Distinguished Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington AO PFHEA B.Ed (Hons) Tas, DPhil Oxon
Standing Acting Vice Chancellor
Deputy Vice Chancellor: Research and Enterprise Chancellery and Council Services | Bradley Distinguished Professor

Distinguished Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington AO is the lead for research excellence, translation, and impact, and research training at the University of South Australia. As Standing Acting Vice Chancellor she is the lead for the Aboriginal Leadership and Strategy, Advancement, and Communications, Marketing and Domestic Student portfolios at the University of South Australia. In 2022 she was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for her contribution to higher education governance, leadership, and mentoring, and in 2023 she was the recipient of a George Parkin Award by the Rhodes Trust for distinguished contribution to the Rhodes community worldwide.

Distinguished Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington’s keynote address will be about Student Administration Excellence for an Artificial Age: 
Student Administration Excellence matters more than ever. In an age of artificial assistants, data-driven decision making, and heightened awareness of privacy, trust, extremism, and security, outstanding higher education provision turns on generosity. In this talk, Marnie Hughes-Warrington highlights the ways in which generosity helps us to navigate ambiguous, challenging, and even extreme times for the sector. 

 

Michelle King
Partner at KPMG
National Higher Education Lead & National Enterprise Education Lead

Michelle is KPMG Australia’s National Leader for Higher Education. Before joining KPMG, Michelle spent 20+ years in Higher Education (HE) and Vocational Education and Training (VET), across a broad range of strategic and enterprise functions. She specialises in providing strategic analysis and insight, delivering complex change and experience-centric transformation. Michelle also chairs KPMG’s Lifelong Learning Taskforce, which is a key component of the Firm’s corporate citizenship and ESG commitments and is widely published and invited as a sector thought leader and keynote speaker.

 

Michelle King’s Keynote Address:
Given the disruptive forces impacting Higher Education and changes in students’ expectations, getting the student experience right is both more difficult and more important than ever. Within this context, making the case for investment in student services and delivering successful reform is also harder than ever before. In this session, we will explore insights from across the sector on how best to build the connections and political capital to drive change that sticks and improve experiences for students and colleagues alike.