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Sarah O'Shea

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Professor and Higher Education Researcher, University of Wollongong

Having spent over two decades teaching and researching in the higher education field, Professor Sarah O’Shea is regarded as an expert in educational equity. Her research ($AUD 3million+) advances understanding about how under-represented student cohorts enact success within university, manage competing identities and negotiate aspirations for self and others. She is currently leading an ARC Discovery Project exploring the persistence behaviours of first in family students and is affiliated with University of Wollongong.

Experience

  • 2020–present
    Honorary Professorial Fellow, University of Wollongong
  • 2020–present
    Professor and Director , Curtin University
  • 2019–2020
    Professor, University of Wollongong
  • 2016–2018
    Associate professor, University of Wollongong
  • 2010–2015
    Senior Lecturer, University of Wollongong

Education

  • 2009 
    University of Sydney, Doctor of Philosophy

Publications

  • 2015
    Avoiding the manufacture of “sameness”: First-in-family students, cultural capital and the higher education environment, Higher Education
  • 2015
    Shifting the blame – academic staff, social inclusion and inclusive teaching practices. , HERD Journal
  • 2015
    ‘We are history in the making and we are walking together to change things for the better….’ Exploring the flows and ripples of learning in a mentoring program for Indigenous young people. , Education as Change
  • 2015
    “I generally say I am a Mum first… but I’m studying at uni”: The narratives of first in family, female caregivers moving into an Australian university. , Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.
  • 2015
    Arriving, Surviving and Succeeding- exploring the first year of university, Journal of College Student Development.
  • 2015
    “I ‘feel’ like I am at university even though I am online.” Exploring how students narrate their engagement with higher education institutions in an online learning environment. , Distance Education

Grants and Contracts

  • 2015
    “Engaging Families to Engage Students": Exploring how university outreach activities can forge productive partnerships with families to assist first in family students navigate their higher education journey.
    Role:
    Fellow
    Funding Source:
    Office of Learning and Teaching
  • 2014
    Mentoring and Indigenous higher education: Understanding how university students mentor Indigenous school students
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2014
    Breaking the Barriers: supporting and engaging mature age first-in-family university learners and their families.
    Role:
    Lead CI
    Funding Source:
    Office of Learning and Teaching

Honours

Principal Fellow, HEA; Churchill Fellow; Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow