AAIR Forum Awards

To recognise the valuable contributions of AAIR Forum participants who have submitted an abstract and delivered a presentation at an AAIR Forum, AAIR awards a number of prizes.

The Committee may appoint a sub-committee to make decisions regarding these awards. The decisions of the Committee or sub-committee shall be final.

Best Presenter Award

All individuals who have submitted an abstract, been accepted to present, and present at an AAIR forum will be automatically eligible for the Best Presenter Award. All attendees will have an opportunity to vote on the sessions they attend, and the presentation receiving the highest number of votes will be determined to be the award winner.

The prize is AUD2,000, which is designed to assist the award recipient with travel to the US to present their winning presentation at the AIR Forum. The award will consist of AUD1,000 from AAIR plus AUD1,000 from the AIR Affiliated Organisation Travel Grant. The prize is transferrable subject to approval by the AAIR Executive Committee. The award itself will remain in the winner’s name.

Where the AIR travel grant is not awarded in a particular year, registration at the following year’s AAIR Annual Forum will be given in lieu.

If only one person is presenting but there are multiple authors, the actual presenter will be awarded the Best Presenter Award.

Best New Presenter Award

AAIR wishes to encourage participation in its annual Forum by practitioners who are relatively new to the area of institutional research. We have therefore established a Best New Presenter Award. Eligibility for this award is open to people working in institutional research who have not previously presented at the AAIR Forum. The award consists of payment of one registration fee for the next AAIR Annual Forum. The costs of travel and accommodation must be met by the award recipient (or their institution). The prize of Forum registration is transferrable subject to approval by the AAIR Executive Committee. The award itself will remain in the winner’s name.

For anyone co-presenting, all presenters must be presenting for the first time at an AAIR Forum to be eligible for this award. If only one person is presenting but there are multiple authors, the actual presenter will be awarded the Best New Presenter Award.

AAIR Annual Forum Award Recipients

Best presenter

2023: Brenwin Ang, The Social Research Centre, QILT Data Linkage (Best Presenter and Best New Presenter)
2022: Dr Bret Stephenson, La Trobe University, An analysis of ‘ghost student’ failure beyond the first year: exploring course, unit and year level factors
2021: Bekki Green, CQUniversity, Unpacking learner engagement: an analysis of QILT data
2020: Rintaro Ohno, Tohoku University, Student experience in Japan
2019: Shane Compton, Social Research Centre, Using loss framing to optimise response in the context of the Graduate Outcomes Survey – an experimental trial
2018: Jessica Vanderlelie, La Trobe University, Data driven innovation for student success
2017: Wayne Franklin, Charles Darwin University, Streamlining data processes at CDU – tools and techniques used for our unit survey (Best Session)
2016: Stuart Terry, Otago Polytechnic, Moving from what so to so what
2013: Dr Hannes Loock, University of Johannesburg, The undergraduate student experience survey discovers a new student reality (Best Session)
2011: Andrea Jeffreys, La Trobe University, 2012: A brave new world (Best Presenter and Best New Presenter)
2010: Josephine Palermo, Deakin University, Factors that impact on ageing tertiary workers wellbeing: a regional case study (Best Session)
2009: Dr Paul Wong, Australian National University, An Agile ETL Data Development for ERA XML Submission (shared)
2009: Dr Peter Rennie, Leadership Australia, A practical theory for changing society – one organisation at a time (shared)
2000: Annie Weir, Open Polytechnic, External quality assurance of New Zealand tertiary education providers

Best new presenter

2023: Brenwin Ang, The Social Research Centre, QILT Data Linkage (Best Presenter and Best New Presenter)
2022: Christie Woodhouse, Australian National University, Qualitative Data Analysis – Part 2
2021: Chris Norton, Wellington Institute of Technology & Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Surveys Automagic: connecting systems to automate student surveys/evaluations: learnings and outcomes, pressure points, failures, and successes
2019: Gimwah Sng & Shane Smith, Social Research Centre, Graduate employment destination – exploring the relationships between study are, occupation and industry of employment
2018: Samaneh Rastegari, La Trobe University, & Elizabeth Santhanam, Australian Catholic University, Insights from student experience survey results: the link between students considering withdrawal from their course and actual attrition
2017: Bo Liu & Annie Rose Smedley, Australian National University, Survey of survey managers
2016: Jennifer Heath & David Fulcher, University of Wollongong, Using learning analytics to enhance the student experience
2013: Michael Luckman, La Trobe University, Seasonal adjustments: recruiting and retaining domestic students over the summer period
2011: Andrea Jeffreys, Deakin University, 2012: A brave new world (Best Presenter and Best New Presenter)
2010: Samer Saad, eXplorance, A fresh look at response rates – best practises for online course evaluations
2009: Dr Paul Wong, Australian National University, An agile ETL data development for ERA XML submission (shared)
2009: Dr Peter Rennie, Leadership Australia, A practical theory for changing society – one organisation at a time (shared)

Best paper

2012: David Carroll, Graduate Careers Australia, Panel data investigation into relationship between graduate job search & employment outcomes
2011: David Carroll, Graduate Careers Australia, An analysis of mode effects in the 2010 Course Experience Questionnaire
2010: David Carroll, Graduate Careers Australia, Unemployment rates and starting salaries – are Australian graduates at the whim of the wage curve?
2009: Talitha Bennett and David De Bellis, Flinders University, The move to a system of flexible delivery mode (on-line v paper) unit of study student evaluations at Flinders University
2008: Som Jarwal, Andrew Brion and Maxwell King, Monash University, Measuring research quality using the journal impact factor, citations per paper and ERA’s ‘ranked journals’: blunt instruments or inspired metrics?

AAIR SIG Forum Award Recipients

Best presenter

2019: Grace Corpuz and Erin Greenaway, Western Sydney University, Riding the storm in institutional feedback surveys: A structured approach to evaluating reliability
2018: Ken Nelson, Loma Linda University – OEE, Leveraging Microsoft Power BI for Competency-Based Medical Education at a Health Sciences University
2017: Dr Richard Price, Flinders University, Trends in learning analytics research: A report on the major themes from Lak16 and Lak17
2014: Tim O’Dea, James Cook University, Late to the BI party, but keen to mingle

Best new presenter

2019: Michelle Devitt, Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre, Calling all storm chasers…
2018: John Stanley, University of Hawaii – West Oahu, & Serge Herzog, University of Nevada, Reno, From Descriptive Reports to Actionable Predictive Business Intelligence: How to Leverage Institutional Productivity in the Age of ‘Big Data’
2017: Mark Lang, University of Newcastle, Square, arch or circle? Insights gained by taking a different view of international admissions data

Best paper

2013: Jillian Langham, University of South Australia, UniSA: from spreadsheets & Cognos Enterprise Planning to TM1
2013: Craig Napier, University of Wollongong, Navigating terrain and discovering insights into UOWs sphere of influence

Institutional Research AwardRecipients

2019: Daniel McNamara, Robert Williamson, and Leone Nurbasari, Australia National University, (for their 2018 paper submission, Using cohort analysis and predictive modelling to inform targeted student support)
2018: Malcolm Rees, Massey University (for his 2018 presentation, The benefits of using qualitative analysis)