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.

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.

Associate Professor Christian Lorenzen

Manager, Student Engagement and Success

Christian is an ACU Alumni, having recently served his 15th year as an ACU Academic. As incumbent Chair of the Courses and Academic Quality Committee (CAQC), he has extensive experience working closely with academics to promote understanding and capacity around curriculum excellence and to ensure ACU's strategic initiatives genuinely articulate with the needs of our students and the disciplinary strengths of academic colleagues in all faculties.

Within his own discipline, as National Undergraduate Course Coordinator (Exercise Science) he has been responsible for overseeing the curriculum development and implementation of 9 degrees. In 2016, he was seconded to the Provost’s office to the new position of Lead Academic (Core Curriculum). In all of his roles he has always shown a genuine commitment to delivering distinctive, innovative, 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.

James Nicholson

Manager, Learning Experience Design

James Nicholson’s first degree was in Information Engineering from Massey University in New Zealand. His love of teaching drew him to the classroom where he taught high school maths and science in New Zealand, Australia and England. A break from teaching led him back to his technology interests where he worked for an electronics company, assisting clients design their circuit boards and program microprocessor chips.

At the University of Sydney James discovered true Learning Design which combines both his passions for technology and education. He worked at Sydney for six years developing and delivering online, face-to-face and blended courses for numerous groups including Cancer Australia and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. His move to ACU saw him work as an Educational Designer, eLearning Advisor and head up ACU’s first centrally located team of Learning Designers.

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.

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.

Dr Yayoi Wai

Senior Manager, Digital Learning Design

Yayoi has a PhD in marketing and two bachelor degrees, one in arts (media communications) and in business (with honours). Her roles have included product development, project management, learning design, leadership and change management. Yayoi is passionate about people management and driving high functioning teams. She spent time in the corporate sector before expanding her skills in online education. When she is not working, Yayoi enjoys travel and shares her experiences with her colleagues through her virtual backgrounds in meetings.