Leading Together
Dialogues on Sustainability in India & Australia
Leading Together is a collaboration between undergraduate students at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne and undergraduate students at four institutions across India comprising Tetso College in Nagaland, Stella Maris College in Chennai (affiliated with the University of Madras), Savitribai Phule Pune University in Pune and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati Campus. This is a place for students in India and Australia to connect with each other and discuss the role of young people and leadership across health, technology, education and sustainability.
Leading Together 2025
Following four successful years, Leading Together returns in 2025 with an expanded focus on educators and academics. This year’s symposium recognises that the future of higher education depends on pedagogical practices that are inclusive, identity-affirming, and culturally responsive. By bridging Indian and Australian perspectives, the symposium reimagines the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as a shared space for inquiry, equity, and transformation, while keeping students at the centre.
📍 Dates: 17–18 December 2025
📍 Location: Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India
This event is facilitated and coordinated by the University of Melbourne, in partnership with Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India (co-convener and host).
The 2025 symposium positions the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as both
- A practice of inquiry that transforms reflection into evidence and impact.
- A commitment to equity, identity, and belonging in higher education.
Together, we aim to ask:
- What is SoTL? Why does it matter? Who does it serve?
- How can it foster inclusive and transformative pedagogy across contexts?
Through this dialogue, participants will share local innovations, reflect on global challenges, and co-create knowledge that transcends borders.
Conference Streams - Leading Together 2025 will centre on four interconnected themes:
- Innovative Teaching Practices – experiential learning, hybrid pedagogies, critical and creative thinking.
- Curriculum, Assessment & Learning Design – employability, ethics, sustainability, inclusive design.
- Student Voice & Partnership – co-creation, staff–student collaboration, identity-affirming learning.
- Technology & the Future of Learning – AI, analytics, immersive tools, ethical innovation.
Call for Abstracts
Are you excited to be a part of the conversation? We invite academics, educators, researchers, and PhD students to submit 200-word abstracts aligned with the conference streams.
Please send through your abstract, with your name, short bio and affiliation to - leadingtogether2025@tetsocollege.edu.in.
Abstract deadline: November 20, 2025
Feedback and acceptance notification by: November 30, 2025
*Contributions may take the form of, Empirical or conceptual SoTL research, Case studies of innovative practice, Reflective essays on teaching and learning, and/or Co-authored work with students as partners
Opportunity to contribute to a book - Selected presenters will also be invited to contribute to an edited volume that extends the conversations of the conference. This volume will bring together diverse voices, approaches, and innovations to highlight how inclusive pedagogy is imagined and enacted across academic cultures and pedagogical settings in India, Australia, and beyond.
Register here today to be part of a vibrant community of educators, researchers, and practitioners shaping inclusive and transformative teaching for the future.
It’s a FREE event and spots are limited! Registration closes on 5th December 2025!
Learn more about our past conferences
Conveners
Dr. Nira Rahman
Dr Nira Rahman is a Lecturer and Teaching Specialist in Educational Design and Student Engagement at Arts Teaching Innovation, University of Melbourne. Her teaching and research examine identity, positionality, and partnership pedagogy in higher education, with a focus on equity, belonging, and culturally responsive practice. A Senior Fellow of HERDSA, she is the Founding Chair of the HASS T&L Special Interest Group and serves as Associate Editor for Teaching and Learning Inquiry. As a visiting scholar and invited speaker at various universities worldwide, and through many international collaborations, she brings identity and positionality to the forefront of pedagogical inquiry, contributing globally to conversations on co-creation, inclusive teaching, and transformative student–staff partnerships.
Dr. Ali Saha
Dr. Ali Saha is a media sociologist and Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Melbourne. Her research explores media, identity, and social equity, with particular attention to caste, race, gender, and digital inequalities. She is the author of Dalit Identity in Indian Print Media (Routledge, 2026) and has published in leading journals including Media, Culture & Society and Media International Australia. Her forthcoming works include Motherhood, Identity, and Media (Routledge, 2027) and a co-edited volume, Women and Health Communication: A Global Perspective (Peter Lang, 2026).
In addition to her academic scholarship, Dr. Saha has contributed to Australian Government–funded projects with the Department of Health and Aged Care, producing nationally recognized reports on COVID-19 vaccine uptake, cancer screening, youth settlement, racism, and LGBTQI+ refugee and asylum seeker experiences. She has taught at Monash University, Swinburne University, and the Australian Catholic University, and regularly presents at national and international conferences, including IAMCR and AANZCA.
Bridging a decade of professional communication experience with her academic work, Dr. Saha’s scholarship is driven by a commitment to social justice and meaningful social impact.
Dr. Lakshmi Priya Daniel
Lakshmi Priya joined the Department of Fine Arts, Stella Maris (Autonomous) College, Chennai in 1996 as a faculty member. She is currently the Director of SMCHRD and has also served in various capacities such as IQAC Coordinator from 2019 to 2023 and as Dean of Student Affairs from 2014 – 2017 in Stella Maris College.
She received her doctoral degree in 2013 from the University of Madras and her research focus has been on Gender and Indian art. She won the UBCHEA fellowship 2018-19 and attended a ‘Leadership Development Program’ as part of the United Board Fellowship in July 2018 at Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA and was also placed for two months in the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Lakshmi Priya has several paper presentations and publications to her credit and is a recognised Ph. D. guide of the University of Madras. She has also served as guest faculty in institutions like Government College of Fine Arts, NIFT and IIT, Chennai. She has won awards, curated art shows and has frequently been called upon to be a judge in various cultural and art programs within and outside College. She is a practicing artist and has participated in several group shows, including an International Art Exhibition entitled ‘Reciprocation: American Fulbright Artists & India Connections’ organized by USIEF and Ojas Art Gallery, New Delhi in November 2021.
Lakshmi Priya is a seminar, museum and adventure junkie all rolled into one and has a wide range of interests including a love of reading mytho fiction, learning new languages , travelling to offbeat locations and places of artistic interest.
Dr. Hewasa L. Khing
Dr. Hewasa L. Khing is the Principal of Tetso College, Dimapur, Nagaland. She holds a PhD in Cultural Studies and has been teaching in the English Honours programme. She is currently monitoring a research project titled Challenges under Cyberspace: The Explanatory Study of the Ramifications of Cyber Crimes for Women in Nagaland, sponsored by the National Commission for Women, New Delhi. Her research interests include culture and identity, cultural memory and representation, leadership and innovation in the education sector.
Shivani Singh
Shivani Singh is a scholar of History with specialization in Modern Indian History. Her research interests are women’s educational history which she has been developing through researching in women’s life narratives and career histories. Her research work so far has been taken on an interdisciplinary character which has given her an ample scope to explore women/ gender studies as well. Oral history seems to her a research area with great potential and opportunities. A new thrust area which she is developing currently is History of Science and Technology in Indian context: a)
historical and philosophical aspect, b) dynamics of socio-economic and political developments linked to it, and c) Indian and World context. Currently, she is occupied as an Assistant Professor for the Liberal Arts course in the Interdisciplinary School of Science, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India. She is an artist/ painter in different traditional Indian art forms.
