CEI Leadership Team

Professor Amanda Telford

Interim Director, Centre for Education and Innovation

Professor Amanda Telford is the Interim Director of the Centre for Education and Innovation (CEI) at Australian Catholic University.

Amanda brings more than 30 years’ experience across Education and Health Sciences, with deep expertise in learning and teaching transformation, curriculum innovation, academic capability development, and championing the student voice.

She previously served as State Head of Education (Victoria) within the National School of Education and has held a range of senior leadership roles across universities, including Associate Dean (Education), Deputy Head of School (Learning and Teaching), National Discipline Head, and Interim Associate Dean.

Amanda has also spent many years as a course coordinator, bringing a strong, student‑centred perspective across the entire learning journey.

She is based in Melbourne and is serving as Interim Director of CEI from April to December 2026.

Troy Severino

Associate Director, Learning Experience and Design

Troy is the Associate Director, Learning Experience and Design with responsibility for Learning Design, Multimedia and Learning Technology for ACO and ACU Online.

Troy has over 15 years experience in Higher Education covering several Universities, delivering a broad range of student centred technology and service projects. Troy came to ACU to lead the implementation of the Canvas Learning Management System.

As a proud member of the Ballarat Campus community, Troy will often be found trumpeting the virtues of the Ballarat Campus and his local town.

Associate Professor Christian Lorenzen

Manager, Student Engagement and Success

Manager, Student Engagement and Success Christian is an ACU alumni and recently served his 20th year as an ACU Academic. As former Chair of the Courses and Academic Quality Committee (CAQC) and Deputy Chair of Academic Board, he continues to work closely with academics across all faculties to build understanding and capacity around curriculum excellence, and to ensure that ACU's strategic initiatives genuinely articulate with the needs of our students and the disciplinary strengths of our academic colleagues. Within his own discipline, he served as National Undergraduate Course Coordinator (Exercise Science), overseeing the curriculum development and implementation of nine degrees, and as Deputy Head of School for the School of Behavioural Sciences. Across each of these roles he has consistently demonstrated a genuine commitment to delivering distinctive, innovative, and student-centred curricula that reflect our unique Mission and values.

Dr John Mahoney

Academic Lead, Higher Education Learning and Teaching Academy (HELTA)

John is a psychologist by training whose work focuses on improving the quality, credibility and impact of university learning and teaching. He has led major institution-wide initiatives in student success, assessment reform, academic development and evidence-informed educational practice.

John leads ACU Thrive, the University's evidence-informed approach to supporting first-year student learning, engagement and transition. He has also played a central role in developing ACU's Two-Lane Approach to Assessment, which strengthens learning assurance by combining secure assessment of essential learning outcomes with authentic, AI-enabled assessment.

John is a co-founder of INSPIRE, which translates high-level educational research into accessible guidance for university educators, and has led the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Academy in supporting professional learning, recognition and scholarship. His broader work encompasses learning analytics, responsible use of generative AI, digital assessment and the development of scalable approaches that make effective teaching easier for academics.

John's contributions to learning and teaching have been recognised through faculty, university and national teaching awards, including an Australian Awards for University Teaching Citation, and scholarly outputs.

Associate Professor Alison Owens

Academic Lead, Scholarship and Professional Learning

Alison has worked in the Australian higher education sector for over twenty-five years. At Central Queensland University she began lecturing in Arts and Communications before taking leadership roles as Associate Director Academic (CQU, Sydney Campus) and then Director of the International Education Research Centre (CQU). She completed her Doctorate in Education (UTS) in 2005 focusing on teaching and learning in culturally diverse university contexts. In 2018, she completed a PhD in Creative Arts (historical fiction).

Alison began working at ACU in 2017 as an academic developer where she has further developed her long interest in scholarship and professional learning in the university context. She is a Senior Fellow of Advance Higher Education, a TEQSA Expert and an ACU representative on the Council of Australasian University Leaders of Learning and Teaching (CAULLT). Alison collaborates widely in scholarship and professional learning projects within ACU, across Australian universities as well as internationally.

Associate Professor Georgia Clarkson

Academic Lead, Quality Enhancement

Georgia has a mixed disciplinary and work background in arts, teaching and paramedicine. Georgia has a strong focus on inclusivity in education having completed her PhD around the impact of inclusive educational practice for LGBTQI+ health students and practitioners. Georgia has been an academic since 2008 and has been employed at several universities, where she worked in school, faculty, university and cross institutional programs and project leadership roles. Georgia has also led numerous teaching development grant projects in collaboration with colleagues from a broad range of disciplines.

Kirstin Donaldson

Senior Manager, Online Student Experience and Retention

Kirstin has 15-years’ experience in database marketing consultancies and the education sector as an analytics professional. Passionate about team collaboration, Kirstin works to deliver timely quality results and communicates effectively with all stakeholders. Naturally curious, when it comes to data, Kirstin loves the challenge of translating complex data into evidence-based insights that allow organisations to make better-informed decisions. After work, she can be found at St Kilda Beach or Albert Park running with her very energetic Koolie, Buddy.

Guido Ernst

Manager, Academic Skills Unit

Guido holds two teaching degrees and a Master of Arts (in literature, linguistics and philosophy). He held academic and professional roles at the University of Melbourne since 2004. From 2011 to 2021, Guido was the Manager of Academic Skills at the University of Melbourne. In that role he successfully implemented a number of initiatives including a peer academic writing service, a ‘students as partners’ initiative and a new service model that saw academic skills development embedded in curriculum. He joined ACU as the manager of the Academic Skills Unit in 2021. Guido is committed to data informed decision making and to the development of high performing teams.

Emmyrose Hobbs

Program Manager, ACU Online

Emmyrose is a passionate quality assurance professional with a background in editing and publishing. Currently undergoing a Master of Business (Change Management) she also holds a Bachelor of Communication (Professional writing and editing). Emmyrose brings together her enjoyment of process-oriented work, problem solving and people management to ensure a smooth flow of work for the ACU Online operations. On weekends she loves having people over to her home in regional Victoria.

Adele Richards

National Manager, Centre for Education and Innovation

Adele manages all operational tasks for the Centre for Education and Innovation, provides strategic support to the Director of CEI and the leadership team, and is an integral link between CEI and ACU faculties and directorates. Previously, Adele was the Business Analyst for InPlace, the universities clinical and professional placement system. In this role she managed the application of the system, coordinated upgrades, managed projects to implement new and improved functionality. Adele has been a part of the ACU Family for over 15 years starting out in Student Administration in 2007 within the Student Centre, then moving into Student Systems, undertaking a number of different roles to build knowledge in system processes, testing, training, and supporting stakeholders.