Executive Committee

President’s Message

Welcome message from the President

Dear Members

I, Sasha Nikolic, have taken over the AAEE Presidency term for 2025-2026. I am excited to say we are working on many new initiatives. However, first, I would like to show appreciation to our past president, Steven Goh (now Past President), and the committee members Anne Gardner, Mohammad Al-Rawi, and Sarah Dart, whose terms ended last year. Thank you for the massive contributions made. We welcome Maryam Moridnejad and Samuel Cunningham to the committee. As volunteers we all try to serve the community the best we can within our spare capacity.

We are currently working on a strategic plan to enhance our structure, membership value and community & technical contribution. I will share more in due course. A key focus will be on trying to improve our communication. To do this, starting this month, our newsletters will become monthly. Expect them around the start of each month. We will also be looking to enhance our website with policies and details to help you be better informed on what AAEE is and how you can take advantage of the many opportunities. We do have some limitations. We have been drawing down our surpluses for the last 5+ years, and now we must start living within our means. This will mean some changes will be required. On a more positive note, we are reviving old partnerships with our sister organisations, SEFI and CEEA. Expect to read more about related opportunities in our upcoming newsletters.

Abstracts for AAEE25 will be due soon, and I encourage all members to participate. Our conference is something special: great people, atmosphere, research and practice. It is not something to be missed. For our ECRs and established members who want to enhance their engineering education research skills, we have the Winter School being hosted in Melbourne mid-year. The school is an essential starting point for anyone who wants to grow as an engineering education researcher.

All the best,

Sasha 

The 2024 Executive Committee

AAEE is governed by an elected executive committee that guides the direction of AAEE and undertake the day-to-day operations of the Association, as well as international outreach and global engagement in engineering education. Leadership roles in AAEE is also an opportunity for engineering educators to demonstrate national/international leadership and recognition in the field. The executive also includes appointed representatives of the aligned bodies Engineers Australia, Engineering New Zealand and the Australian Council of Engineering Deans (ACED). The Executive Committee members for 2024 are:

Helen Fairweather (Engineers Australia)

Brett Williams (Engineering New Zealand)

Sally Male (Australasian Journal of Engineering Education)

Prasad Yarlagadda (Australian Council of Engineering Deans)

Governance Roles

The Executive has a number of roles and portfolios in which members serve:

• Leadership (President, Vice-President, and Immediate Past-President)
• Executive Operations (Treasurer, Secretary, EA Executive Officer)
• Communications and Engagement
• Education and Excellence
• Conference and Publications

Communications and Engagement

The Communication and Engagement portfolio oversees the internal and external communication and engagement of the association with its members, AAEE Champions, EA community, academic community and the community at large. It is responsible for developing and implementing a communications plan and protocols. Communication channels include online newsletters, AAEE website, Facebook, EA Magazine, EA online news and when opportunities arises, wider external media sources. The portfolio also oversees the archiving of past communication material. This also currently includes AAEE Networking Events.

Education and Excellence

The Excellence and Education portfolio oversees AAEE affiliated capacity building initiatives and AAEE run recognition and reward programs. This portfolio is about promoting excellence in the field and providing pathways for professional development. There are generally two coordinators within this portfolio with one overseeing awards and other recognition activities and the other managing professional development activities. Specific responsibilities include – AAEE annual conference awards, direction setting and coordination of professional development and recognition programs. This also includes the AAEE Academy of Early Career Engineering Educators.

Conference and Publications

The Conference and Publications portfolio oversees all aspects of AAEE conferences, as well as the publications of the association (AJEE and Conference Proceedings). The conference activities include support of the current conference, awarding of future conferences and overseeing quality processes. The conference coordinator oversees the conference operations in the portfolio, serves as a liaison and mentor to the current year’s organising committee, and facilitator of the bidding process for future conferences. The publication activities include overseeing the major publications of the association to ensure they are aligned with the rest of the organisation’s activities and direction, and are quality outputs of AAEE. The Publication coordinator oversees these activities, and works closely with the AJEE editor.