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Facilitating Disruption Through Connections

16 - 17 June 2026

Hosted at The University of Technology Sydney

We’re excited to announce the first HEDx conference for 2026 – Facilitating Disruption Through Connections, hosted by University of Technology Sydney. Higher education stands at a crossroads. In 2026, the pace of change is accelerating and the sector faces a defining question: how do we create University 2.0 and learning that is truly fit for the future?

Join national and global leaders as we rethink, redesign and renew the promise we make to every future learner. This conference is a call to courage, collaboration and reinvention — and it starts with you. To remain globally relevant and socially responsible, universities must move beyond incremental change and embrace bold transformation. HEDx exists to help catalyse that change and support the evolution of higher education for good.

Facilitating Disruption Through Connections brings together visionary leaders, educators, employers, innovators and—critically—students to co-design the future of learning. Student voices will shape every conversation, ensuring the solutions we create are not only for learners, but with them.

PROGRAM INFO + DATES

Mon 15 June 2026 (2-7pm) – Sydney Tech Central Tour

Join a curated walking tour through Sydney’s Tech Central precinct, from UTS to the University of Sydney, concluding with a reception. Discover a global innovation hub connecting industry with 160,000 students and 150+ research institutes, including CSIRO’s Data61, Techstars and the Australian Centre for Robotics.

Free Registration / Limited to 100 places

Tue 16 June (10am-6pm) + Wed 17 June 2026 (9am-6pm)

Our two day conference program featuring keynote talks, panel discussions, intimate conversations and interactive workshops hosted at UTS.Earlybird Tickets (25% discounted) available until 21 April 2026

Why attend?

Hear from national and international thought leaders
Participate in collaborative discussions and workshops
Explore new models of learning, leadership and partnership
Contribute to student-centred solutions for the future of higher education
Co-design individual and collective, accountable actions to take away and work on

TICKET PRICES (Earlybird 25% discount available until 21 April 2026)
Non-Members/Corporate – $1500 (both days) / $787.50 (single day)
Universities** / Not-For-Profit – $1200 (both days) / $630 (single day)

Students – $400 (both days) / $250 (single day)
**If your university/institution is a 2026 HEDx Member or Partner you may be eligible for a complimentary ticket. Please contact info@hedx.com.au to confirm.

Buy Tickets Register for tech tour Download Program

Accommodation

We are thrilled to be partnering with The Marriott and Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, Central Park, to offer HEDx conference attendees a special rate.

Book Now

Conference themes

Connecting people and systems

Tackling student poverty, well-being, and staff mental health demands a fundamental redesign of the academic experience — one that embeds genuine flexibility and puts learners at its centre. It also requires institutions to critically review their operating models, embracing emerging technologies and shared or merged back-office functions to redirect resources toward learning.

Connecting pathways to learning

To rebuild public trust, institutions must actively demonstrate their social value by co-designing regional economic futures, expanding lifelong learning pathways, and fostering cross-sector collaboration — including stronger alignment between VET, TAFE, and higher education. This means championing tertiary harmonisation, promoting shared data standards and capability records, and measuring worth through service to society rather than rankings.

Connecting with students and employers

In the AI age, top-down curriculum design must give way to a partnership model where educators act as mentors, co-creating relevant, practical learning experiences alongside students and industry. This means embedding work-integrated learning across all degrees and treating students as active partners in shaping their own education — “nothing about us, without us.”

Connecting with AI and technology

Online education leadership has evolved beyond the on-campus versus online debate, with the focus now on designing seamless, high-quality experiences across all modalities and dismantling the stigma around online learning. As AI disruption accelerates and omni-channel experiences become the norm, institutions must draw on global best practice from the US, UK, Italy and Singapore to innovate and keep pace with emerging disruptors.

Connecting with global partners

Navigating growth and change demands adopting urgency as a core operating principle — creating protected spaces for innovation, raising institutional risk tolerance, and dismantling legacy systems that no longer serve modern learners. Through global collaboration with HEDx’s partner’s AI-powered innovation sandboxes, leaders can share experiences, drive meaningful disruption, and secure the ambitious growth that lies ahead.

Conference Speakers

Jasmine Johnston

Student

Deakin University

Prof Kylie Readman

DVC Education

UTS

Prof Suzanne Le Mire

PVC (Student Experience)

Professor Aleks Subic

VC and President

Torrens University Australia

Noah Pickus

Head of Global Strategy

Duke University

Professor Shân Wareing

Vice-Chancellor and CEO

Middlesex University

Professor Chris Moran

Vice-Chancellor

University of New England

Professor Andrew Parfitt

Vice-Chancellor

University of Technology Sydney

Professor Lucy Marshall

DVC (Community and Leadership)

University of Sydney

Prof Dominique Parrish

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Torrens University Australia

Grant Robertson

Vice-Chancellor

University of Otago

Bruce Lines

VP of University Integration

Adelaide University

Jon Davey

CEO

Online Educat6ion Services

Prof Simon Buckingham Shum

Director, Connected Intelligence Centre

UTS

Jennifer Lowe

Student

University of Newcastle

Scott Pulsipher

President

Western Governors University

Professor Paul Mazzerole

Vice-Chancellor and President

University of Southern Queensland

Catherine Reynolds

CEO

OUA

John Dewar

Partner

KordaMentha

Alphia Possamai-Inesedy

Professor and PVC

Western Sydney University

Professor Danny Liu

Educational Technologies

University of Sydney

Katie Ford

Industry Executive - HE

Microsoft

Manuela Franceschini

Pedagogical Evangelist

Adobe

Patrick Kidd

CEO

Future Skills Organisation

Dan Greenstein

Chief of Industry Transformation

Ellucian Technologies

Professor Bill Shorten

Vice-Chancellor | President

University of Canberra

Nicola Cresp

Chief Global Growth Officer

OES

A/Prof Jan McLean

Director, Teaching Learning and Curriculum Unit

UTS

Weihong Liang

Student and President ISRC

University of Sydney

Professor Max Lu

President and VC

University of Wollongong Australia

Prof Pascale Quester

Vice-Chancellor

Swinburne University of Technology

Charlsey Pearce

CEO

MortarCAPS Data Standard

Prof Guy Littlefair

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

The University of Western Australia

Professor KC Chua

President

Singapore Institute of Technology

Jami Emerson

AI Specialist

UTS

Nils de Vries

Principal Solutions Architect

Amazon Web Services

Prof Helen Bartlett

Vice-Chancellor | President

University of the Sunshine Coast

Aaron Driver

Chief AI Officer

University of New England

Professor Michelle Lincoln

DVC

University of Canberra

Kerstin Schofer, Director

Global and Digital Education Innovation

University of Technology Sydney

Siyan Li

Executive Director

CinLearn Education

Prof Edward Santow

Director, Policy & Governance, Human Tech Institute

UTS

Madison Piper

Student

The University of Queensland

Prof Pierpaolo Limone

Rector

University of Pegaso

Prof George Williams

Vice-Chancellor | President

Western Sydney University

Professor Rose Luckin

AI Thought Leader

EDUCATE Ventures Research

Gail Bray

Chief Transformation Officer

Victoria University

Prof Theo Farrell

Vice-Chancellor | President

La Trobe University

Sam Jacob

CEO

Collarts

Margot McNeill

CEO

Canberra Institue of Technology

Prof Rorden Wilkinson

DVC Academic and Registrar

Macquarie University

Professor Kelly Matthews

Professor of Higher Education

Sasha Thackberry-Voinovich

Founder and President

Newstate University

Martin Betts

CEO

HEDx

Dr Kirsten Brown

Design Innovation Manager

CSR

”“The event is really amazing. The energy in the room is really strong, the presentations have been fantastic, I've met wonderful people and I've come away with ten new ideas and new ways of looking at the issues in higher education."
Professor Ann KirshnerAdvisor at ASU and UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

”It's great to be a part of HEDx. It's a massive community of practice where we can share our ideas, share our thinking, we can be inspired by the thinking and ideas of others and hopefully some of our ideas can inspire our colleagues to think differently about how they are working and they are thinking"
Professor Simon BiggsVC, James Cook University

”Our economy needs a deeply skilled workforce that can only be delivered with strong pathways from TAFE to Universities and Universities to TAFE. AI and green technologies are shifting the economic foundations and consequently the challenges for all educational institutions. "
Sharan burrowChair, Bendigo Kangan Institute