Professor Juliana Campregher Pasqualini

Director

Juliana Pasqualini is Professor of Early Childhood Education and leader of the Conceptual PlayLab at Monash University. Prior to her relocation to Australia, she served as Assistant Professor at São Paulo State University (UNESP) for fourteen years, supervising master’s and doctoral candidates in the Graduate Program in Education. She has extensive experience in teachers professional learning projects and led the design of early years curriculum guidelines for the municipalities of Bauru and Presidente Prudente (State of São Paulo). Throughout her career, she has also conducted comprehensive studies on the epistemological foundations of cultural-historical psychology. Juliana was a Visiting Academic at the University of Bath in 2009 and at the State University of Campinas in 2018. Her international experience also includes research activities at the University of Oxford and Cardiff University (United Kingdom), Aarhus University (Denmark) and Universitas Negeri Jakarta (Indonesia). Her research focuses on early childhood education and care from a cultural-historical perspective. She is presently engaged in investigating educational practice that supports play complexity and the emergence of a sense of collectiveness in the early years, and advancing the Danish emerging framework for sustainability education of world-care pedagogy through PlayLab's intervention model of Conceptual PlayWorlds.

Emeritus Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor Marilyn Fleer

Principal Investigator School of Educational Psychology and Counselling

Marilyn is Monash's Foundation Chair in Early Childhood Education and Development, and an ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellow (2018-2024). Marilyn is an honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Education, University of Oxford, holds a second Professor position in the KINDknow Centre, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (past), and is an honorary professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark. She was awarded the 2019 Ashley Goldsworthy Award for Outstanding leadership in university-business collaboration.

Dr Anne Suryani

Senior Lecturer

Anne holds a PhD in Educational Psychology with a Mollie Holman Medal for the best doctoral thesis in education from Monash. She has extensive experience working in a range of government-funded, consultancy and grant-based educational research in the Asia-Pacific Region. She has strong quantitative skills and experience in large-scale survey design and analysis as well as longitudinal and comparative studies. Her current research focuses on preparing future teachers, drawing upon educational psychology and cross-cultural studies to inform these practices. Anne’s research interests include teacher motivation, teacher education, teacher professional development, religious tolerance education, and educational policy.

Dr Prabhat Rai

Senior Lecturer

Prabhat completed his PhD from Oxford and comes to us from Ambedkar University, Delhi. Previously he worked as a Senior Fellow (Research) in Bhutan and was an Assistant Professor with Academic Unit of the Central Board of Secondary Education in Delhi. He brings extensive experience in researching communities, early years settings and families.

Ebony Hall

Research Officer

Ebony comes to the Conceptual PlayLab with experience in research administration and information management and a background in early childhood education.

Associate Professor Liang Li

Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education

Liang's research supports the Maths pillar of the Conceptual PlayLab. Liang takes a cultural-historical perspective to investigate infant-toddlers' education and care, family practices, children's play and pedagogy, children's speech development, science, technology and mathematics in early childhood and primary education settings in China and Australia.

Dr Leigh Disney

Lecturer, Early Years

Leigh's research supports the Maths pillar of the Conceptual PlayLab. Leigh is a mixed methodological researcher who studies early years mathematical learning as well as the impact of digital technology within early years educational settings.

Dr Kelly-Ann Allen

Associate Professor

Dr Rebecca Lewis

Conceptual PlayLab collaborator

Rebecca comes to the Conceptual PlayLab with a PhD in professional development from a cultural-historical perspective, together with over fifteen years of teaching and leadership experience in the early childhood education field. Using the Conceptual PlayWorld model her focus is supporting educators' role in play to create engaging opportunities for children's participation, learning and development.

Dr Monique Parkes

Conceptual Research Assistant

Research title: Exploring Young Children's Theoretical Modelling through Cultural Age Periods in Relation to their Scientific and Design Concept Formation .

Dr Gillian O’Connor

Teaching Associate

Research Title: Examining the Process of Science Concept Formation as Children Transition Across Cultural Age Periods (Infancy-Toddlerhood) .

Dr Sonya Nedovic

Research Fellow

Research Title: Conceptual PlayWorlds for Families: Creating motivating conditions for STEM concept formation across cultural age periods in home settings. .

Oriana Ramunno

PhD student/Research Assistant

Oriana Ramunno is a professional storyteller. Oriana brings to the Conceptual PlayLab 19 years of experience as a teacher in various settings; early childhood, early primary and tertiary settings. Her role in the PlayLab involves working with educators and teachers in early childhood and primary settings in the planning and implementation of Conceptual PlayWorlds. Her motivation is driven by her continuing role and research interests in Conceptual PlayWorlds.

Research title: How does a CPW create motivating conditions for the assessment of children's learning and development?

Suxiang Yu

Conceptual PlayLab PhD student

Research Title: Conceptual PlayWorlds in Family Settings: An Educational Experiment for Creating Motivating Conditions for Infants-Toddlers’ STEM Concept Formation.

Kristine Liang

Conceptual PlayLab PhD student

Research title: The educator's role in creating conditions to engage single mothers and non-resident fathers in co-supporting children's social competence.

Yiwen Yuan

Conceptual PlayLab PhD student

Research title: Enhancing play-based pedagogy in Chinese kindergartens: A study of teacher professional learning through collaborative interdisciplinary coaching.

Dr Ade Dwi Utami

INDONESIA affiliate

Dr. Ade Dwi Utami is a senior lecturer in the early childhood department, Faculty of Education, Universitas Negeri Jakarta in Indonesia (since 2010-now). She graduated from the Faculty of Education at Monash University, and her doctoral research takes a cultural-historical perspective to investigate play-based learning practices for children’s development in Indonesia. She also researches in the areas of assessment and teacher education. She has published articles and book chapters on early childhood education and doctoral education experiences. Besides working with undergraduate, postgraduate, and graduate research students in the university, she is involved in Indonesian Ministry of Education projects for developing early childhood education programs and works as an assessor in Early Childhood Education National Accreditation Board.

Research Title: Children’s learning and development in an early childhood education setting in Indonesia: A Playworld approach.

Vittoria Barbara

SAMOA affiliate

Vittoria Barbara is an early childhood teacher (MTeach) from Australia, who for the past 4 years lived and worked in Apia, Samoa. During her time in Samoa she set up a network of early childhood educators who were passionate and dedicated to developing culturally responsive play based pedagogies in their preschools. To amplify the power of play in early childhood education and to advocate for play based pedagogical approaches in the early years. Through this network, they worked together to build the quality of early childhood education in Samoa and professional development opportunities for educators in the sector.

Xianyu Meng

CHINA affiliate

Xianyu Meng, PhD, was a PhD candidate affiliated to the Conceptual PlayLab, Monash University, and she was conferred in December 2021. For her PhD project, she investigated how a playworld could support the development of emotion regulation for children living in institutional settings in China. She is currently working as a lecturer of Early Childhood Education in Beijing, China, and is involved in a mathematics Conceptual PlayWorld project with Dr. Liang Li and Dr. Leigh Disney. Her research interests include cultural-historical theory of child development, play and pedagogy, concept development in early childhood, teaching mathematics in early childhood, children’s emotional development, children in institutional care, and education for children with special needs.

Research Title: A cultural-historical study of the development of emotion regulation of children in institutional care in China: A playworld approach.

Dr Glykeria Fragkiadaki

GREECE affiliate

Glykeria is an Assistant Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Prior to this appointment, she held the position of Senior Research Fellow in the Conceptual PlayLab, Monash University. Following a cultural-historical perspective, her research is focused on children’s science/ STEM concept formation during the early years. PlayProofS

Stem champs

Belinda O'Dea, Lisa Refalo, Kerrie Devir, Stephanie Hoy, Charina Pumpa, Vittoria Barbara, Sooleoso Ulupano, Jackie Blackburn together with the Conceptual PlayLab PhD students.

Northeast Normal University, China: Professor Zhonglian Yan

Head of the Preschool Education Discipline

Zhonglian Yan, PhD in education, is a professor, doctoral supervisor, and Head of the Preschool Education Discipline at Northeast Normal University in China. He is also the Deputy Director of the Professional Committee of Preschool Education of the China Education Society and a member of the Professional Committee of Basic Preschool Theory of the China Preschool Education Research Association. His research areas include community child services, rural preschool education, early care, and curriculum theory. He has led a number of projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation, the National Education Planning Key Project of the Ministry of Education, and the Jilin Provincial Education Science Planning Key Bidding Project. He has published over 100 articles in both Chinese and international journals, He won the second prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award in Education, the second prize of the Jilin Provincial Social Science Achievement Award and the second prize of the Jilin Provincial Education Science Achievement Award.

South China Normal University, China: Professor Ning Yang

Previous Head of School of Educational Sciences

Ning Yang, Doctor and Professor, School of Educational Sciences, South China Normal University. Distinguished professor and doctoral supervisor of Shandong Normal University. He has published more than 80 papers on philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, and Linguistics as an independent or first author (or corresponding author) in journals in English and Chinese. Presided over and participated in several national, ministerial, and provincial scientific research projects. Deputy director of the Basic Theory Committee of China National Society of Early Childhood Education. Chairman of Guangdong Education Association of Early Childhood Education Committee. Head of Early Childhood Education Discipline Group of the Guangdong Primary and Secondary Teachers’ Continuing Education. The main research interests are the basic theory of children's early childhood education, learning psychology, and teacher education.

Dr Yuwen Ma

Lecturer at Federation University

Yuwen Ma is a lecturer at Federation University, Australia. She completed her PhD at the Conceptual PlayLab, Faculty of Education, Monash University, and was conferred in October 2023. Following a cultural-historical perspective, her research focuses on play-based pedagogy, young children's STEM learning, early childhood and primary school transitions, teacher professional development, and education policy.

Dr Yuejiu Wang

Postdoctoral researcher, Northeast Normal University, China

Yuejiu Wang is a postdoctoral researcher at Northeast Normal University in China. She completed her PhD at the Conceptual PlayLab, Monash University, specialising in early childhood education. Yuejiu Wang is dedicated to enhancing early learning through innovative play-based methods. Her research focuses on the Conceptual PlayWorld, cultural-historical theory, teachers' professional development, and STEM education.

Dr Tanya Stephenson

PlayLab affiliate

Tanya is the first Kathleen Fitzpatrick ARC Laureate scholarship holder to complete her PhD with the Conceptual PlayLab. Passionate about advancing early childhood STEM education, her doctoral research focused on early childhood teacher professional development, particularly teacher practices to encourage girls in STEM.

Dr Taj Johora

Conceptual PlayLab affiliate

Fatema Taj Johora completed her PhD from Monash University and her Master of Education (Special Education) from Flinders University. She has developed her skills in digital visual methods and cultural-historical methodology. She brought her decade long experience of working in the field of early childhood education and inclusion.

Dr Sue March

Conceptual PlayLab collaborator

Sue has been with the Conceptual PlayLab since its inception and brings to her role as Research Fellow over twelve years of experience in leading field research into imagination, play and early childhood STEM in culturally diverse settings in Australia. She has a PhD in early childhood education, which was awarded Monash University Faculty of Education's Mollie Holman Medal for the best doctoral thesis and ECA Victoria's Doctoral Thesis Award in 2018. Sue is experienced in working with, and mentoring others in, the visual digital methodologies of Conceptual PlayWorlds.