MEET OUR INVITED SPEAKERS
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR LOH CHIN EE
Loh Chin Ee is Associate Professor at the English Language and Literature Department and Associate Dean (Impact & Partnerships) at the Office for Research at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. Her research focuses for young people’s reading at the intersection of globalisation, equity, and technological changes as well as the role of school libraries in fostering reading for pleasure and lifelong learning. She is the Principal and Co-Principal investigator of more than SGD$5M worth of grants, the most current being Reading Futures Study: A Longitudinal Cross-Case Comparison of Adolescents’ Print and Digital Reading Practices. Her most recent book, The Reading Lives of Teens: Research & Practice (Routledge, 2024), was awarded the UKLA Academic Book Award 2025. She is Senior Editor of Pedagogies: An International Journal and Host of the How We Read podcast.
PROFESSOR KRISTIINA KUMPULAINEN
Kristiina Kumpulainen is Professor and Head of the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, and Docent in Education at the University of Helsinki. She is a Fellow of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters and the International Academy of Education. Her research explores how literacies become entangled with imagination, care, and agency across human and more-than-human worlds. Drawing on sociocultural, posthuman, and design-based perspectives, she investigates how learners engage in worldmaking through digital, material, and ecological literacies. Through creative methodologies, including augmented storying, makerspaces, and participatory arts, her work reimagines literacy as a relational and transformative practice that nurtures new possibilities for learning and coexistence. Kumpulainen’s scholarship has shaped international conversations on digital literacies, learning ecologies, and participatory pedagogies, inspiring educators and researchers to envision literacies that empower imagination, responsibility, and collective futures of care.ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR HELEN ADAM
Helen Adam is an Associate Professor and Researcher in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. She is also the President of the Board of the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia (PETAA). Helen’s research focuses on promoting equitable education and learning environments through publication and use of authentically diverse literature to empower all learners and to help break down barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding. Her work is published in internationally renowned journals, and she is frequently called on for expert media comment and as a presenter to diverse audiences of educators and academics. In 2023, Helen undertook a Churchill Fellowship to the USA and UK meeting with leading international academics investigating ways to enhance expertise in children's books as vehicles for disrupting prejudice and discrimination the culmination of this is her newly released book: Creating Equitable Literacy Learning Environment: A Transformative Model (Routledge, 2026).PROFESSOR KATHY MILLS
Kathy A. Mills is Professor of Literacies and Digital Cultures at the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE), Australian Catholic University, Brisbane. Her internationally recognised research on digital media and contemporary literacy practices makes influential theoretical contributions to the field, with an extensive publication record of over 120 scholarly works, including nine books (8 lead-authored), the majority of her work first-authored. These have been cited over 6500 times across 83 countries and 25 academic disciplines. Her latest book, Critical Literacy for an AI World offers timely solutions for teachers to address AI-generated media in the classroom. Professor Mills has won six Australian Research Council (ARC) grants, lead or Fellow on five, most notably a distinguished ARC Future Fellowship. She currently leads a major ARC Discovery grant investigating the educational potential of artificial intelligence and extended reality (XR) technologies in multimodal literacy learning.Professor Mills is recognised for dynamic, insightful, and memorable presentations, having delivered 27 invited keynotes in USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Mexico, Chile, and AUS. Beyond the podium, Prof Mills’ research has had worldwide public reach through invitations by public media through 52 news outlets and 150k+ readers worldwide. She has translated her research to end-users and the general public via television, radio, online news, and newspapers.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JEROEN DERA
Dr Jeroen Dera is Associate Professor of Dutch Literature at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands). He earned his PhD in 2017 for a dissertation on literary radio and television (1925–1975) as tools for education and cultural mediation. His work examines literature education and youth reading culture: how schools conceptualize and legitimize literature; intersections between literary studies and literature education; digital literary culture (e.g., BookTok, online reading challenges); and representations of young readers in popular culture. Dera has received the prestigious Veni and Vidi grants of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) as well as the 2023 Early Career Award of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2024, he was elected as a member of the Dutch Young Academy.DR PAUL GARDNER
Dr Paul Gardner is a Senior Lecture in Primary English at Curtin University. He is a former Vice-President of PETAA and is currently a United Kingdome Literacy Association Country Ambassador to Australia. He has written extensively on Primary English, but more specifically on writing, writer identity, agency as the compositional process. In addition to his academic writing he has written for Arena, EduResearch Matters and publishes and performs poetry. His current work is founded on his background in process drama, anti-racist education and critical literacy. He is committed to democratic pedagogies for social justice and student empowerment.HAJNALKA MOLLOY
Hajnalka Molloy is a nationally certified Highly Accomplished Teacher and one of Australia’s leading voices in school library advocacy, with over 25 years of experience working across primary and secondary education in South Australia. Her work combines deep classroom expertise with strategic leadership at state and national levels to strengthen the visibility, value, and impact of school libraries in improving literacy, information literacy, wellbeing, and equity.As President of the School Library Association of South Australia (SLASA), Hajnalka has played a pivotal role in developing and implementing advocacy strategies that influence policy, inform decision-makers, and build public understanding of the importance of dual-qualified Teacher Librarians. She has led initiatives such as the School Libraries in South Australia Census with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
Nationally, Hajnalka has spent more than a decade contributing to the Students Need School Libraries campaign, advocating for the essential role of qualified library staff in every Australian school, and is one of the founding members of the Australian Coalition of School Libraries, when it began as FAIR: School Libraries in 2015.
BRIONY STEWART
Briony Stewart is the author and illustrator of several award-winning books for children, including Kumiko and the Shadow Catchers, winner of the 2012 Queensland State Literature prize for children’s fiction. Briony lectures on children’s literature at university and conducts talks and workshops with children across Australia. Briony is confident in talking about all aspects of creating children’s books, to any audience and nearly always includes some live-illustration fun in her presentations!JAMES FOLEY
James Foley makes children’s books for children who read books. If you’re a child and you’re eating his books, you’re doing it wrong. He is the author and illustrator of many picture books and graphic novels, including Stellarphant, Happy Barry Capybara, Secret Agent Mole, Brobot and Gastronauts. His latest books are Bigfoot vs Yeti: A Love Story, and the colour edition of Dungzilla and Chickensaurus. He has 4 books coming in 2026: Happy Barry Capybara Gone Bananas, Fuzzball, Oh No! and Amazing Astro Animals. Legend says James can grow a beard in an afternoon. He is a massive Marvel movie nerd and lives near Freo/Walyalup in Western Australia with his wife 2 kids, and a labrador called Frankie.PROFESSOR LISA KERVIN
Lisa Kervin AM is Professor in Early Childhood at Monash University. Lisa has been researching in literacy education, play theory and digital technologies using qualitative and mixed methods for over 20 years. Lisa served as the NSW Director for ALEA from 2009-2015 and was the recipient of the 2016 ALEA Medal. In 2024 Lisa became a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her research in early childhood and digital literacies.PROFESSOR ANNETTE WOODS
Annette Woods is a Professor at the University of New South Wales. She is currently working on the Culturally Nourishing Schooling project, led by Professor Kevin Lowe, that involves Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators, Community members and Elders, school leaders and teachers, and researchers working together to consider schooling reform which centres the best interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people across diverse contexts. For almost 15 years before becoming an academic, Annette taught across primary, adult literacy, and early childhood contexts, and held a number of system advisory positions. Since completing her doctoral research, she has taught and researched across literacies, digital literacies, curriculum and pedagogy, social justice and school reform. She was a Chief Investigator in the Centre for Excellence for the Digital Child (2020-2025).SHANE MCCARTHY
Shane McCarthy is a freelance writer whose work has been published internationally by the likes of DC Comics, Marvel Comics and more.
Shane began his career in 2004 by writing DETECTIVE COMICS (starring Batman) making him the first Australian to write Batman for DC Comics since the character’s creation in 1939. Since then he has written for BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, more DETECTIVE COMICS, STAR WARS, DEADPOOL TEAM UP and TRANSFORMERS: ALL HAIL MEGATRON to name a few.
During all of this Shane was also fortunate enough to have an international dance career spanning two decades as a dancer, performer, teacher and choreographer.
Amongst other things Shane is currently working on an exciting graphic novel series for younger readers due out in the not too distant future!
Shane presently resides in Perth, Western Australia with his wife and two gorgeous cats!
BRENTON MCKENNA
Brenton McKenna is a respected Yawuru artist based out of Broome, WA, who is the first ever published Indigenous graphic novel author in Australia. In 2011 Magabala Books published Brenton’s first work – Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon. The Ubby’s brand has gone on to become an iconic three-part series and affirmed Brenton's place as an exciting voice in the Australian literary scene. Additional published works to date include notable Penguin and Allen & Unwin titles. Brenton also has a weekly comic strip in The West Australian called Old Champ.
When he’s not drawing, Brenton dedicates his time to educating young people through creative storytelling workshops. Using his “you can be anything you want” mantra, he takes learning into a fantastical, exciting and visual space through his innovative and imaginative teachings.