IEAA Scholarships and Fellowships Forum 2024

Head of External Relations (APAC)
IDP Education

Alek has worked across the Australian international education sector for over 20 years. He was most recently the Director of Client Relations (Australasia) for ETS TOEFL and in parallel was Senior Partner at Edified, an Australian based international education sector strategic consulting firm. Alek has also held a variety of senior positions at UNSW, with most of his decade-long tenure there as Executive Director (International), where he led the international student recruitment, marketing and compliance teams. He also has experience working for both UTS and CSU student administration teams. Alek is a member of the IEAA Research Committee, an IEAA Fellow (IEAA-F), and has been a member of various education sector advisory boards. He holds a Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California (USC) and is a graduate of the University of Sydney Law School.

Researcher
Deakin University

Anna is a historian and international education expert with extensive research and project management experience in an International Development and education context. She also works as a sessional academic, teaching history. Her first book, Mandates and Missteps, was published by ANU Press in 2024. Her research interests include international education, international development, foreign policy and their intersections. Anna has a PhD from Deakin University. Her thesis was awarded the Outstanding Postgraduate Thesis Award in the 2022 IEAA Excellence Awards. Anna is a Senior Fellow of the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) and was the inaugural convener of the IEAA Scholarships and Fellowships Network.

Lecturer, School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia & the Pacific
Australian National University (ANU)

Dr Elly Kent is a lecturer in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia & the Pacific, at the Australian National University. Her recent publications include Artists and the People: Ideologies of Art in Indonesia (NUS Press, 2022) and the co-edited book Living Art: Indonesian Artists Engage Politics, Society and History (ANU Press, 2022). In 2012 Elly was awarded an Endeavour Prime Minister’s Australia-Asia Postgraduate Award (outgoing) and spent 2 years living in Indonesia with her young family while conducting field work.

Regional Director Higher Education
Institute of International Education

Jonathan serves as a Regional Director for IIE based in Bangkok, Thailand. In this role he is responsible for leading engagement with governments, corporations, universities, and nonprofits throughout Asia Pacific. This includes administering scholarships, English language initiatives, student mobility, partnership facilitation, and capacity building with stakeholders and institutions in their efforts to engage better globally. This work takes place in a diverse network of countries, including Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

Associate
Mandala Partners

Ms Winchcombe works as a consultant at the intersection of economics, data and policy for the Australian startup Mandala. Her areas of focus include the evolution of technology, evidence-backed policy design and realising sustainability targets. Ms Winchcombe has a deep background in promoting Australia-ASEAN relations as the Co-Founder and outgoing Chair of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership where she served for five years. Ms Winchcombe was the inaugural New Colombo Plan ASEAN Fellow and studied in Singapore and Indonesia. Her academic research focused on the labour migration development nexus in low-wage labour migration in Southeast Asia. She has previously spent time with various organisations across Southeast Asia, including the ASEAN Foundation, AustCham ASEAN and published multiple articles on Southeast Asia with the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. In a voluntary capacity, Ms Winchcombe serves as Board Treasurer of a social justice focused Australian cooperative. Previously she was on the teaching staff for the University of Western Australia Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) core unit Global Challenges, Research and Leadership. Ms Winchcombe was a Fogarty Scholar graduating with a Bachelor of Philosophy (First Class Honours) from the University of Western Australia.

Research Fellow
Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

Jo is a Research Fellow in the Tertiary and Professional Education program at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). She has over 25 years’ experience working in the tertiary sector and her research expertise includes international development scholarships and fellowships, and graduate outcomes. Jo is the former Deputy Facility Manager of the Australia Awards Global Tracer Facility (GTF), a research initiative which ran from 2016 to 2024, which investigated the long-term outcomes of the Australian Government’s investment in development scholarships and fellowships since the 1950’s. As part of the GTF’s qualitative research, Jo has collected countless insights into the impact of scholarships and fellowships on alumni, their organisations, and communities. She is particularly interested the effectiveness of fellowships as a mechanism to build rapid capacity of targeted groups within organisations or across sectors and has co-authored 4 GTF case studies focusing on the long-term impact of Australia Awards fellowships. Jo is a frequent contributor to the Scholarship and Fellowship Network and is an Associate Fellow of IEAA. She has contributed to several IEAA resources, including authoring the ‘2015 IEAA International Employability Guide for International Students’.

PhD Candidate
Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, and a proud recipient of the prestigious John Allwright Fellowship from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). My doctoral research, titled "Irrigation Technology Adoption: Water Use and Practices by Marginal and Tenant Farmers in Nepal," examines the relationship between technology, water and smallholder farming. With over five years of professional experience at the International Water Management Institute, I specialize in water resource management and governance. I am passionately dedicated to advancing gender-responsive and socially inclusive strategies within agricultural water governance. My recent publication is titled Gender and social inclusion in community water resource management: lessons from two districts in the Himalayan foothills and the Terai in Nepal.

Director, Global Education and Scholarships
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)

Prior to commencing her current role as the Director of the Global Education and Scholarships Section in late 2022, Ms McPhee has had a career of more than 15 years working with Department on Pacific Islands foreign policy and development. She was most recently Director Micronesia, expanding Australia’s diplomatic network across the north Pacific (2019-2022) and coordinating Australia’s COVID-response across this network of six small island states. Prior to that, Ms McPhee was Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner for Tonga, where she headed up Australia’s development program (2017-2019). She also led DFAT’s portfolio of Pacific climate change work (2014-17). Prior to that she worked on bilateral relations between Australia and Melanesian partners – on forestry and climate change in Papua New Guinea, a posting at Australia’s diplomatic mission in Honiara Solomon Islands, law and justice and health partnerships in Vanuatu. Ms McPhee holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Science with Honours from The University of Queensland and a Master of Forestry from the Australian National University. She began her career as an environmental scientist working on water quality, river health, and marine environments and transitioned to the development sector by working as Australian volunteer with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Head of International Health & Education
Allianz Care Australia

Tatia boasts over a decade of experience within the private health insurance and financial services sectors, most recently being appointed as the Head of International Health & Education at Allianz Partners in August 2023. Tatia's professional journey took root at Bupa, where she spent eight years serving in senior management roles, including Head of International Partnerships. Her career at Bupa was marked by notable achievements, most notably her pivotal role in expanding the company's reach into international markets across Asia. During her time there, Tatia was instrumental in pioneering cross-border arrangements that contributed to the organization's profitable growth within the international student and visitor customer segments. Her strategic acumen and innovative thinking helped Bupa adapt to the evolving needs of a diverse customer base.

Deputy Director International Partnerships
University of Auckland

A former management consultant and economist by training, Yara Vasina has been working in the international education industry since 2014, developing strategies and leading teams in business and partnership development, student recruitment, global mobility, marketing, and policy. She has obtained extensive professional and academic experience in leading Australian universities and state government. A passionate supporter of the personal and professional growth achieved by learning abroad, Yara's work has a strong focus on equity, social justice, and inclusion of diverse cohorts of students in these experiences. In 2020 she pivoted inaugural virtual global programs in Australia and as a result was awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to expand her knowledge in this area. A recipient of numerous scholarships and fellowships and a regular speaker at international conferences, Yara has been an active contributor to the industry by serving as a board member, industry volunteer and students’ mentor.