Rate My Professor Allyson Holbrook

Professor Allyson Holbrook is an Honorary Professor in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle and the Foundation Director of SORTI, the Centre for the Study of Research Training and Impact. She earned her PhD and Bachelor of Economics from La Trobe University, and a Master of Tertiary Education Management from the University of Melbourne. Throughout her career, she has held prominent positions including President of the Australian Association for Educational Research, member of the ARC College of Experts since 2013, OzReader for the Australian Research Council since 2001, and former Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (Staff) in the College of Human and Social Futures. She also chaired the University of Newcastle Human Research Ethics Committee and served on the Council/Board of the Australian Council for Educational Research from 2001 to 2003.

Her research focuses on doctoral education, including supervision, assessment, examiner reports, feedback, and learning outcomes, as well as higher education management, research culture, and professional learning. Holbrook has successfully obtained several Australian Research Council Discovery Grants in areas such as doctoral education, engineering education, and child development, along with four national competitive research grants in doctoral assessment and quality since 2002. Notable publications include "Supervision of Postgraduate Research in Education" (1999, co-authored with S. Johnston), "Claiming a Voice: The First Thirty-Five Years of the Australian Teacher Education Association" (2009), "The Viva in Doctoral Examination: A Habermasian Dialogic Occasion" (2023, co-authored with G. Houston et al.), and numerous articles on PhD examination processes and doctoral learning. She has presented over 100 invited workshops, keynotes, and seminars, teaches research methods with an emphasis on qualitative approaches, and contributes to editorial boards such as Melbourne Studies in Education.