Speakers
Herenga Delta Conference 2021
Professor Thomas Lumley
Statistics department, University of Auckland
Thomas Lumley is a Professor in the Statistics department at the University of Auckland, with wide-ranging research interests in theoretical and applied biostatistics. Since moving to Auckland in 2010, Thomas has developed an interest in public science communication, especially in the area of risk and probability. He has been the main contributor of posts on statistics in the media to the department’s blog, StatsChat, which was started in 2013 and had its two-millionth page view this year. He has also given presentations to journalists and high-school teachers on applying basic statistical literacy to the news. Thomas is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the American Statistical Association and has been an R core developer since 1997.
Dr Valerie Sotardi
Senior Lecturer of Educational Psychology & Quantitative Research, University of Canterbury (NZ)
Dr Valerie Sotardi (PhD, University of Arizona) is Senior Lecturer of Educational Psychology & Quantitative Research at the University of Canterbury (NZ). Broadly, her area of expertise lies within the study of academic motivation and its impact on student learning during schooling transitions such as the first-year transition to university. Dr Sotardi’s research draws on multiple methodologies to identify academic and personal factors that contribute to student outcomes. Such factors consider how students perceive their learning environment (such as teacher support, fairness/equity, student cohesiveness, task engagement) and the extent to which those perceptions interact with emotions (such as boredom and assessment anxiety), self-beliefs, causal attributions, and other important dynamics. Dr Sotardi has conducted extensive research on stress and coping in learning situations. This generally includes the day-to-day stressors that students experience, the (effective and ineffective) ways that students respond to stress, and how the learning environment can better support individuals and classrooms.
Professor Elena Nardi
Professor of Mathematics Education, University of East Angila
Elena Nardi is Professor of Mathematics Education in the School of Education (EDU) at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK). Her research is in a range of areas of mathematics education, with a particular emphasis on the teaching and learning of mathematics at university level, as well as: public discourses on mathematics/mathematicians and science/scientists; inclusion of learners with diverse needs in mathematics; mathematical affect; and, secondary mathematics teachers’ epistemological and pedagogical discourses. Her monograph Amongst Mathematicians: Teaching and Learning Mathematics at University Level was published by Springer in 2008. The externally funded projects she is currently involved in include the British Academy funded CAPTeaM project (Challenging Ableist Perspectives in the Teaching of Mathematics; Principal Investigator). She leads EDU’s RME (Research in Mathematics Education) Group. Amongst the post-graduate students that she has supervised to completion are 23 students at doctoral level and 42 at Masters level. She is the director of EDU’s MA Mathematics Education, module organiser to two of its three compulsory modules and co-organiser to its third. She is module organiser of the BA Education module Children, teachers and mathematics: Changing public perceptions of mathematics and team member of the programme’s Dissertation module. She is member of the ESRC Peer Review College and of the Coordinating Committee of the International Network for Didactic Research in University Mathematics (INDRUM). She is co-Editor in Chief of International Journal for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education and Advisory Editor of the Routledge journal Research in Mathematics Education, the official journal of BSRLM, the British Society for Research into the Learning of Mathematics. She is member of the Editorial Board of Educational Studies in Mathematics, Mathematical Thinking and Learning, and Mathematics Teacher Education and Development.
Professor Chris Tisdell
Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education at UNSW
Education is my vocation – a voice, calling from within me since I was young. In my mind, education forms a place where my personal passion intersects with the world’s deep needs. Education is what I’ve been doing with my life that makes a personal difference to form part of my legacy – something that can be looked back on in later years to see the meaningful impact on the world.
I am Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education at UNSW. I am also an Honorary Professor of STEM & Digital Education at UQ (Brisbane). My significant and innovative contributions to the student experience have positively impacted millions of people around the world by exploring the challenges of scale, flexibility and personalized learning. For example, I lead Australia’s earliest YouTube channel dedicated to learning mathematics, now in its thirteenth year of operation with more that 15 million views; and my free etextbooks have a global audience of more than 10 million readers.
A teacher at heart, the quality and impact of my work on the student experience has been recognized at national and international levels, through fellowships and prestigious awards for educational excellence, including diversity and inclusion. As Associate Dean (Education), I have been responsible for improving the quality, recognition and transparency of the student experience across ~600 courses, 30 programs and ~10,000 students within The Faculty of Science at UNSW. As VP (Education) at the Australian Maths Society, I lead a national portfolio that promotes the learning and teaching of STEM, including research training.
I am proud to collaborate with key partners within the education industry, ensuring continuous improvement and collaborative advantage therein. I promote innovation in education through public engagement and thought leadership at national and international levels as an expert and public figure. I am unfazed by the challenge of educational transformation at scale and see myself as an agent of positive change.
Kerri Spooner
Senior lecturer at Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Kerri started her career as a secondary school mathematics teacher, transferring over into the tertiary sector in 2013. Her research interests include mathematical modelling education, transitional education and mathematics education in general.
Kerri has been a member of the Auckland Mathematics Association executive since 2011, is an active member of New Zealand Mathematical Society (NZMS) education sub group and AUT’s STEM-Tec centre. She is the New Zealand Co-ordinator for the Annual International Mathematical Modelling Competition (IMMC) for secondary school students.
During her career Kerri has have won five teaching awards and had one national nomination for excellent teaching. Kerri was the leader of the team that won the AUT Vice Chancellors Teaching Team excellence award in 2018. Other awards she has won include AUT excellence in Learning and Teaching Individual Award 2013, Royal Society Teacher Fellowships in 2011 and in 2000, a PPTA Study Award in 2011. In 2019 Kerri was nominated, along with her team, for an Ako Aotearoa National Teaching Team Excellence Award. From 2014 to 2019, Kerri was the programme leader for AUT’s Certificate of Science and Technology and continues to play an ongoing role in AUT’s Uniprep programme. Both programmes are specifically designed to address the inequalities experienced from New Zealand’s pre tertiary education system for Maori and Pacifika.
Professor Thomas Lumley
Statistics department, University of Auckland
Thomas Lumley is a Professor in the Statistics department at the University of Auckland, with wide-ranging research interests in theoretical and applied biostatistics. Since moving to Auckland in 2010, Thomas has developed an interest in public science communication, especially in the area of risk and probability. He has been the main contributor of posts on statistics in the media to the department’s blog, StatsChat, which was started in 2013 and had its two-millionth page view this year. He has also given presentations to journalists and high-school teachers on applying basic statistical literacy to the news. Thomas is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and the American Statistical Association and has been an R core developer since 1997.
Dr Valerie Sotardi
Senior Lecturer of Educational Psychology & Quantitative Research, University of Canterbury (NZ)
Dr Valerie Sotardi (PhD, University of Arizona) is Senior Lecturer of Educational Psychology & Quantitative Research at the University of Canterbury (NZ). Broadly, her area of expertise lies within the study of academic motivation and its impact on student learning during schooling transitions such as the first-year transition to university. Dr Sotardi’s research draws on multiple methodologies to identify academic and personal factors that contribute to student outcomes. Such factors consider how students perceive their learning environment (such as teacher support, fairness/equity, student cohesiveness, task engagement) and the extent to which those perceptions interact with emotions (such as boredom and assessment anxiety), self-beliefs, causal attributions, and other important dynamics. Dr Sotardi has conducted extensive research on stress and coping in learning situations. This generally includes the day-to-day stressors that students experience, the (effective and ineffective) ways that students respond to stress, and how the learning environment can better support individuals and classrooms.
Professor Elena Nardi
Professor of Mathematics Education, University of East Angila
Elena Nardi is Professor of Mathematics Education in the School of Education (EDU) at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK). Her research is in a range of areas of mathematics education, with a particular emphasis on the teaching and learning of mathematics at university level, as well as: public discourses on mathematics/mathematicians and science/scientists; inclusion of learners with diverse needs in mathematics; mathematical affect; and, secondary mathematics teachers’ epistemological and pedagogical discourses. Her monograph Amongst Mathematicians: Teaching and Learning Mathematics at University Level was published by Springer in 2008. The externally funded projects she is currently involved in include the British Academy funded CAPTeaM project (Challenging Ableist Perspectives in the Teaching of Mathematics; Principal Investigator). She leads EDU’s RME (Research in Mathematics Education) Group. Amongst the post-graduate students that she has supervised to completion are 23 students at doctoral level and 42 at Masters level. She is the director of EDU’s MA Mathematics Education, module organiser to two of its three compulsory modules and co-organiser to its third. She is module organiser of the BA Education module Children, teachers and mathematics: Changing public perceptions of mathematics and team member of the programme’s Dissertation module. She is member of the ESRC Peer Review College and of the Coordinating Committee of the International Network for Didactic Research in University Mathematics (INDRUM). She is co-Editor in Chief of International Journal for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education and Advisory Editor of the Routledge journal Research in Mathematics Education, the official journal of BSRLM, the British Society for Research into the Learning of Mathematics. She is member of the Editorial Board of Educational Studies in Mathematics, Mathematical Thinking and Learning, and Mathematics Teacher Education and Development.
Professor Thomas Lumley
Statistics department, University of Auckland
Education is my vocation – a voice, calling from within me since I was young. In my mind, education forms a place where my personal passion intersects with the world’s deep needs. Education is what I’ve been doing with my life that makes a personal difference to form part of my legacy – something that can be looked back on in later years to see the meaningful impact on the world.
I am Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education at UNSW. I am also an Honorary Professor of STEM & Digital Education at UQ (Brisbane). My significant and innovative contributions to the student experience have positively impacted millions of people around the world by exploring the challenges of scale, flexibility and personalized learning. For example, I lead Australia’s earliest YouTube channel dedicated to learning mathematics, now in its thirteenth year of operation with more that 15 million views; and my free etextbooks have a global audience of more than 10 million readers.
A teacher at heart, the quality and impact of my work on the student experience has been recognized at national and international levels, through fellowships and prestigious awards for educational excellence, including diversity and inclusion. As Associate Dean (Education), I have been responsible for improving the quality, recognition and transparency of the student experience across ~600 courses, 30 programs and ~10,000 students within The Faculty of Science at UNSW. As VP (Education) at the Australian Maths Society, I lead a national portfolio that promotes the learning and teaching of STEM, including research training.
I am proud to collaborate with key partners within the education industry, ensuring continuous improvement and collaborative advantage therein. I promote innovation in education through public engagement and thought leadership at national and international levels as an expert and public figure. I am unfazed by the challenge of educational transformation at scale and see myself as an agent of positive change.