne based networks, the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN), and was founding Director of the Australian Urban Research Information Network (AURIN). Tom has practiced in architecture in Africa, Europe, Hong Kong and the USA in practices small to large, was director of software development in an IT start-up in California and a management consultant to architects and engineers. He has been a member of the Board of Directors in digital design and facility management associations worldwide and serves on the boards of several journals and professional organisations.

Kenn Fisher

At the beginning of the project, Kenn Fisher was an Associate Professor in Learning Environments in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at The University of Melbourne (half time), having been involved in almost $2 million worth of ARC Linkage and Office of Learning and Teaching research projects in the planning, design and use of new generation learning environments. Kenn is recognised internationally as a leading education planning specialist who has applied his multi-disciplinary skills across all education sectors as a teacher, academic, structural engineer, strategic planner, project manager and education researcher. He was Director of Knowledge Environments at Woods Bagot, acting as a space planner involved in master planning, learning environment planning, brief writing and change management strategies across the company’s 15 studios in Australasia, China, the Middle East, the UK and the USA. He has also consulted widely on university campus planning and teaching and learning projects in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand having been engaged by over 40 universities, many schools and vocational education institutions worldwide.

Clare Newton

At the beginning of the project, Clare Newton was an Associate Professor in Learning Environments in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. Clare is an architect and teaches and researches in the fields of design, sustainability and construction. She was first-named Chief Investigator on two Australian Research Council Linkage Projects funding three PhD students and multi-disciplinary research teams. The first, called Smart Green Schools, looked at the links between pedagogy, sustainability and space. The second, called Future Proofing Schools, considered prefabricated learning environments and incorporated an ideas competition at the heart of the research process. The research led directly to the instigation of PrefabAUS, Australia’s first peak body for prefabrication. Her expertise is in multi-disciplinary research collaborations between academics and industry. She is also currently teaching and researching on the topics of design for ageing and age-friendly neighbourhoods.

Ben Cleveland

At the beginning of the project, Ben Cleveland was a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. Since completing his PhD in 2011 – Engaging spaces: Innovative learning environments, pedagogies and student engagement in the middle years of school – Ben has worked with the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN), where he was responsible for coordinating the group’s research activity and distilling project findings into publishable outcomes. Ben also lectures in the masters subjects ‘Innovative Spaces and Pedagogy’ and ‘Physical Learning Spaces: Effecting Pedagogic Change in Schools’, supervises a number of PhD and Masters students, and is Research Manager for the ARC Linkage project, Evaluating 21st Century Learning Environments (E21LE). He has published 15 peer-reviewed journal articles/book chapters/conference papers and six influential research reports to government and Catholic education agencies. He also consults privately in learning environments and has been involved in significant schools projects in Victoria, including in 2015-16 with the Learning Communities Victoria consortium supporting the design of 15 new schools for the State of Victoria. Ben is Chair of the Victorian Chapter of the Association for Learning Environments Australasia (formerly CEFPI) and was Co-Chair of the 2016 Australasia Region Conference held in Melbourne.

Lisa Grocott

At the beginning of the project, Lisa Grocott was Head of Department and Professor of Design at Monash University. She was formerly the Dean of Academic Initiatives at Parsons School of Design in New York and Director of THRVNG a co-design research lab. Earlier in her career Lisa was a Creative Director at Studio Anybody a communication design consultancy whose work was published in the UK, Europe, Asia and North America. Lisa publishes articles, chapters, reports, conference papers and invited lectures on practice-led design research and the project-based Ph.D. As a practitioner/researcher her internationally recognised scholarship is driven by projects that enact the affordances of the speculative, solution-seeking and human-centered practice of design research. Lisa applies this expertise to the practice of translational research in the field of education and learning. In founding THRVNG Lisa forged a co-design lab for collaborating with leading psychologists and behavioral scientists to design research experiments that would amplify the social impact of their research interventions in the classroom. Her applied research takes a transdisciplinary approach to transforming behavior as it applies to teacher change, academic mindsets and learning organizations. Returning to Australia, Lisa was a chief investigator of the ARC Linkage Project Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change.

iletc staff

marian mahat

Marian Mahat was the lead Research Fellow of the ILETC project. As the Research Manager, she oversaw all research activities and the dissemination of project findings including the management of Research Fellows and project PhD students. Marian has more than twenty years of professional and academic experience, spanning several Australian universities, the Australian Federal and local governments, the LH Martin Institute for Tertiary Leadership and Management, the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (MCSHE), as well as the private sector. Highly proficient in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, she has worked on collaborative projects, written numerous publications and presented
in conferences in higher education.

sarah healy

Sarah Healy was the Project Manager and a Research Fellow for the ILETC project in 2020. Her role was to coordinate project activities, manage information, and engage with partners and stakeholders. She was responsible for social media, staffing, event management and finances. Sarah also brought her expertise in research theory and practice to the project. Sarah is actively involved in several collaborative research initiatives, has presented at conferences, and regularly publishes her work in academic books and journals. Her PhD, entitled ‘Cracking Open Pedagogy: Learning ‘in’ Intense Environments’, was completed at the University of Melbourne in June 2019. Sarah then became an inaugural recipient of MGSE’s postdoctoral PhD to Publications Award. Sarah currently lectures into the Master of Teaching’s Arts-based Educational Research Capstone (2018-2020).

chris bradbeer

Chris Bradbeer was a Research Fellow (part time), based in Auckland, New Zealand. His role was working closely with New Zealand schools, facilitating data collection in New Zealand and contributing to case study developments. Chris was also Associate Principal at Stonefields School in Auckland, where he has been involved in developing a vision for teaching and learning, building teacher capacity and having the opportunity to consider ‘what might be possible’ in a new school setting. He completed his PhD on the nature of collaborative teacher practices in Innovative Learning Environments in New Zealand.

previous staff

Joann cattlin

Joann Cattlin was the Project Manager for the ILETC project 2016-2020. Her role was to coordinate project activities, information management, engagement with partners and stakeholders, social media, staffing, event management and finances. Joann has worked in universities for the last 15 years as a researcher, project manager and librarian. Joann has co-authored a number of articles, book chapter, project reports, conference papers and websites. She is an experienced reference librarian with a Masters of Information Management (RMIT) and undertakes practice based research in research engagement and knowledge mobilisation. In 2019 she was awarded the Universitas 21/University of Melbourne Professional Staff Scholarship to travel to USA and Canada to investigate university support for knowledge translation (read about this project here).

Terry Byers

Terry Byers was a Research Fellow (part-time), based in Brisbane. His role involved working with schools and project partners in QLD and contributing his quantitative research skills to data collection and analysis. Terry is also Director the Centenary Library at the Anglican Church Grammar School (Churchie) in Brisbane, Queensland, where he oversees the work with teachers to understand better their pedagogical practice in technology-enabled contemporary learning environments and how this affects student learning outcomes and gains. Terry’s doctorate from The University of Melbourne was part of the ‘Evaluating 21st Century Learning Environments’ ARC Linkage project focusing on empirical evidence of the impact of innovative learning environments.

Kirra Liu

Kirra Liu studied a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Monash University in 2012 and completed an Honours in Science, specialising in neuropsychiatry, at the University of Melbourne in 2014. Kirra has since worked in research fields such as the neuropsychiatry of mood disorders, prospective memory in young and older adults and the intersection of architecture and education in relation to innovative learning environments in primary and secondary school education. As of 2021, Kirra is currently undertaking a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and hopes to integrate her research experience with her clinical knowledge in the future.

Roz Mountain

Roz joined the Learning Environments Applied Research Network (LEaRN) team in 2017 to support research into the link between learning environments, teacher practice and student outcomes. Previous experience includes educational assessment and policy evaluation at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She also has a background in I.T. in engineering and financial industries, a B.Sc.(Hons) in Applied Maths and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology. She has particular interests in student agency, access, equity and diversity. From 2020, through the Teach for Australia program, Roz has been teaching secondary maths at a low SES school with many recently settled refugee and Pacific Islander families.

Aamna Shah

Aamna completed her Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology in 2018 and completed her Masters of Educational Psychology in 2020 at the University of Melbourne. Aamna has previously volunteered in research exploring emotional regulation in children at the Mindful Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health, before joining the LEaRN team in 2019. Aamna continues to use her experience and knowledge of ILEs, and the impact it has on learning, when working as a child and adolescent psychologist in school settings.

Lachlan Stewart

Lachlan began his career as a designer, graduating with a Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design) from RMIT, and later completing his Master of Teaching (Secondary) at the University of Melbourne. He worked in Australia and abroad as a secondary teacher before returning and joining the LEaRN team in 2015. Lachlan’s industry experience in branding and visual identity combined with research experience helps in visually communicating a broad range of research topics to an international audience. As of 2020, he is head of Visual and Performing Arts at Melbourne High School and hopes to continue research into ILEs in the future.