Research Committee

Jonathan Chew (Chair)

Jon is one of world’s leading market analysts in international education. He was previously a Principal at Australian management consulting firm, the Nous Group, and is now Global Head of Insights and Analytics at Navitas. Jon brings in-depth expertise on global trends in education, built on the rigorous analysis of a wide range of external and in-house datasets. His work is informed by an up-to-the-minute industry perspective, developed collaboratively with a global network of stakeholders, policy-makers and experts.

Associate Professor Amanda Daly

Amanda is Deputy Dean, Learning and Teaching, in the Griffith Business School. Over the last 20 years, Amanda has worked within the education industry as an administrator, university business educator and researcher, with a specific focus on international students and student mobility. She also has a wealth of experience as an academic and curriculum developer driving the internationalisation of the curriculum and enhancing the student experience. Amanda is also the inaugural Chair of IEAA’s Emerging Researchers Group, which is a sub-committee of the Research Committee.

Dr Kirrilee Hughes

Kirrilee is an international education consultant and IEAA's Research Manager. She has 15 years of experience in the higher education and schools sectors and held leadership and strategy roles for global education organisations as well as sessional teaching and research positions at four leading Australian universities. Kirrilee is an IEAA Senior Fellow and has special expertise in Indonesia and broader Southeast Asia.

Lyndell Jacka

Lyndell is an experienced market research professional and is currently Head of IELTS Customer and Market Insights at IDP Education. With over 10 years in international education, she has led, shaped and developed research and insights at organisations such as IDP Education, Edified and Austrade. Lyndell is passionate about interpreting market research and intelligence for evidence-based decisions and making data visually engaging.

Emily O'Callaghan

Emily is CEO and Co-Founder of the International Education Sustainability Group (ISEG) and is an elected IEAA Board Member. She has worked in international education for over two decades across sector advocacy, research, policy and development. In 2023, Emily co-founded IESG delivering tools to assist institutions to better understand and mitigate their climate impact. Emily is a mentor to early career professionals and also co-founded and developed the IEAA Young Professionals Network.

Dr Sarah Richardson

Sarah is the Executive Director of the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) at the University of Melbourne. She has worked in international education for 30 years in teaching, research and leadership roles. Sarah was previously a Research Director at the Australian Council for Educational Research, including in the Indian and UK branches. Sarah has led primary, secondary and tertiary educational research projects, including lead roles in large global initiatives such as PISA 2025.

Vijay Solanki

Vijay is Chief Marketing Officer for Sinorbis. He is a psychology graduate with 30 years in commercially based research. He combines a classical background of qualitative and quantitative research based on his Unilever heritage in Europe both building brands and working in product innovation. His global Philips experience in digital innovation has leveraged an agile and iterative approach to research especially around the development of software services. Vijay has also built segmentation models at leading media companies as well as driving the research agenda as CEO of IAB Australia.

Dr Aleksandr Voninski

Alek is Head of External Relations (APAC) at IDP Connect, with a focus on thought leadership, government policy and research promotion, as well as management of the B2B marketing and communications unit and the AIEC conference and events team. Alek is an IEAA Fellow (IEAA-F) and has worked across the Australian international education sector for 20 years, previously with Edified as Senior Partner; ETS TOEFL as Director of Client Relations; and at UNSW as Executive Director, International.

Dr Helen Yang

Helen is passionate about transnational business education (TNE) in emerging economies, a major source of international students in Western universities. Her unique high-level qualifications in Education and Accounting attained in China and Australia, enhanced by her international experience in higher education, have enabled her to make sustained, original and innovative contributions to research into transnational business education nationally and internationally over the last 15 years.

Professor Ren Yi

Ren is the Pro Vice-Chancellor International at the University of Southern Queensland. He has been working in the higher education sector for over 15 years. An award-winning researcher, Professor Yi is a past President of the Australasian Research Management Society. He is currently a reviewer for the Academy of International Business and Australian Research Council.