2026 Fellows
George Alexander Foundation Fellows
Bryony Cavallaro
Bits, Discs and Beyond: Preserving Obsolete Digital Carriers
Bryony’s Fellowship addresses the urgent challenge of preserving born-digital cultural heritage stored on obsolete carriers such as floppy disks and CD-ROMs. As these media physically degrade and the hardware and software required to access them disappear, significant portions of recent history are at risk of permanent loss. The Fellowship will investigate current digital preservation practices, examining the challenges, workflows, and tools used by leading institutions to stabilise, process, and provide access to complex digital artefacts while maintaining their context and authenticity. Through hands-on engagement with established preservation programs in Europe, the Fellowship will strengthen technical capability in areas including carrier handling, data recovery, and emulation. It will also build specialised knowledge and professional relationships within the digital preservation community, enabling the transfer of tested approaches to Australian institutions and improving long-term care of digital cultural heritage.
Genevieve Elliott
The Craft of French Savoir-Faire: Investigating Material, Process and Fashion Practice
Genevieve is a fashion designer and material-led researcher whose Fellowship focuses on preserving French savoir-faire within contemporary Australian design. Genevieve’s Fellowship will investigate specialist artisan techniques including embroidery, textile floristry, featherwork and textile manipulation, with a focus on advancing three-dimensional surface design. Through collaboration with leading ateliers and craftspeople in Paris, her research will centre on hands-on technical training and mentorship within globally significant maisons. Travelling to France, Genevieve will engage with institutions, archives and craftspeople, gaining insight into the transmission and preservation of rare craft knowledge. The Fellowship will strengthen technical expertise, establish international connections, and support the development of a digital archive and education program, ensuring these skills can be shared, sustained and reimagined within Australia’s creative sector.
Gracie O'Malley-Welby
Rebuilding with Earth: Scaling Contemporary Compressed Earth Block Construction in Australia
Gracie O’Malley-Welby is an architectural graduate and design researcher exploring how low-carbon building materials can be made and used more widely in Australia. Her Fellowship focuses on compressed earth blocks, a grounded construction method made from local soils and mineral by-products, with minimal cement and no firing. While widely used overseas, they remain uncommon in Australia due to limited production and design knowledge. Earth blocks also bring a distinct material quality: solid, textured and closely tied to the landscapes they come from. Through the Fellowship, Gracie will visit leading European practitioners to learn how these materials are produced, tested and designed at a larger scale. She will bring this knowledge back into her work at Main&Frank, helping to develop practical pathways for using earth-based materials in contemporary Australian architecture
Rhys Jones
Regional Identity in Timber Craft: Connecting Material, Technique and Place
Rhys’ fellowship explores how timber craft practitioners in Europe and the UK are developing supply chain regionalism, material intelligence, and adaptive making strategies to create work that is environmentally sustainable. He will engage with furniture makers, forestry experts, and research bodies to build a comparative study of experimental forming techniques and timber supply networks. Drawing on this research, Rhys will introduce sustainable making strategies into Australian studio practice that connect material, technique, and place. This work aims to diversify the timber sector, reduce dependence on imported materials, and foster regional design language within Australian craft and design.
VSA International VET Practitioner Fellows
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Jye Marshall
Bridging the artificial divide between VE (skills) and HE (Knowledge) within Design Education for equitable student engagement.
Jye Marshall’s fellowship examines the imbalance within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), where knowledge has been prioritised over skills and vocational education positioned below higher education. In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the fellowship recognises the growing importance of advanced design skills to Australia’s sovereign capability. It investigates how vocational education can be better scaffolded within dual-sector universities to create equitable pathways for students from diverse backgrounds. Engaging with leading international design institutes, the fellowship aims to develop models that harmonise vocational and higher education, ensuring skills-based learners lead in design innovation and excellence.
Laura Fitt
Building a Sustainable Micro‑Credential Ecosystem for Victoria’s Clean‑Economy Workforce
Laura Fitt proposes to investigate international models of industry‑funded, subscription‑based upskilling that enable workers to gain nationally recognised, stackable micro‑credentials while remaining employed. Her Fellowship will explore systems such as Germany’s Chambers of Commerce (IHK) and Singapore’s SkillsFuture, focusing on how they coordinate industry, government and training providers to keep qualifications current in rapidly evolving clean‑economy trades. Laura aims to translate these insights into a Victorian context, where Skills First funding delivered across 12 autonomous TAFEs creates a highly diverse landscape of micro‑credential approaches. Her goal is to design a viable TAFE‑consortia model that delivers responsive, industry‑aligned micro‑credentials and establishes a sustainable revenue stream for public providers, strengthening workforce transition as clean technologies accelerate.
Matt Tisdale
Fellowship in acquiring skills in Off-Shore wind & Subsea cabling
This Fellowship will focus on strengthening Australia’s vocational education and training response to the emerging offshore wind industry, with particular emphasis on subsea cable jointing and turbine-related skills. As offshore wind becomes a critical component of Australia’s renewable energy transition, there is an urgent need to develop specialised skills that are currently limited or emerging within the local workforce. Through engagement with leading international training providers, research centres and offshore wind operators, the Fellowship will examine advanced training models, safety frameworks and approaches to industry integration in mature offshore wind markets. The research will inform the design of high-quality, industry-aligned training programs within the Victorian TAFE sector, supporting workforce transition from traditional energy industries into clean energy roles. By strengthening curriculum design, industry partnerships and educator capability, the Fellowship will contribute to building national workforce capacity and supporting Australia’s progress toward net zero targets.
Leeanne O'Meara
Fellowship in Investigating Early Childhood Scandinavian nature‑based and social‑pedagogical approaches to strengthen Australian practice.
This Fellowship aims to strengthen Australian early childhood education by investigating internationally recognised nature based and social pedagogical approaches—particularly Scandinavian models—and translating them into practical, context specific strategies for the Victorian VET and ECEC sectors. Australian research shows clear developmental benefits of nature rich, play based learning, yet current teacher education and practice remain inconsistent, risk averse, and poorly aligned with this evidence. By studying high quality Danish outdoor programs and their relational, child led pedagogies, the Fellowship will address these gaps and develop best practice guidance, educator tools, and curriculum enhancements. The purpose is to build early childhood teacher/educator capability, reframe risk as a learning opportunity, and embed culturally responsive, nature centred practices that support children’s agency, wellbeing, and holistic development. Through professional learning, open access resources, and strong local partnerships, the Fellowship seeks to influence training quality, enrich program design, and contribute to long term pedagogical innovation across the VET and early childhood sectors.
Wayne Ketchen
Growing the Clean Economy Workforce: Boosting Engagement in FutureReady Agriculture
This Fellowship, Growing the Clean Economy Workforce: Boosting Engagement in Future‑Ready Agriculture, seeks to strengthen how vocational education engages and supports learners in agriculture and horticulture at a time of significant environmental and economic transition. These sectors are central to Victoria’s clean, resilient and circular economy, yet continue to face workforce shortages, ageing demographics and low learner completion rates. Through an international study program, the Fellowship will explore proven approaches that place learners at the centre of climate‑aware, technology‑enabled and regenerative agricultural training. It will examine applied learning environments, industry‑embedded education, digital capability, wellbeing‑informed pedagogy and place‑based models that build motivation, relevance and persistence. The insights gained will inform practical improvements to curriculum design, learner engagement strategies and workforce development within the Victorian VET context. The Fellowship will also consider how elements of these approaches could be adapted, where appropriate, to support engagement and retention challenges in other VET industry sectors.
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