The Living the Learning Loop: 2026 Equity Frontiers Forum brings together equity practitioners working in the Australian higher education sector, to share practical experience and learning from the past year of delivering quantitative impact evaluations of equity initiatives. This event, to be held online, will include guests from the University of Western Australian, Deakin University, and Charles Darwin University followed by an opportunity to participate in a Q&A panel discussion.

Presentation 1 | Packaged Scholarships effects on student academic success and retention | 11:40AM – 12:10PM (AWST)

Presented by:

Elisa McGowan, Associate Director, Student Equity and Accessibility at UWA

Elisa McGowan is Associate Director, Student Equity and Accessibility at UWA. She has led projects and programs and taught across a range of education settings, including regional and remote communities. Elisa’s work focuses on student equity in higher education, with recent publications examining equity policy and practice. She is currently undertaking research to support the evaluation of equity initiatives and translation of evidence into practice.

Dr Nadine Zacharias, Managing Director, Equity by Design

Dr Nadine Zacharias is an experienced student equity practitioner and researcher with over 15 years in senior management and research roles. She is the Managing Director and Founder of Equity by Design, a specialist consulting firm focusing primarily on improving student equity in higher education. Nadine has held Director-level roles with responsibility for Student Equity and the Student Experience as well as senior academic roles at Deakin, Curtin, and Swinburne. She is a Senior Fellow with the Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE) at the University of Melbourne and an adjunct Associate Professor with the Education Innovation Exchange (EIX) at Swinburne.

Presentation 2 | Nimble A/B trial, examining the effects of implementation modifications in an Enabling | 12:10PM – 12:30PM (AWST)

Presented by:

George Lambrinidis, Senior Lecturer

George Lambrinidis is a Senior Lecturer in Enabling Education at Charles Darwin University and an Executive Committee member of the National Association of Enabling Educators Australia (NAEEA). His research focuses on student success, equity, and evidence-informed practice in enabling education. Current projects include national benchmarking of enabling programs, innovative approaches to evaluating educational interventions, and research examining the role of self-efficacy and other affective factors in student engagement, persistence, and success. His broader scholarly interests include enabling pedagogy, educational equity, and the use of learning design and digital technologies to improve outcomes for diverse and non-traditional learners.

Jillianne Segura, Associate Lecturer

Jillianne Segura is an Enabling educator and researcher at Charles Darwin University. Her journey into, and through, Enabling education has been shaped by a strong belief in the transformative power of education and the life-changing opportunities it creates for students. Since joining the Tertiary Enabling Program in 2016, Jill has taught foundation mathematics, science, digital literacy and academic skills subjects. Her teaching is grounded in a pedagogy of care, using strengths-based approaches that build confidence and capability in learners. Jill is passionate about using data and evidence-based decision-making to enhance the quality of Enabling education and the student experience.

Dr Patricia Vermillion Peirce, Senior Research Fellow

Dr Patricia Vermillion Peirce (CE) is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education, Deakin University, specialising in quantitative impact evaluation approaches and methods. She is a Credentialed Evaluator (CE), with over 20 years of experience delivering research and conducting evaluations for a wide range of international governments, agencies and higher education institutions. Her experience spans small-scale pilot studies, nationally significant evaluations and trials, and multi-country initiatives. Her work bridges strong methodology with usability and accessibility, ensuring that evidence is not only robust, but also trusted and applied. Driven by a commitment to equitable outcomes, Patricia uses evidence as a conduit for achieving meaningful impact.

Presentation 3 | Senior Secondary Years Widening Participation impact on student application rates | 12:30PM – 1:00PM (AWST)

Presented by:

Nathan Coffey, Senior Coordinator, Equity Initiatives

Nathan leads the Equity Initiatives function at Deakin University, where his work centres on a simple but powerful belief: that higher education should be a place for everyone. Drawing on his own lived experience as an equity student, Nathan and his dedicated outreach team work directly with secondary schools across Victoria in the pre-access space, reaching over 15,000 students in 2025. He is passionate about breaking down institutional and systemic barriers that prevent equity students from seeing themselves in higher education — building genuine belonging so they don’t just access university, they truly thrive. Nathan also co-convenes the Victorian Chapter of Equity Practitioners in Higher Education Association (EPHEA).