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Waves of Wisdom Early Childhood Research Conference
1st - 2nd May 2025
Early Years Research Lab
Southern Cross University, Gold Coast Campus
We are thrilled to announce that the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University is hosting the Waves of Wisdom Early Childhood Research Conference (WOW) on May 1-2, 2025, on the beautiful Gold Coast Campus, Queensland, Australia.
1st May 2025 from 5.30pm
2nd May 2025 9.00am to 5.00pm
The WOW Conference is an opportunity to come together and (re)awaken our collective wisdom and reaffirm a sense of community, agency, creativity, and commitment to co-creating a more equitable, just, caring, and welcoming world for children, families, and the early childhood sector.
We invite proposals from early childhood researchers and practitioners, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island researchers, early-career researchers, and practice-led researchers. The call for abstracts for workshops, research presentations, and roundtables is now open until March 17, 2025.
Join us for engaging face-to-face discussions, workshops, and research with a global community of researchers and professionals at the WOW conference on May 1-2, 2025, at Southern Cross University, Gold Coast Campus.
We look forward to seeing you there!
The WOW Conference Organising Committee
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Keynote Speakers
Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles
Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles is the Executive Dean of Southern Cross University’s world-leading Faculty of Education, as well as the Research Leader of the ‘Sustainability, Environment, and the Arts in Education’ (SEAE) Research Centre. Amy’s research centres on climate change, childhoodnature, posthuman philosophy, and child-framed research methodologies. She is particularly focused on the pivot points between education, science, and philosophy. Professor Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles has led over 40 national/international research projects and is presently the lead researcher on a 2024 Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant on climate change education on/with Country.
She has published more than 150 publications with her latest book entitled ‘Posthuman Research Playspaces: Climate Child Imaginaries’ (with Rousell, Routledge). Professor Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles has been recognised for both her teaching and research excellence in environmental education, including an Australian Teaching Excellence Award (OLT) and an Australian Association for Environmental Education Fellowship (Life Achievement Award) for her outstanding contribution to environmental education research.
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Catharine Hydon
With over 30 years experience leading and advocating for quality early childhood education and care, Catharine Hydon’s work as the Principal Consultant and Director at Hydon Consulting, focuses on supporting professionals to explore the relationship between theory and practice.
Catharine’s collaborative approach and engaging style have taken her all over Australia to think alongside leaders and educators in a collective effort to create meaning, define quality and engage in the art of transformational change.
Cultivating professional dialogue that responds to complexity and invites deep reflection is central to Catharine’s work informed by a Masters in early childhood education specialising in practice and governance.
Amongst other pursuits, Catharine is a long-time member of Early Childhood Australia (ECA), an active contributor to ECA’s Reconciliation work and a regular contributor to ECA publications. Catharine has been a member of the ECA Code of Ethics working group for the last two reviews, is a co-author of ECA’s Ethics in Action Implementation guide and has recently co-edited Reconciliation in Action with Jo Goodwin. In addition, Catharine is a Board Member of the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority and has recently been re-appointed as a second-tier reviewer for ACECQA.
In 2022, Catharine completed a Diploma of Governance, deepening her interest and understanding of effective governance and leadership that support outcomes for children and whole communities.
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Dr Leanne Gibbs
Leanne Gibbs is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Education within the Faculty of Arts and Education. Her teaching and research interests are leadership, management, public policy children’s rights, and advocacy. Leanne joined Charles Sturt University in 2022 after an exemplary career within early childhood education and care (ECEC) comprising diverse roles in the profession that include teacher and director, adviser and manager with local, state, and federal governments, manager and leader for national and state professional development programs, and CEO of a sector peak. Leanne is also an author, podcaster, Board Member, and an early childhood education advocate.
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Registration fee
Registration is $200 or $150 for students.
Registrations close Thursday, 10th April 2025, at 5pm.
Register hereConference venue
Southern Cross University's Gold Coast campus is located at Coolangatta, just 400 metres from North Kirra Beach and adjacent to the Gold Coast Airport. Views of the Pacific Ocean and Gold Coast Hinterland can be enjoyed from many vantage points in the campus buildings.
If you are looking for accommodation, the closest is Rydges Gold Coast Airport.
Get in touch
Organising Committee
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Professor Wendy Boyd
Dr Wendy Boyd is a Professor of early childhood education and care & the Associate Dean, Education in the Faculty of Education at Southern Cross University. Her research focuses on quality early childhood education in Australia and globally. She is a Chief Investigator on a 2023 Australian Research Council Discovery Grant on attraction & retention of early childhood teachers. Her work also explores peer mentoring, pedagogy, parental perspectives, and sustainability in early childhood education.
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Dr Tracy Charlotte Young
Dr. Tracy Charlotte Young is a senior lecturer and researcher in early childhood education and care at Southern Cross University's Faculty of Education. Committed to animal activism, her research focuses on multispecies education, child-animal relations, environmental education, and critical posthumanism. Tracy employs qualitative and post-qualitative methods such as narrative inquiry, ethnographic, speculative, and embodied research/praxis.
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Dr Olivera Kamenarac
Olivera Kamenarac is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education (Gold Coast Campus). Her scholarship intersects feminist post-structuralist and post-humanist philosophies of subject formation and subjectivities in education across different countries. With vast international experience in studying educational policies and politics, Olivera is particularly focused on challenging local and global policies, structures, and systems (re)producing injustices for human and non-human be(com)ings.
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Dr Jubilee Smith
Jubilee is an educator and leader with over 25 years of experience in primary and tertiary education. She excels in communication, collaboration, and leadership in digital technology. An emerging researcher, Jubilee focuses on digital technologies, literacy, and cyber safety, within the Faculty of Education and is part of the Early Years Research Lab at SCU.