The AADES Biennial Conference will be held 3-4 September 2026 at the Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney NSW.
Early bird registration (at a reduced rate) is now open for the 2026 AADES Conference.
Our conference is an opportunity for distance and virtual teachers to meet, connect, share and learn together with their Australasian colleagues.
We have secured 4 exceptional keynote speakers including Doug Fisher, Louka Parry, Dr Jenny Donovan and Kirra Pendergast, with more to come. Doug Fisher will be travelling from the USA and is highly engaging leader and expert in the online/virtual teaching space. Doug will be presenting a keynote and 2 masterclass opportunities.
The program will provide a choice of 24 workshops focused on our themes Lead, Learn, Thrive. The workshops will have a practical focus and are an opportunity to share evidence informed practice from across the jurisdictions. Please consider suitable learning leaders from your school to put forward next year.
The full-program will be published early next year.
Start thinking about potential candidates for the AADES Awards that will be presented at the Awards Dinner. Nominations will open early next year.
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Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College having been an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2022. Doug has published numerous articles on leadership, reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design as well as books, such as The Teaching Reading Playbook, PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, Rigor Unveiled, and Better Learning Through Structured Teaching.
Louka Parry is an education futurist and learning strategist dedicated to transforming how we teach, lead, and learn. A former principal at just 27 and named Inspirational Public Secondary Teacher of the Year, he has since trained thousands of educators and leaders worldwide to amplify their impact.
Holding two Master's degrees and fluent in five languages, Louka has studied at Harvard, Stanford's d.school, and is a Salzburg Global Fellow. He has worked with organisations from Apple to the OECD and across all Australian states and diverse global systems.
As a Founding Executive of Karanga: The Global Alliance for SEL and Life Skills, he champions the integration of social, emotional, and academic learning for a thriving future.
Dr Jenny Donovan is the inaugural CEO of the Australian Education Research Organisation. Prior to this role, she established and led the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE) as Executive Director for 8 years.
Dr Donovan began her career as a high school teacher in Sydney's western suburbs. She has worked in a number of education roles in operational and policy areas, including some years as Deputy Director of a not-for-profit education assessment agency at the University of New South Wales.
In 2023, she was a member of Professor Mark Scott's Teacher Education Expert Panel which delivered recommendations for reform to Initial Teacher Education that were accepted by Australia's Education Ministers. As a result, an evidence-based core curriculum will be implemented in all initial teacher education.
In 2024, Jenny was appointed as an Adjunct Associate Professor at La Trobe University's School of Education.
Jenny holds a Bachelor of Arts with a Diploma of Education from Macquarie University, an MA (Hons) from UNSW and a PhD in history from the University of Sydney.
Kirra Pendergast is an internationally recognised leader in human-digital risk intelligence.
With over 30 years at the intersection of cybersecurity, governance, and education, she has advised governments, corporations, and schools across five continents. She is the founder of Safe on Social and Ctrl + Shft, the world's largest privately owned digital safety education and governance agencies.
Kirra's frameworks are embedded in more than 1,200 organisations globally, transforming policy into practice and compliance into culture. Her expertise spans online harm prevention, psychosocial risk, and the safe use and environmental impact of AI, exposing the hidden cost of technologies we adopt without question.
A survivor of cyber abuse and a neurodivergent systems thinker, Kirra is known for keynotes that are raw, precise, and unforgettable. She appears as an expert witness in high-profile cases and is a trusted voice in global media including the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post, The Times, ABC and many more.
Now based in Florence, Italy, she continues to lead the global conversation on digital safety and ethical tech. Her work is a reminder that safety is not a system it's a state of being and a human right. And it must be defended. Relentlessly.