Empower Team

Dr Miriam Ham | Leader - Identity and Belonging Cluster

Senior Lecturer, School of Education and the Arts

Dr Miriam Ham is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Education on the Cairns campus of CQUniversity. She is the Postgraduate Research Coordinator for the school of Education and the Arts. She was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Exemplary Practice in Learning and Teaching for 2020 and the Australian College of Educators FNQ Tertiary Educator Excellence in Education Award for 2022. Her passion is working with teachers improve their agentic response to identified problems specific to their context. She works with teachers both nationally and internationally, through Empower. Her current research projects focus on and exploring how teachers define and teach skills of global competence in their classrooms.  

Contact Dr Miriam Ham.

Dr Karena Menzie-Ballantyne | Leader - Global Citizenship and Sustainable Futures Cluster

Senior Lecturer, School of Education and the Arts

Dr Karena Menzie-Ballantyne is a Senior Lecturer and teacher-educator at CQUniversity Australia’s Bundaberg campus. Karena co-leads Empower, a research cluster of academics, PhD and Masters students from Australia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Malaysia, specialising in practically-oriented, evidence-based research into education for global citizenship/global competence and sustainable development at system, school and classroom levels.  Karena’s recent research includes working with: the Drafting Committee for an Asia-Pacific Road Map to implementing UNESCO’s Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights and Sustainable Development; University of Hull on an international Delphi study into how teacher-educators contextualise global education; the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) on Monitoring Global Citizenship Education in the Asia-Pacific Region; and the Queensland Department of Education on their Global Competence Framework.

Contact Dr Karena Menzie-Ballantyne.

Professor Stephen Dobson is Dean of Education and the Arts at Central Queensland University, Australia. He holds 2 PhDs (in Refugee Work and Assessment) and a Magistergrad in Sociology. His research interests include all forms of assessment (viva, feedback processes, assessment for learning), educational policy and theory, learning inclusion in a digital world and disadvantaged groups. He holds a Professor II post at the Centre for Lifelong Learning (Inland Norway University of Applied Science), where he is part of EU projects (Erasmus+ program). Stephen was integral in the establishment of the Centre of Excellence – Educating for the Future (with State Islamic University of Jakarta, Centre of Islamic Thought and Education - University of South Australia and Central Queensland University) in 2019, and in 2022 he co-established a Learning Lab to research higher education teaching and learning. 

Dr Malcolm Burt, Manager Production, Learning Design and Innovation Directorate

Dr Jay Deagan, Senior Lecturer, School of Education and the Arts

• Marini Budiarti - RHD
• Saba Fahim - RHD
• Chris Higgins - RHD

Chris in his day-job is the National Programs Director, Development and Innovation at The MacKillop Institute, the professional learning arm of national not-for-profit MacKillop Family Services, an organisation supporting some of Australia’s most vulnerable children, families, and communities. In his part-time PhD studies at CQU, Chris is interested in the role of digital technologies in supporting development of global competencies for school students.

• Claire Laundy - RHD
• Dominic Mappas - RHD
• Misbah Samar - RHD

Misbah Samar is a dual citizen of Australia and Pakistan and currently undertaking a PhD on approaches that teachers use to develop global competence in primary school students.

• Sumaiya Sanda - RHD

Sumaiya’s research centers on Global Education Policy in the Asia-Pacific region, contributing to the strategic objectives of UNESCO and the OECD. Her work supports the advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a particular focus on SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). 

• Dr Nur Syafiqah Yaccob

Dr. Nur Syafiqah Yaccob obtained her doctorate in TESL from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and did her doctoral internship with Central Queensland University, Australia. She received a Fulbright TEA award for 2020-2021 and did her fellowship at University of Arkansas, USA. She previously received a YSEALI fully funded award, gained her Global Competence certification, and a certified Global Competence Educator by AFS+ Global Up. Recently she completed a GCED course in Global Justice and Peacebuilding.