* HERDSA Connect: From Unknown Futures to Human-Centred Action: Reflections on the HERDSA 2026
* HERDSA Education Focused Academics Special Interest Group
* HERD and HERDSA are pleased to announce the 2025 Article of the Year Awards
* HERD and HERDSA are pleased to announce the 2025 Reviewer of the Year Award
* HERD and HERDSA are pleased to announce the 2025 Associate Editor of the Year Award
* Higher Education Research & Development, Vol. 45 No. 6 is now available online
* PhD Scholarship with Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), Deakin University
* New articles in Higher Education Research and Development

To submit an announcement for this list complete the online form at http://herdsa.org.au/herdsa-notices

A full list of HERDSA Notices is online at http://www.herdsa.org.au/latest-news

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HERDSA Connect: From Unknown Futures to Human-Centred Action: Reflections on the HERDSA 2026
Manisha Thakkar & Lauren Woodlands, 22 July 2026

Manisha & Lauren reflect on the highlights of the HERDSA 2026 conference in Singapore, including reflecting on the lessons learned from the keynotes.

Read more: https://herdsa.org.au/herdsa-connect/unknown-futures-human-centred-actio...

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HERDSA Education Focused Academics Special Interest Group

We were excited to launch the new HERDSA Special Interest Group for Education Focused Academics in Singapore.

The HERDSA EFA SIG is a collaborative community for academics, professional staff, researchers, and higher education leaders committed to advancing Education-Focused careers across the higher education sector.

We provide opportunities to connect, collaborate on shared interests and initiatives, share effective practices and innovations, develop and support research partnerships, and advocate for greater recognition of Education-Focused scholarship and leadership across the higher education sector.

To join our community, please complete the EoI form: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/kMA0rVsWxM

Join our LinkedIn group to connect with members and stay up to date with SIG activities and opportunities: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/23640008/

Further information: email Nicole Reinke at nreinke@usc.edu.au

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HERD and HERDSA are pleased to announce the 2025 Article of the Year Awards

Higher Education Research & Development and HERDSA, in collaboration with Taylor & Francis/Routledge, are pleased to announce the HERD Article of the Year 2025 recipients.

Following a rigorous judging process, two winners were chosen from 142 articles published in HERD in 2025:

Crook, S. (2025). Using historical approaches to understand contemporary student loneliness. Higher Education Research & Development, 44(2), 338–353. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2024.2393122
and
Ajjawi, R., Crawford, N., Bearman, M., Brett, M., Dollinger, M., & Tai, J. (2025). The house of cards: equity-group students’ experiences of structural inequity in higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 44(4), 793–807. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2456819

Two shortlisted articles were commended also:

Szorenyi, A., & Payne, C. (2025). Supporting neurodiversity in higher degree research supervision: a relational approach. Higher Education Research & Development, 44(8), 2101–2116. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2493248
and
Jenks, A., Onufer, L., & Guberman, D. (2025). Emergent questions of access: disability and the integration of generative AI in teaching and learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 44(4), 932–945. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2024.2442611

All shortlisted papers were judged to provide significant critical and/or analytical insights to the field of higher education, and were characterised by their thorough literature reviews, sound methodology, persuasive, succinct and coherent arguments, and were, moreover, highly engaging.

Congratulations to the winners and to the authors of the shortlisted articles.

Further information: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/cher20/collections/best-paper-prize...

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HERD and HERDSA are pleased to announce the 2025 Reviewer of the Year Award

Each year the HERDSA/HERD Routledge Reviewer of the Year Award recognizes the journal’s most outstanding reviewers.

The Award is based on the following criteria:
• Timeliness: completion of timely reviews of at least four manuscripts within the previous calendar year.
• Review content: substantive feedback, including helpful ideas for moving the submission forward.
• Review style: clear writing, constructive tone.

The award comes with a prize of AU$500 + Routledge $100 e-book voucher.

Following a rigorous judging process, the HERD editorial team is pleased to commend three 2025 winners for their exceptional dedication to providing timely, well-structured, clearly written reviews, which are consistently constructive in tone.

Kay Cleary, Victoria University, Melbourne
Paula Nottingham, Middlesex University, London
Hermann Astleitner, Paris-Lodron-University of Salzburg, Salzburg

Further information: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/higher-education-best-reviewer-prize/...

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HERD and HERDSA are pleased to announce the 2025 Associate Editor of the Year Award

The award recognises the outstanding contribution made by the Associate Editors of HERD.

Following a rigorous judging process, we are delighted to select two associate editors to receive this Award for 2025. The judging panel considered the contributions of HERD’s associate editors according to the following criteria: Timeliness, Commitment, Decision making, Quality of communication with authors and with the HERD editorial team. In all these areas, the panel found their contributions to be exceptional. The Award comes with a prize of AU$1000.

Congratulations and our thanks go to the winners:

Julie Nyanjom, ECU, Aus, and Tina Byrom, Loughborough University, UK

Further information: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/journal-higher-education-associate-ed...

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Higher Education Research & Development, Vol. 45 No. 6 is now available online

Higher Education Research & Development Vol. 45 No. 6 is now available from the HERDSA website. The Table of Contents is online at https://herdsa.org.au/higher-education-research-development-vol-45-no-6

Free online access is available to HERDSA members through your member dashboard.

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PhD Scholarship with Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), Deakin University
25 October 2026

Now Open! Deakin University Postgraduate Research (DUPR) 2027 scholarship applications – This is your opportunity to undertake a PhD with the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE)
• 2027 Domestic round: opens 6 July 2026, closes 25 October 2026
• 2027 International round: opens 6 July 2026, closes 23 August 2026

Applications for Higher Degree by Research DUPR PhD Scholarships for 2027 are now open! If you’re a domestic or international student specifically interested in the areas of assessment and/or digital learning, you can apply for a scholarship to undertake your research with CRADLE. The successful applicant will work on a project that considers assessment and/or digital learning in higher education, and will contribute evidence to inform assessment research, policy, and practice. We welcome applications that align to CRADLE’s research themes, and encourage applicants to consult our detailed list of prospective topics, summarised below.

• Effective feedback for learning – including student and teacher feedback literacy
• Developing evaluative judgement
• Assessment and feedback in a social world (e.g. culture, relationships, emotions, and power)
• New knowledge practices in a digital world
• Diversity and inclusion in assessment and feedback design and practice
• The longer-term effects of assessment and feedback: student identities, being and becoming
• Alternative representations of achievement

Scholarship applications are open to domestic and international students and successful candidates will commence in February 2027. The scholarship will be awarded on a full-time basis, based at CRADLE’s CBD location, Deakin Downtown, 727 Collins Street, Melbourne.

Further information: https://blogs.deakin.edu.au/cradle/open-now-apply-for-a-2027-phd-scholar...

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New articles in Higher Education Research and Development

AI literacy won’t save us: a reply to Bannister (2025), Timothy Hampson & Alexander De Soete, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2689359

Factors that support employability: experiences and perceptions of South Asian postgraduate international students in Australia and the United Kingdom, Sabrina Gupta, Hannah Holmes & Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2689358

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In the spirit of reconciliation HERDSA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australasia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.