How can students, staff and community partners benefit from community-engaged learning?

This session explores fit-for-purpose approaches to community engagement through teaching and learning at UTS. Our speakers will share their insights into the importance and value of community engagement and critically examine the impact of these relationships.

Our panelists will discuss universities' role in developing globally aware citizens and how work-integrated learning can provide meaningful opportunities for teaching and learning at UTS.

Panelists:

Dr Mehal Krayem, Engaged Teaching and Learning Manager (Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion)
Mehal has taught for 10 years in the School of Communications (media studies, social inquiry and public communication) and has a PhD in Communications. She is the author of ‘Heroes, Villains and the Muslim Exception: Muslim and Arab Men in Australian Crime Drama’ (Melbourne University Press). She serves as Deputy Chair of Arts and Cultural Exchange and is a board and founding member of Hunar Symposia.

Nicola Hardcastle, Socially Responsive Design subject coordinator and Senior Lecturer (Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building)
Nicola is a visual communication designer and academic with a primary research focus on professional practice and industry engagement. Her current research centers on the pivotal role of mentorship in the expansive domain of design, contextualised within a global framework. She is actively engaged in formulating innovative mentorship principles that seamlessly integrate into the academic landscape while aligning with emerging paradigms of professional practice.

Kym Allen, Executive Assistant to Associate Dean (Indigenous Teaching and Learning)
Kym is a proud is a Wiradjuri woman with kinship ties to Dunghutti Country. Kym supports the Associate Dean Indigenous Teaching and Learning and wider Indigenous Teaching and Learning operations, including support of the Indigenous Graduate Attribute portfolio. Over her 17-year career in the higher education sector Kym has extensive experience in developing and facilitating inclusion, diversity, safety, and wellbeing strategies, including Indigenous employment, development, and retention in the university sector.

Rachel Yang, Intellectual Disability Advocate, Side by Side Advocacy and UTS SOUL graduate
Rachel is an Advocate at Side By Side Advocacy which specialises in supporting people with intellectual disability. Her experience spans a diverse range of non-profit organisations, including youth mentorship, entrepreneurship incubators, specialist community legal centres and systemic advocacy organisations. She has worked with high school students from all over Sydney including from disadvantaged areas, and marginalised communities including refugees, the homeless and First Nations peoples; and is an accredited Mental Health First Aider.

Lisa Aitken (moderator), Community Engagement and Impact Manager (Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion)
Lisa is an experienced social impact practitioner having worked across university, government, not-for-profit, start-up and private sectors. Lisa worked for 8 years in the Centre’s Student Equity Team designing programs and strategies to widen participation to students from underrepresented groups. She extended her innovation, leadership and strategic planning skills working at the NSW Department of Education managing multiple teams in the Catalyst Lab Innovation Program where she used design thinking and a participatory approach to develop an innovation academy for teachers. Lisa loves to work alongside community groups to design projects that have real impact.

Check out the other sessions at the UTS Community Engaged Symposium

2:00—3:30 pm: Workshop - Beyond our concrete tower: Breaking down barriers between academia and community
2:00—3:30 pm: Workshop - Indigenous Research: Community led, informed and actualised
2:00—3:30 pm: Workshop - Evaluation with communities: who gets to decide what "good" looks like?
4:00—5:30 pm: Panel session - From extraction to reciprocity: building authentic university and community partnerships
5:30—6:30pm: Refreshments and dinner will be served, plus an opportunity to view the Community Engagement and Impact exhibition