Our people

Sheila Degotardi is the Director of CRECE, and a Professor of early childhood education. Sheila's research focusses on infant-toddler pedagogies, with a emphasis on the learning potential of interpersonal interactions, relatedness and relationships… View full profile

Sandie Wong is a Professor in early childhood at Macquarie University. Sandie conducts collaborative research with academics, early childhood organisations and practitioners, and governments, on early childhood practices, workforce issues and educator well-being… View full profile

Fay Hadley is the Deputy Director of CRECE and an Associate Professor of early childhood education. Fay's research focusses on leadership in early childhood education and partnerships with diverse families… View full profile

Rebecca Andrews is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood, the Chair of the Mia Mia Advisory Board and the Mia Mia Academic Coordinator. She has extensive knowledge of and experience in early childhood practice, pedagogy and research… View full profile

Natalie Brand is a Macquarie-trained ECT who recently completed a PhD thesis about learning-focused dynamics of toddler–educator talk. She is a postdoc research fellow at MQ SoE, taking responsibility for the ToddlerTaLK study, lead by Prof Degotardi and Dr Djonov…

Rebecca is a Professor in the Macquarie School of Education. Her research focuses on early child development, particularly self-regulation and numeracy. She also examines how interactions with adults in the home and early childhood centre environments impact on child development and learning.… View full profile

Tamara Cumming is a Senior Lecturer with the Macquarie School of Education and has worked in the early childhood sector for over 15 years. Tamara's research concerns the complexity of early childhood practice, and the well-being and sustainability of the early childhood workforce… View full profile

Belinda Davis is a Senior Lecturer and Course Director for Early Childhood. Her research interests include curriculum, pedagogy and quality… View full profile

Emilia Djonov is a Senior Lecturer who specialises in language and literacy in early childhood, multiliteracies, multimodal and critical discourse analysis, social semiotics and educational linguistics. This focus is at the heart of her contributions to critical multimodal discourse studies… View full profile

Linda Harrison is a Professorial Research Fellow in Early Childhood at Macquarie University and Adjunct Professor of Early Childhood, Charles Sturt University. Her research is grounded in a life-long interest in the relationships, wellbeing and learning of young children… View full profile

Nicole Jamison is a Lecturer in Early Childhood Education (Creative Arts and Play). Her teaching and research specialises in play, arts-informed and creative pedagogies, curricula and methodologies, young children’s voices, perspectives and experiences, and reconceptualist and intercultural practice… View full profile

Dr Helen Little is a Senior Lecturer in early childhood education in the School of Education, Macquarie University where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate child development and outdoor learning units. Helen is also the Course Director for the Master of Teaching (birth to 5 years). Prior to … View full profile

Sarah is Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts and specialises in music and movement education. Her research focuses on teacher and preservice teacher confidence and development of skill in music and dance and she is interested in integrating the arts and the role of creativity in education… View full profile

Jane Torr is an Honorary Associate Professor at Macquarie University. She specialises in the study of young children’s language, early literacy, and literary development, in the home and in Early Childhood Education and Care settings. She has drawn on insights from systemic functional linguistic the… View full profile

Shirley Wyver is a senior lecturer in child development. Shirley has a PhD in developmental psychology and is a registered psychologist. Shirley's main research area is outdoor play and learning… View full profile

Fiona Zheng is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow specializing in infant/toddler language development. Her main areas of research involve the quality and quantity of language environment at early years, and multilingual education in early childhood… View full profile

Dr Laurinda Lomas is an early childhood and primary mathematics lecturer at Macquarie University. Laurinda's research interests include innovative ways to support early childhood educators to deepen their understanding of mathematics, and confidence to embed it into everyday experiences.… View full profile