2026 CAUDIT Awards Submissions

Staff and students at the University of Newcastle (the University) were navigating academic systems that were fragmented, providing an inconsistent user experience and dependent on manual interventions. It was recognised that current solutions were no longer fit-for purpose to ensure student retention and employability. The Academic Systems Program (the Program) was established to deliver digital solutions that would improve the student journey and better facilitate the achievement of workplace readiness in line with the priorities of the 'Life-Ready Graduates' pillar of the University’s Looking Ahead Strategic Plan 2020–2025. In line with this, three separate solutions were requested by Academic Division to enhance student experience: Adverse Circumstances, Timetabling and Student Placement Systems. These initiatives have collectively improved flexibility, accessibility, wellbeing and career readiness for tens of thousands of students while establishing a repeatable model for future student-focused digital transformation.

Future Ready Learning Spaces is a major transformation of RMIT’s audio visual (AV) ecosystem, placing student experience at the centre of teaching and learning innovation. In 2025, over $10M+ was invested to uplift 90+ learning spaces across lecture theatres, classrooms, and collaborative environments. This was not a routine refresh but a strategic redesign of how students experience learning shifting from fragmented, inconsistent legacy systems to a seamless, intuitive, and equitable digital learning environment. The program has significantly improved the day to day student experience by enabling frictionless hybrid learning, clearer lecture capture, and reliable, easy to use classroom technology that just works. By setting the foundation for future tiered AV designs, RMIT now delivers differentiated, purpose built learning spaces that elevate teaching quality and student engagement. This transformation positions RMIT as a leading institution in digital learning experience, making it a more modern, accessible, and competitive choice for students compared to peer universities.

In an ambitiously short time frame, Avondale University successfully transitioned the Learning Management System (LMS) from an on-premises Moodle platform to Canvas. Beginning in late 2025, this comprehensive migration moved all content from the end-of-life Moodle system (including substantial media assets previously managed via Kaltura) to Canvas, resulting in a significant technological uplift and a complete review of course content across the institution. The new LMS was successfully deployed for all courses in semester 1, 2026.

myAccess is a collaborative digital initiative delivered by Murdoch University’s Productivity and Automation Competency Centre (PACC) in partnership with the Access & Inclusion (A&I) team to transform how equitable student support is delivered across the University. The initiative replaced fragmented, manual and high-risk processes with a secure, integrated platform that supports the creation, management and delivery of student support plans. The solution combines a student portal, academic interface, case management application and automated workflows, integrated with core student systems to streamline processes, improve data quality and strengthen governance. The primary audience includes students with disability and health conditions, Access & Inclusion staff, and more than 600 Unit Coordinators responsible for implementing reasonable adjustments. By enabling more timely, consistent and transparent support, myAccess enhances the student experience while strengthening Murdoch University’s capacity to deliver inclusive and equitable education at scale.

Macquarie University is transforming the student digital experience through Student 360, a multi-year digital transformation program that is connected, future-proof, 'always on' and secure. Designed to deliver a personalised experience across the entire student lifecycle; from first enquiry through application, enrolment, retention, graduation and beyond. The Student 360 platform replaces fragmented legacy systems and will provide a single 'golden record' of each student, enabling insight-driven, personal and consistent engagement. In Phase 2, the first release has already reshaped two stressful moments in a student's journey: Special Consideration and Short Extensions. Streamlined digital workflows have replaced disconnected manual processes, giving students faster, clearer outcomes when they need support most. Complementing this, recently introduced Salesforce Partner 360 provides centralised, visible management of partnerships and community engagement, underpinning work-integrated learning, short courses, research, and innovation: expanding opportunities available to students. Together, these platforms deliver a genuinely connected, personalised and future-ready student experience.

 

Adelaide University transformed the student digital experience across the full lifecycle, from discovery and application through to study and support. Delivered in nine months by newly formed teams from two foundation universities, the initiative created unique and connected digital experiences for current students and future students. Adobe Experience Cloud, Oracle CRM, applications, curriculum and student management platforms, underpin a student and learning solution connecting student services, enquiry management, targeted communications, study advice and specialist support within a seamless landscape. Together, these programs replaced fragmented systems and manual processes with a coherent, personalised and data-informed experience for prospective and enrolled students. The model was co-designed by IT, marketing and recruitment, curriculum and student experience, embedding collaboration from concept to launch. It has delivered material scale and impact, including high website usage, substantial enquiry and thousands of student support appointments and cases, while establishing a sustainable model for future student lifecycle initiatives.

Each examination period, the University of Melbourne delivers approximately 100,000 exam sittings, including more than 57,000 fully digital and alternate exam sittings across the Royal Exhibition Building, Wilson Hall and an alternate-arrangements centre. Digital Exams is a cross-functional shared-services partnership spanning Student and Scholarly Services, the Enterprise Services Group and the Chief Information Officer Group, delivering secure, reliable, equitable and well-supported large-scale digital assessment. The program covers exam-venue and network engineering, device readiness, live in-exam support, accessibility arrangements, load testing, venue logistics, examination design support, quality assurance and academic-integrity monitoring. In Semester 1 2026, the University also piloted Schoolyear’s Safe Exam Workspace to enable authentic, software-based exams. The initiative protects assessment integrity and fairness for tens of thousands of students while expanding what digital exams can offer. Target audience: all coursework students sitting centrally supported and alternate exams, and the faculties assessing them.

Sydney Profiles is the University of Sydney's new academic profiles platform, launched publicly in January 2026. Built on Digital Science's Symplectic Elements, it replaced four disconnected legacy systems to transform how the University collects, manages and displays research outputs and other academic activities. Sydney Profiles leverages integration with trusted sources such as research identifiers and citation metric platforms for automated, timely research outputs data harvesting. This data interoperability has reduced manual entry from ~35% to ~1%, resulting in time savings and freeing up academics and research support staff to focus on higher-value work. Further, research expertise and impact is now more visible and discoverable to collaborators, industry, prospective students and media. Sydney Profiles is one of three core components being delivered under the myResearch Sydney program, a priority initiative to simplify the research administration lifecycle under Digital Sydney, the University’s master plan for digital enablement to support its 2032 Strategy.

The UTS eResearch team transformed how research technology support is delivered across UTS by modernising research infrastructure, redesigning support operations, and introducing evidence-based service management. The initiative focused on three linked improvements. First, the team introduced a Tiered eResearch Support model, including 24/7 self-service through the eResearch AI Assistant, improved website and knowledge resources, advisory triage through a dedicated team and AI-enabled workflows, and specialist escalation only where required. Second, the team consolidated and modernised two internal high-performance computing (HPC) facilities into a single PBS Pro-based environment, CETUS, with Altair Access supporting GUI-based applications and pre- and post-processing workflows. Third, the team developed live reporting and analytics across HPC, NCI (UTS allocation), research storage, digital research skills training and research support. Together, these changes improved access to support and eResearch platforms/services by making them easier to navigate, compute resources fairer to access, and future improvements and investment decisions more evidence-based.

In 2025, the IT team led the research systems integration required to support Adelaide University’s launch, ensuring researchers could continue critical activity while two foundation universities moved into one new institution. The initiative transitioned research management, graduate research, ethics, reporting, integrations, specialist research platforms, compute, storage and support models into the launch day environment. Its scope covered 68 centrally managed research applications, 765 distributed or specialised research applications, identity and access, enterprise storage, high-performance compute, cloud platforms, data migration and support pathways. The target audience was Adelaide University’s research community, including more than 5,500 researchers, graduate researchers, research services teams, Colleges, Research and Innovation, and IT teams supporting research capability. The work protected continuity for researchers during merger delivery while establishing the governance, ownership and technology foundations needed for a simpler, more connected and more capable research environment beyond launch.

Reimagining Higher Degree by Research (HDR): Transforming Research through Intelligent Automation is a cross functional initiative between RMIT's Information Technology Services (ITS) Automation team, Research Strategy & Services, and the School of Graduate Research (SGR). The program redesigned and automated high volume HDR administrative processes to improve the experience of graduate researchers and academic colleagues while enabling staff to focus on higher value support and complex case management. Targeting research administration teams, academic staff and more than 2,700 HDR candidates, the initiative streamlined project and scholarship advertising, candidate milestone management and examiner conflict of interest checks. Since 2025, the program has processed thousands of transactions, returned almost 700 staff hours, significantly reduced processing times, and improved the consistency, accuracy and timeliness of HDR services. Beyond delivering operational efficiencies, the initiative established a scalable model for automation and AI enabled service transformation that is now being adopted enterprise-wide at RMIT.

La Trobe University established Australia’s first university-commissioned NVIDIA DGX H200 platform, creating a secure, scalable and enterprise-supported AI capability for the Australian Centre for AI in Medical Innovation. Backed by a $10 million Victorian Government investment through mRNA Victoria, the platform supports ACAMI’s mission to accelerate AI-enabled immunotherapy, cancer vaccines, med-tech and healthcare innovation. The project transformed frontier AI infrastructure into a trusted research service, hosted at NEXTDC M2, high-speed connectivity, enterprise networking, cybersecurity, storage, backup, identity integration, operational support and governance. Rather than delivering a one-off technology asset, the initiative created production-grade research infrastructure that enables scientists, clinicians, students, healthcare collaborators and industry partners to accelerate medical discovery, clinical translation, workforce development and commercial collaboration. The platform provides a practical model for operating advanced AI infrastructure safely, securely and sustainably in support of nationally significant medical research.

Achieving world-class research requires a digital foundation that removes complexity and ensures research investment is directed toward discovery rather than administration and infrastructure. Guided by the University of Newcastle's (the University) Looking Ahead Strategy 2020–2025 (the Strategy), Digital Technology Solutions (DTS) has strengthened the University's digital ecosystem for research through the ‘Enable and Enhance the Research Lifecyle’ (EERL). EERL has improved how research information, outputs, and data are managed across the University through complementary solutions managed under two themes: - Opening access: Open Research Newcastle (ORN), providing a streamlined platform for publishing research outputs - Data Efficiency: Research Data Management (RDM), introducing structured storage lifecycle management to move inactive research data into more cost-effective storage while maintaining accessibility. Together, these initiatives have created a more connected, data-rich and sustainable research environment, reducing administrative burden, improving institutional data management, and enabling greater investment in research capability.

The Modern Workplace Program standardised 85 Microsoft Teams enabled meeting rooms and implemented Microsoft Teams phone across the University, enabling the retirement of the legacy Cisco Webex platform and the removal of 2,000+ physical handsets within 6 months. This transformed the way Victoria University (VU) staff connect, communicate and collaborate by replacing legacy technology with a sustainable Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The program also delivered a modern SharePoint based Staff Portal, replacing an ageing intranet, containing outdated and duplicated content, while strengthening governance, content ownership and information to be easily sourced by staff. It has reduced dependence on ageing hardware, network infrastructure and ongoing equipment replacement, while supporting flexible and hybrid ways of working. By consolidating digital services onto a modern cloud-based platform, the program has simplified the technology footprint, optimised staff experience and embedded sustainability principles into the design, procurement and delivery of Victoria University's future workplace environment.

The UQ Staff Intranet launched in February 2026, delivering a single, modern, secure digital workplace for all 8,600+ UQ staff and HDR students, replacing an end-of-life website platform not fit-for-purpose and a fragmented information environment. The initiative consolidated critical staff information, tools and services into an intuitive, user centred platform integrated with Microsoft 365. UQ Staff Intranet offers a single, authoritative source of truth for staff information, support, news and services, for critical areas including Human Resources, Information Technology, and Facilities and Maps. With key information now available alongside a personalised search feature, UQ’s workforce can now self-service and locate key information easily, while reducing reliance on Service Desks. This launch marks the first step in simplifying the digital journey for UQ staff. It forms a part of UQ’s strategic commitment to enhance and secure technology infrastructure, improve findability and shareability of resources, and establish a foundation for future growth and technology integration.

Institution-wide replacement of semester timetabling, exam scheduling/timetabling, tutorial registrations & calendar synchronisation for all staff & students.

The University formalised an Emerging Tech Practice: a fit-for-purpose innovation delivery model and GenAI delivery pipeline to test ideas in a safe sandbox, progress them through evidence-based pilots and scale only those proven to be valuable and viable. Scalable resourcing was put in place to support the program by leveraging the University’s Work Integrated Learning program providing a quality, continuous talent pool while delivering meaningful learning and experience for students.

When the Australian Government introduced the Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP), universities were given a short timeframe to establish a capability that had never previously existed: an end-to-end process connecting eligibility, assessment, verification, and payment across multiple systems. As a large regional university with a diverse and distributed student cohort, CQUniversity needed to bring together previously disconnected systems, data, and processes to ensure eligible students received payments from day one. The challenge was further complicated by government requirements, accredited placement disciplines, and an immovable delivery deadline. A cross-disciplinary team comprising Work Integrated Learning, Scholarships, Finance, Schools, and Digital Services worked together to design and deliver a reliable, auditable, and scalable solution. By integrating enterprise systems and reducing manual processes, the team established a sustainable capability that supports students at scale. The result was a successful launch on 1 July 2025, with eligible students receiving payments from day one and an enduring model for collaborative, cross-functional delivery at CQUniversity.

Enterprise Applications undertook a significant operational transformation to improve the speed, reliability and sustainability of security patching across the University's critical student administration and finance systems while supporting an increasing portfolio of enterprise applications. Through improved risk-based planning, integrated release schedules, enhanced testing practices and stronger vendor engagement, the team reduced the delivery time for quarterly security patches from two to three months to as little as three days for middleware components, and three to five days for finance systems. And reduced student system patching windows to between one to two weeks. These improvements positioned the University to respond to Oracle's transition from quarterly to monthly Critical Security Patch Updates in 2026 without a proportional increase in resources. This initiative demonstrates Operational Excellence through measurable improvements in efficiency, risk reduction, service reliability, cyber resilience and the establishment of a culture of continuous improvement.

Technology for technology sake? A rapidly advancing technology eco-system along with advancement in ‘AI’ has put technology-led change into overdrive. Universities have moved from building highly customised solutions to navigating a growing ecosystem where the availability of new technology and products and pressure to keep pace is driving change and complexity. The University of Melbourne has established and operationalised an enduring product management framework for research management, bringing together academics, research management professionals, operational teams and technology experts to shape the digital future of research from idea to impact. Over four years, the initiative has operationalised five cross-faculty Business Product Groups, representing the diversity of the University’s research ecosystem, to provide transparent governance, roadmap planning, prioritisation, product lifecycle oversight and benefits realisation for research systems. The framework empowers the people who use and manage research technology to define needs, co-design solutions, guide investment and champion adoption. It has shifted technology-enabled change from fragmented, project-by-project consultation to a sustained, community-led operating model that improves visibility, accountability, efficiency and responsiveness across the research lifecycle.

The University of Southern Queensland's Shaping our Future Technical Working Group Team delivered one of the University's most significant organisational transitions under an exceptionally compressed timeframe. Established to coordinate technical implementation of a new university structure, the group managed changes across core enterprise systems, business processes, reporting environments and more than 70 dependent applications. The Working Group brought together specialists from IT, Human Resources, Finance, Student Systems and business areas to provide governance, risk management, testing, communications and transition support. Despite evolving requirements and tight deadlines, the team implemented staged changes across Finance, Student Systems and Human Resources. The team enabled UniSQ to move to its new organisational structure while maintaining service continuity, minimising disruption and strengthening foundations for future change initiatives.

The Currency Maintaining RMIT AU Program is a large-scale operational excellence and cyber resilience initiative designed to ensure RMIT’s digital environment remains secure, compliant, and continuously up to date. The program delivered over $20M+ worth of coordinated uplift across 27 initiatives, including application version support, wireless access point (WAP) infrastructure upgrades (access points and controllers), refresh of 1,300+ edge switches, OS currency management across 900+ servers, and database/data centre consolidation. A key focus was strengthening cyber resilience by proactively eliminating vulnerabilities through timely patching, OS upgrades, network hardening, and reduction of legacy infrastructure exposure. This significantly improved the organisation’s security posture and reduced cyber risk across critical systems. The scope spans the entire RMIT digital ecosystem, supporting teaching, learning, research, and corporate operations for students, academic staff, and professional staff across all campuses. The program achieved zero-disruption delivery through strong governance, cross-college coordination, and risk-managed execution, ensuring systems remain secure, reliable, and performant while reducing technical debt and operational risk.

In 2025, Adelaide University IT designed and mobilised the operational support model required to launch a new university on Day One. The IT Hypercare Program and Launch Hub brought together service management, onsite support, product teams, incident response, workforce planning and business engagement into one coordinated operating model. The work prepared three parallel technology environments for cutover, while maintaining services across the two foundation universities and building the support capability for Adelaide University. The 2025 activity delivered the governance, service pathways, support coverage, escalation model and transition to support disciplines that underpinned the January 2026 launch. The effectiveness of that preparation was demonstrated through the Hypercare period, with 675 systems cut over, 475,000+ users migrated, 82,000+ IT requests handled, 22 major incidents resolved and 47 critical incident response groups coordinated. Service performance also improved, including speed to answer improving from more than 12 minutes to 1 minute 14 seconds, abandonment reducing from 26% to 6.6%, customer satisfaction reaching 4.37 out of 5, self service adoption reaching 75%, and request fulfilment improving by 23%.

The Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP) solution is a sector-wide shared service developed by Higher Ed Services (HES) in partnership with a consortium of 10 universities. The initiative delivers an end-to-end digital platform to support eligible students applying for Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP) assistance, replacing fragmented institutional processes with a standardised, scalable and transparent service model. The project scope included co-design, rapid system build, implementation, onboarding, training and ongoing managed service delivery. Core functions include student application submission, eligibility assessment, document handling, payment processing and reporting, supported by automation and AI-enabled document processing. The target audience includes students undertaking eligible mandatory placements who may experience financial pressure, as well as university staff responsible for placement administration, payment assessment, compliance and student support. The initiative improves student experience while reducing administrative burden and supporting consistent sector-wide delivery.

RMIT commenced the Curriculum Mapping & Management Tool (CMMT) Project to address pain points and inefficiencies in the curriculum management lifecycle, which impact our productivity, our ability to implement enterprise-level product innovation, and our ability to satisfy regulatory obligations. Fragmented curriculum information across systems was contributing to a lack of data accuracy and certainty, duplicated and redundant staff effort and ultimately a lack of insight into RMIT products and curriculum offerings. The CMMT transformed curriculum lifecycle management through standardisation and digitisation, ensuring accuracy of processing outcomes and resulting in productivity efficiencies. It introduced a solution for the design, development, review, and publishing of curriculum information, providing a single source of truth for product and curriculum data, enabling enterprise-wide product architecture innovation, and enhancing our ability to respond to regulatory and sector change, and new and emerging business opportunities.

Automatic Simple Extensions is a Digital Sydney ‘Fast Start’ within the Unit of Study Coordinator (UoSC) Experience Program aiming to improve the digital experience for UoSC, freeing up more time and space for exceptional teaching and learning. The approach automates the processing of five-day simple extensions requests from students by connecting ServiceNow (Special Considerations), SEAMS (Sydney eLearning Account Management System) and Canvas in a single, streamlined flow, cutting six manual steps to one, providing faster, clearer due date updates for students. Leveraging existing platforms, it replaces a fragmented, manual process to improve consistency, equity and timeliness, significantly reducing administrative effort for approximately 2,000 UoSC and professional staff who support them. Following a 2026 pilot, it’s been rapidly scaled by popular demand and is now available. Result - a simpler, more reliable experience for staff and students, freeing up academic time and headspace to focus on higher-value teaching and student engagement.

This project delivered the UniSQ wide migration of all enterprise workloads from VMware to Nutanix, transforming a critical infrastructure environment while maintaining uninterrupted University operations. The migration required extensive planning, technical coordination and collaboration across ITDS, business stakeholders, vendors and support partners. Despite the scale and complexity of the transition, the project was completed in record time with zero unplanned downtime and no impact to teaching, research, administration or student services. The execution was so seamless that most areas of the University were unaware the migration had occurred. Initiated in response to significant changes to VMware’s commercial and operating model, the project also established a more resilient, scalable and highly available infrastructure platform. Importantly, it strengthened internal capability by enabling the technical team to develop new skills, broaden their expertise and take greater ownership of UniSQ's future infrastructure environment.

Over two years, ICT undertook significant organisational transformation to build the capabilities needed to support the University’s strategic and digital ambitions. However, fragmented demand pathways, inconsistent governance, local practices and siloed ways of working remained, limiting visibility and reinforcing a transactional stakeholder experience. In four months, the project team designed and mobilised the One ICT Demand to Delivery Enterprise Operating Model to embed the One ICT vision into everyday practice. The model aligns engagement, governance, capability, knowledge management, integrated tooling and continuous improvement around a shared approach to delivering value. Co-designed with ICT staff, it established common language, transparent decision pathways and collective accountability. A redesigned engagement model clarified how demand enters ICT, priorities are assessed and stakeholders are engaged throughout delivery. Supported by the ICT Implementation Hub, automated intake and assessment tools, the model has strengthened cohesion, improved consistency and enabled ICT to operate as a connected strategic partner.

Following a major cyber incident in 2025, the UNDA IT portfolio coordinated a whole-of-University recovery and resilience uplift. The activity combined rapid containment, staged restoration of critical services, manual continuity support, vendor coordination, governance uplift and lessons-learned planning. An independent post-incident review subsequently concluded that key academic milestones, including Orientation Week, teaching commencement and graduations, proceeded as planned despite significant operational disruption. The review also recognised the timely mobilisation of governance, effective coordination across teams and external partners, and a structured recovery approach that balanced immediate operational needs with longer-term resilience uplift Feedback from IT and business stakeholders shows the response supported students, staff and core operations while exposing and addressing deeper opportunities in resilience, data governance, communication, service management and sustainable technology foundations.

Macquarie University’s Information Technology (MQIT) team is embarking on a transformation of its internal technology delivery from a traditional project-based “build then handover” model to an agile DevSecOps operating model. The initiative will integrate development, security and operations through cross-functional, persistent Experience Teams (owning end-to-end journeys and outcomes) supported by Platform Teams (reusable engineering foundations) and Core Services (governance and specialist enablement). To be implemented through staged progression across Macquarie’s experience domains (Student, Corporate, Engagement, Research and Health), the transformation aims to strengthen platform capability, reduce technical debt, embed secure-by-design delivery, and establish clear decision rights and evidence-based benefit realisation. The purpose is to accelerate delivery of safer, more reliable digital services; improve end-user experiences; and create a scalable, sustainable technology foundation aligned to the University’s Operating Plan and service excellence framework.

During 2025, the UNSW IT HR Solutions team established a sustainable lifecycle management approach for UNSW's enterprise HR platform. Working closely with DXC and People & Culture, we embedded regular application maintenance, Oracle and third-party security (CPU/CVE) patching, and platform upgrades into business-as-usual operations while continuing to deliver major business initiatives. The initiative replaced years of deferred maintenance with a planned application lifecycle management model, keeping the platform secure, supported and current without compromising business delivery.

The Secure Research Labs initiative was created to provide safer, controlled environments for complex research at Western Sydney University, including IoT, medical, DNA-related and other specialised research activities. These labs are difficult because normal enterprise patterns do not always fit. Each area has different devices, data, connectivity, access and security needs, and many requirements were unclear or changed as the work progressed. John Longhurst played a central role in making the initiative real. He worked through the design, architecture and implementation detail, translating vague and complex research needs into a practical secure environment. He balanced the need for research flexibility with the controls required to protect sensitive systems and data. His contribution helped create a capability that supports important research while reducing risk to the University, researchers, partners and the wider community.

Anastasios Papaioannou is a collaborative and impact‑driven eResearch leader at UTS who empowers colleagues, researchers, and HDRs through inclusive co‑design, responsible AI adoption, and strategic research technology initiatives. He builds high‑performing teams, drives cultural uplift, leads major HPC and GenAI programs, and shapes institution‑wide capability, positioning UTS as a leader in research technology.

Md Zaidul Alam is an Enterprise Architect at CSIRO who strengthens collaboration across architecture, analysis, cybersecurity and site operations. He connects colleagues with sector communities, improves decision‑making, embeds sustainable and scalable architecture practices, and supports HSE risk mitigation. As a mentor, academic and sector contributor, he models inclusive, service‑driven leadership that uplifts capability across CSIRO and the wider community.

Bridgette Dang is a strategic and inclusive digital leader who has transformed application services at the University of Sydney. She pioneered product management capability, uplifted digital operations, strengthened cybersecurity and governance, and delivered major enterprise and regulatory initiatives. Her leadership builds high‑performing teams, fosters collaboration, and drives sustainable, user‑centred digital transformation across the institution.

Peter Hughes is a calm, disciplined and inclusive technology leader who guided Adelaide University through one of Australia’s most complex higher‑education mergers. He coordinated more than 40 teams and 500 contributors, established core IT foundations, sustained service continuity, strengthened cyber‑resilient infrastructure, and supported leaders through cultural integration, delivering a stable, scalable environment for 70,000 students and 11,000 staff.

John Hanna is an inclusive, partnership‑driven digital leader who strengthens UNSW’s ability to deliver connected, scalable and governed technology capability. He has uplifted automation, integration and enterprise delivery practices, reduced silos, aligned Cyber, Architecture and Operations, and built reusable foundations that improve service quality, trusted data, and institutional resilience. His leadership leaves stronger teams, clearer governance and enduring capability.

Josh Roberts is an inclusive, people‑first digital leader who has united the University of Sydney behind a shared digital vision. He built a University‑wide champion network, led more than 130 engagement activities, delivered the institution’s first Senate‑approved digital strategy, and achieved major improvements in identity, research enablement, AI adoption and service efficiency.

Antoinette Murphy is a strategic, people‑centred digital leader who turns complex university priorities into delivered outcomes. She leads cross‑functional teams through high‑stakes change with clarity, transparency and strong support, ensuring colleagues feel empowered and included. Antoinette has driven major institutional initiatives, including globally scalable online exams for 70,000+ students and the University’s Two‑Lane Assessment strategy. She balances innovation with sustainability, applying disciplined vendor management and long‑term financial stewardship. Known for calm, integrity and collaboration, she is a trusted partner to senior leaders and a positive role model who consistently lifts capability, culture and confidence across the University.

Sarah Paterson has made a significant impact at the University of Melbourne since joining in March 2025. Stepping into the ERP Systems Owner role just before Workday go‑live, she built and led a new cross‑functional ERP support team through an intense post‑implementation period. She established governance, prioritisation, release management and collaborative operating models across HR, Finance, Payroll and Technology. Under her leadership, the team achieved high ticket‑closure rates, strengthened platform stability, reduced operational risk and delivered major institutional outcomes. Calm, inclusive and improvement‑focused, Sarah has demonstrated clear leadership, critical thinking and resilience, becoming a trusted role model and emerging leader.

Tania Caligiore is a highly effective emerging leader at Victoria University, known for her people‑first approach, strong governance uplift and ability to unite stakeholders. Since becoming Director, Business Partnering and Governance, she has revitalised key forums, strengthened project delivery, rebuilt PMO and Architecture culture, and championed capability development. Her leadership has delivered major initiatives such as Operoo and identity management improvements, enhanced student experience outcomes, and improved institutional alignment. Tania models calm, inclusive and strategic leadership, inspires emerging leaders, and consistently delivers sustainable, scalable value across Digital and Campus Services.

Jo Bailey is an influential emerging leader who strengthens culture, collaboration and engagement across Murdoch University’s DigiTech and Chief Experience Portfolio. Leading through influence rather than title, she builds trusted relationships, mentors colleagues and creates inclusive environments where staff feel connected and supported. Jo has driven major cultural improvements, redesigning onboarding, establishing engagement initiatives and lifting DigiTech’s employee engagement score from 63% to 84%. She contributes to governance, coordinates complex initiatives and delivers sustainable, scalable practices that enhance organisational capability. Authentic, people‑centred and values‑driven, Jo is a role model whose impact extends far beyond her formal role.

Greg Yarham is a highly effective Senior Manager (Service Delivery) whose leadership strengthens UniSQ’s most visible and operationally critical technology services. He supports frontline teams, advocates for resources and builds a culture of problem‑solving, ownership and continuous improvement. Greg works collaboratively across academic, professional and technical groups, ensuring solutions meet real business needs. He has transformed service delivery into a proactive, scalable and sustainable function that improves teaching, learning and staff experience. Known for his calm judgement, practical thinking and genuine care for people, Greg is a trusted role model who consistently delivers reliable, high‑quality outcomes for the University.

Maree O’Brien is a highly respected Senior IT Service Assurance Coordinator whose leadership, inclusiveness and critical thinking consistently elevate teams across the University of Southern Queensland. She mentors colleagues, builds strong partnerships and leads complex initiatives in vendor governance, cybersecurity assurance and risk management. Her calm, collaborative style fosters trust and empowers others, while her strategic insight strengthens institutional resilience and decision‑making. Maree’s work delivers long‑term value through sustainable processes, improved governance and enhanced operational efficiency. As a role model known for integrity, professionalism and genuine care, she is an indispensable contributor to ITDS and the wider University community.

Tim Purdy is a calm, technically credible and highly trusted cyber security leader at Western Sydney University. His leadership emerged during a period of intense cyber pressure, where he helped transform incident response from reactive activity into a disciplined learning system. Tim works inclusively across cyber, infrastructure, identity, networks and vendors, creating shared ownership and practical solutions. He strengthens resilience by promoting clear accountability, evidence‑based decisions and sustainable fixes that teams can maintain. Colleagues value his judgement, respect and ability to make others more capable under pressure. He is an emerging leader who improves both operational capability and organisational confidence.

Hamish Scorrar is a calm, practical and inclusive cyber security leader who has transformed the University of Otago’s Cyber Operations team. Since joining in 2025, he has led more than 60 incident responses, rebuilt capability, delivered major projects at dramatically reduced cost, and strengthened cross‑team collaboration. He introduced new training practices, improved processes, and created a culture of confidence, cohesion and continuous improvement. His critical thinking, humility and people‑focused leadership have restored trust in a previously struggling function. As one colleague noted, his approach enabled “effective response efforts, seamless collaboration, and flowed well into Governance Group activities.”