ACSES is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Equity Fellowships: Ms Darlene McLennan from the University of Tasmania and Associate Professor Kelly Linden from Charles Sturt University.
Darlene’s project, “Empowering Disability Services in Australian Higher Education: A Participatory Action Research Project on Professional Standards, Service Evaluation, and Capacity Building”, will focus on the evolving role of disability services in Australian universities, focusing on potential drivers of change such as service benchmarking, evaluation methods, and postgraduate qualifications.
Darlene’s project aims to strengthen Australia’s capacity in higher education practice by developing evidence-based strategies for disability services to enhance their impact and adapt to changing landscapes.
“Drawing on my extensive experience in the field and my deep connections across the sector, I believe this project has the potential to significantly impact how universities support students with disability and foster more inclusive campus environments,” Darlene said.
Kelly’s project, “Is the problem us? Helping part-time students to succeed in a full-time world”, will identify key interventions for part-time students policymakers and universities can implement to help meet the anticipated increase in university enrolments from under-represented groups.
Kelly said by highlighting the intersection of part-time students with other equity groups and non-traditional pathways, the project aims to raise awareness and the profile of these issues within higher education institutions.
“I have been fortunate to have had an opportunity to study factors that impact part-time student retention, and success and influence policy decisions at Charles Sturt to better accommodate part-time students,” Kelly said.
“However, there is still so much government and universities could do. I feel that I am in a perfect position in my career to upskill and develop into a leading voice on part-time equity students’ success.”
The 2025 Equity Fellowship Program is part of ACSES’s ongoing efforts to raise the profile of student equity in higher education and broaden access for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The new Fellows will contribute to these efforts through targeted projects aimed at addressing some of the sector’s most pressing challenges.
