The Judges

Trevor Allan Award judge

Nominations for the Trevor Allan Award are reviewed by valued experts across the tertiary sector and the ADCET team in conjunction with Katy Lambert, daughter of Trevor Allan.

Katy Lambert is an AccessAbility Advisor at the University of Newcastle and has worked there for 16 years.  Katy has had a particular focus on working with Neurodivergent students for approximately 10 years and has been coordinating a Specialist Peer Mentor Program for Autistic Students at the university since 2017.  During the last 2 years, Katy has been involved in developing and coordinating a 2 day Neurodivergent Orientation program, as well as a Neurodivergent Study Club that began this semester.  Katy is passionate about removing barriers and promoting genuine inclusion for students with disability.

As Trevor Allan’s daughter, Katy is quite invested in ensuring that there are worthy recipients of this award who continue his legacy of enthusiastically working towards equity in higher education, while being willing to share skills, knowledge and support with colleagues from across the sector.

ADCET Accessibility in Action Awards judges

Elizabeth Hitches is an advocate for accessible and inclusive practice, previously holding workshops at Griffith University, University of Tasmania, the University of Queensland, government departments, communities of practice and conferences inside and outside of Australia. Elizabeth is a co-host of the ADCET ILOTA Things podcast exploring accessibility and universal design for learning (ULD) in the age of AI. Her research interests lie in inclusive education at a national and international level, as well as equity, achievement, and wellbeing for students with disability and/or accessibility requirements (Explore Elizabeth's research here). Her research is currently exploring academic stress in higher education, and how this can be reduced in inclusive and accessible ways through a UDL lens. She is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Social Science Research, University of Queensland. She is also a sessional academic teaching in inclusive education across various universities, and a teacher of research methods at the University of Queensland. Elizabeth is a national faculty member of CAST, and an associate fellow of the higher education academy (AFHEA).

Francois Jacob is a sessional academic in the Disability and Inclusion Pathway at Deakin University and winner of the ‘Leading by Example’ category at the inaugural ADCET Accessibility in Action Awards in 2022. Francois draws on his recent experience as a student to augment his teaching practice.  In his spare time, Francois enjoys recreational running and consulting on arts and digital accessibility.

Gabrielle Edwards is a 30-year-old queer student at the Queensland University of Technology who lives with Functional Neurological Disorder, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, vasovagal syncope, and C-PTSD. She is passionate about the environment, equity for minority groups and social justice, science, and animals. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her chosen family and their six pets, keeping bees, playing video games, making art, and playing tabletop games like Wingspan and D&D. 

Associate Professor Jane Skalicky is Director, Student Academic Success at the University of Tasmania. Jane leads a team of staff and student leaders, working across all UTAS campuses and online. The Student Academic Success portfolio provides a suite of student transition and support services including course and progression advice, learning development, peer learning programs, accessibility services, as well as initiatives that target early intervention and retention for at-risk students and equity groups. Jane has led the development of key institutional strategies and policies and facilitated networked partnerships across the University to ensure that student success, learning and accessibility programs and services are relevant to the changing needs of students and curriculum and are strategically delivered to areas of most need and impact. She regularly shares key aspects of her work at national and international conferences and in scholarly journals.

Kim Neville is the Digital Accessibility Practice Lead at the Australian National University, where they work across teaching and learning, research, and staff and student services in their current digital transformation program. With a varied background in Digital Accessibility, Human Centred Design practices, Web and content production, digital learning tools and IT Services, Kim leads strategic initiatives to ensure digital platforms and projects incorporate accessibility work to improve accessible experiences of work and study at the university. Kim and the Digital Accessibility team work collaboratively with colleges, IT teams, education designers, and university leadership to incorporate accessibility into the digital ecosystem—ranging from course materials and learning management systems to university websites and digital tools. The team also provide training, develop policy, and guide audits and remediation projects to support a digitally inclusive culture. Kim holds a Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility and post graduate qualifications in Interactive Multimedia and Sound and is an active OzeWAI member. Kim brings a strong commitment to user focused methods to design and implement digital inclusion.