There has been a stunning response to our requests for speakers at HE FEST 2025, the Future Campus conference which will be hosted by Deakin University in Melbourne this September.
We are delighted to announce the first 10 speakers on the program, but also want to provide the opportunity to hear from others across the sector, in a program focused on marketing, philanthropy, recruitment and strategy.
Speakers we can announce today include:
- Deakin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin and Victoria University VC Professor Adam Shoemaker
- UNE’s resident AI guru Aaron Driver is doing some fascinating work enabling and tracking usage of AI across the institution, in professional as well as academic areas and is preparing an interactive presentation where he will conduct live demos of AI applications that UNE’s professional staff have created in the marketing/comms/fundraising/strategy areas.
- Professor Eric Knight, one of the sector’s most accomplished emerging leaders, now serving as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University and providing his insights into What’s Next in HE
- Internationally-recognised communications industry leader, Joanne Painter, who is Group Managing Director of Icon Agency, providing an industry perspective on sector trends
- One of Australia’s most-loved Advancement leaders, Deakin’s Jimmy Buck, drawing on a massive volume of experience in building philanthropy aligned with institutional goals
- Author, tech and health writer Tim Pegler on the power of story in the digital age
- The inside story and strategy behind the University of Tasmania’s phenomenally popular online dementia resources, from Professor James Vickers, Director of the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, bringing research to hundreds of thousands of people
- Content King George Glover surveying trends in building engagement across multiple sectors and how that relates to HE
- Australia’s leader in higher education policy and analysis, Monash Professor Andrew Norton
- University of Sunshine Coast’s Justin Laing, awarded for communication campaign excellence in 2024, will present a session on the university’s Best Field Trip in the World campaign, which has gone from strength to strength over four years.
The conference will be hosted by Future Campus scribes Stephen Matchett and myself, and we are keen to hear your thoughts on talks that you would like to give. Send a 100 word outline of your presentation pitch to us at tim@futurecampus.com.au and we will see how many more voices we can shoehorn into the program.
