Abby Cathcart

Abby Cathcart is an Associate Professor in the School of Management at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Business School, with a distinguished research career spanning over 15 years since completing her PhD at the University of Leicester in 2009. Her academic journey shows a clear evolution from workplace democracy studies to contemporary educational technology and decolonizing methodologies.

Her research interests focus on Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Student Evaluation Systems, Workplace Democracy, Flexible Work Arrangements, and increasingly Indigenous Research Methodologies. Early in her career, she conducted seminal research on the John Lewis Partnership as a case study in organizational democracy, which formed the basis of her PhD thesis. More recently, her work has addressed critical issues in student feedback systems, particularly developing methods to screen abusive comments while preserving valuable insights.

Cathcart's publication trajectory reveals a significant shift in focus. Her recent work (2023-2025) centers on Educational Technology and AI implementation in higher education, with particular attention to ethical considerations in student evaluations and decolonizing research methodologies. She has led important research on detecting abusive comments in student evaluations and understanding Australian university staff's engagement with generative AI.

• Co-authored a major 2024 report Apostles, Agnostics and Atheists: Engagement with Generative AI by Australian University Staff through QUT Centre for Decent Work and Industry
• Developed innovative approaches to protect academics from abusive student comments while maintaining useful feedback
• Contributed significantly to understanding flexible work arrangements in various organizational contexts

Her collaborative approach is evident through frequent partnerships with colleagues like Sam Cunningham, Melinda Laundon, and Paula McDonald. Cathcart's work bridges theory and practice, often resulting in actionable insights for educational institutions and workplaces. She serves as an important voice in contemporary debates about technology in education, evaluation ethics, and creating supportive academic environments.