Fiona Mayne

Dr. Fiona Mayne serves as Adjunct Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia. She earned her PhD in Education from the University of Western Australia in 2016, with a focus on children’s voice and agency in research, a Bachelor of Education (Honours) from Curtin University in 2006, and a Graduate Certificate of Tertiary Teaching from the University of Western Australia in 2018. Her career trajectory includes serving as Lecturer at the University of Western Australia from 2016 to 2022, Senior Lecturer from 2023 onwards, PhD candidate from 2011 to 2016, Lecturer at Curtin University from 2010 to 2011, and early years and primary teacher from 2007 to 2010, where she specialized as a primary science and early childhood/primary art specialist at Carey Baptist College.

Mayne is recognized as a mid-career researcher whose contributions to young children’s rights, voice, agency, and meaningful participation in research have attracted attention from academics and practitioners internationally. Her research specializations encompass early years research ethics, children’s rights-based participatory research, technology education, and young children’s social emotional wellbeing, bridging early childhood education and allied health. She authored the book The Narrative Approach to Informed Consent: Empowering Young Children’s Rights and Meaningful Participation (Routledge, 2022), which integrates child rights, agency, and ethics to transform participatory research experiences. Key publications include “Mixed-reality simulations as a tool to enhance parent-teacher conferencing in initial teacher education” (Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2022, with Gemma Scarparolo), “Scaffolding engagement with educational technologies to develop computational thinking in year 1 girls” (Teaching Coding in K-12 Schools, Springer, 2023, with Bronwen Bath), “A hierarchical model of children’s research participation rights based on information, understanding, voice, and influence” (European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2018), and “Rights, power and agency in early childhood research design” (Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 2018). With 392 Google Scholar citations, an h-index of 10, and i10-index of 10 as of January 2024, her work advances qualitative participatory methodologies. Awards include the 2023 Graduate School of Education Mid-Career Researcher Award and UWA Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning Citation, 2022 Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, 2021 Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Early Career Award, 2017 EECERA Student Research Award, and 2017 Cameron Prize in Education. Mayne co-created the Children’s VOICE initiative with UNICEF Australia and teaches technology education (primary) and child and adolescent development pedagogy.

Professional Email: fiona.mayne@uwa.edu.au