2023 Student Voice Australasia Symposium
Exploring Quiet Voices for Impact | Friday 13 October 2023
UniSQ Springfield Campus (Brisbane) & Online | 8:30AM - 3:30PM (AEST, Brisbane time)
The fourth national Student Voice Australasia Symposium brought together higher education students and practitioners from Australia and the Asia Pacific region to share their experiences of student partnership in governance and decision-making.
The 2023 Symposium, held in Brisbane and online, highlighted how higher education institutions need to prioritise cultivating an inclusive space by hearing and empowering student voices from diverse groups.
The program was carefully curated by a working group of 5 students and 2 practitioners who were very excited to bring new formats and new energy to the SVA Symposium this year. Big thanks to Bailey Wemyss (UniSC), Lisa Connolly (UniSQ), Jennifer Lowe (UoN), Camille Schloeffel (ACU), Victoria Lister (Griffith), Ron Kordyban (UNE), and Rosemary Miklecic (MQ).
A handbook with session summaries and abstracts is available below.
Program
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A thought-provoking Keynote by an internationally renowned engagement expert advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion Dr Lucy Mercer-Mapstone.
Quiet students or silenced voices? An intersectional and trauma-informed approach to including diverse students in higher education governance and decision-making.
Are the voices of students from diverse and marginalised background quiet in higher education? Or are we just not listening?
Who’s are those quiet voices? Who gets to speak? Who doesn’t, and why?
Are some students ‘hard to reach’? Or do we need to reach them differently? What does ‘different’ look like?
What role do systems of power and oppression play in determining the answers to these questions?
These are some of the questions that Dr Lucy Mercer-Mapstone will unpack in her keynote at the 2023 Student Voice Australasia Symposium. Lucy will combine her experience of engaging students from marginalised backgrounds across international higher education contexts with her recent work in the community services sector engaging with communities who have lived experience of economic marginalisation to examine how we can better engage students from diverse backgrounds governance and decision-making in higher education.
Taking a feminist intersectional approach to exploring systems of power and oppression, Lucy will invite delegates to examine their own identities and how, as practitioners, we can be intentional in addressing both our own and institutional biases which construct barriers to engagement for students.
Lucy will explore engagement within a trauma-informed framework which acknowledges that, for students who carry cumulative experience of trauma resulting from systemic oppression (those from ‘diverse backgrounds’), engagement requires purposeful and critically self-aware ways of working. She will focus on developing practices which honour diverse expertise and student’s situated knowledges and promote psychological safety, empowerment, collaboration, and trust.
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A cross national workshop for practitioners by Simon Varwell (sparqs, Scotland) and Ali Jaquet (UniSQ, Australia)
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A student-led fishbowl discussion session spotlighting pressing challenges of accurate representation of student voice. Led by Lisa Connolly (UniSQ) and Jennifer Lowe (UoN)
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Case studies showcasing inclusion practices across the network. There will be 9 Case Studies shared on the day concurrently, please select 3 sessions you would like to attend.
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An engaging panel of students, practitioners and decision makers. Including Jonathan Robberts, PhD Candidate (Monash), Bailey Wemyss, Bachelor of Social Studies (UniSC), Professor Geoff Crisp, Vice-Chancellor Academic (UC), Professor Shelley Kinash, Executive Principal, Student Experience (UNE) and Professor Sally Varnham, National Senior Teaching Fellow (UTS).
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An interactive workshop exploring individual and educational diversity. Led by Bailey Wemyss (UniSC), Kate Walsh (Flinders) and Ana Kuleshova (SVA).
FAQs
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The Student Voice Australasia Symposium welcomes a wide range of participants from higher education institutions, fostering a diverse and inclusive environment for meaningful engagement.
>> Students who play a crucial role in shaping their own learning experiences and the overall campus environment.
>> Educators, student support staff, and other professionals who work within the higher education sector implementing student partnership initiatives, programs, and practices.
>> Academics and researchers contribute valuable knowledge and expertise to discussions about student partnership, influencing the design of inclusive teaching methods and research on effective student engagement strategies.
>> University leadership, administrators, and policymakers who hold the authority to make significant decisions that impact the student experience.
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>> Save the date and register for the Symposium to attend on the day or online.
>> Promote the Symposium to your colleagues and students. Download the promo package.
>> Present at the Symposium – Submit your Abstract to us by 25 September.
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The Symposium will be held at the UniSQ Springfield campus in Brisbane. For more information about the campus, visit the UniSQ website.
You also can join the Symposium online as it will be delivered in a blended format.
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This is a fully catered event, please submit your catering request via the registration form.
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Please reach out to your institution regarding the sponsorship to attend the Symposium in person.
Click here to download travel information including a list of hotels.
Please email sva@usq.edu.au for any further questions.
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Students and staff from member institutions can attend the Symposium for free, please refer to the list of members at the bottom of this page.
Non-members can book to attend the symposium for a small cost, please refer to the registration page.
If you are a student from a non-member institution and are unable to secure funding for the ticket, please get in touch with sva@usq.edu.au
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You can find the session recordings at the top of this page, in our member portal or on SVA YouTube channel
Meet the Keynote
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Meet the Keynote 〰️
Dr Lucy Mercer-Mapstone
Dr Lucy Mercer-Mapstone is an internationally renowned engagement expert. She currently holds positions as Executive Director of Collective Voices Consulting, Lived Experience Program Coordinator at the Tasmanian Council for Social Service, Research Affiliate at the University of Sydney, and Media Spokesperson for Equality Tasmania. Lucy specialises in designing engagements which centre equity, diversity, and inclusion. She brings a cross-sector perspective having worked and engaged across higher education, community, not-for-profit, corporate, and government sectors. She has an outstanding reputation in research, teaching, facilitation, and advocacy which drives social, cultural, organisational, and legislative reform for a more inclusive society.
As a proud queer, disabled woman, she integrates her first-hand navigation of systems of privilege and oppression into her engagements, making them authentic, inclusive, and accessible. In higher education, Lucy specialises student-staff partnership and student equity. Lucy’s teaching and research seeks to reconceptualise relationships between students and staff in higher education, based on respect, reciprocity, dialogue, and mutual learning. Lucy adopts social justice and feminist lenses to shine light on the role of power in her work, aiming to create more egalitarian spaces in higher education. Lucy recently led an international collaboration of 12 universities funded by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education resulting in a comprehensive report: Recommendations for equitable student support during disruptions to the higher education sector: Lessons from COVID-19. She has been an inaugural co-editor of the International Journal for Students as Partners, Associate Editor for Teaching & Learning Inquiry, Editorial Board Member for Teaching in Higher Education, was a member of an ISSoTL International Collaborative Writing Group, has published a book - The Power of Partnership Students, Staff, and Faculty Revolutionizing Higher Education, and has numerous papers published top-tier higher education journals. Lucy’s expertise has been internationally recognised with over 80 national and international facilitation, panel, and keynote invitations across Australia, England, Scotland, Norway, the U.S., and Canada and through the awarding of three fellowships and multiple national grants, higher education awards, and scholarships.
