The Higher Education Equity Research Unit (HEERU), led by Distinguished Professor Sarah O'Shea, explores facets of the higher education equity context, drawing on diverse theoretical and conceptual framings.
Learn more about Professor Sarah O’Shea, Dean of Graduate Research, and initiative Lead for Higher Education Equity Research.
Sarah’s ongoing commitment to the field of educational equity and inclusion is unquestionable: recognised by numerous awards and ongoing funding.
The focus of the unit is on those learners who are under-represented in the university sector in Australia, expanding beyond the six nominated equity groups and including learners who may be impacted by a more diverse range of material and social constraints that limit university participation.
The unit draws together expertise and empirical research similarly focussed on ensuring that the higher education sector is characterised by equitable access and participation.
To date, the Unit has conducted research that encompasses themes related to spatial belonging including troubling the ‘boundary work’ negotiated by diverse student cohorts within the university environment as well as how equity bearing learners engage in capital exchange and negotiation to enter professional and prestige employment roles.
HEERU has developed partnerships internationally, working with researchers in the UK and Europe as well as developing connections with organisations in the US.
Dr Maree Martinussen has commenced as the Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Educational Equity. She joins us from the University of Melbourne, where she held a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellowship that explored social class identities with women enrolled in postgraduate education. Dr Martinussen has also received a Researcher Development Award from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (University of Melbourne) for investigating student perceptions of affirmative action-oriented to supporting students with low socio-economic backgrounds students. Dr Martinussen has published extensively in areas related to educational equity and HDR experience, and previously, she worked in the Researcher Development area.
Listen to Professor Sarah O’Shea’s interview conducted with Virginia Haussegger AM, an award-winning television journalist, writer and commentator.
In this extract, Sarah discusses her focus on enriching the higher degree by research student journey, encouraging students from diverse backgrounds to take the higher degree by research pathway and ensuring that Charles Sturt is known for widening participation in higher education.
