Katrina Falkner

Professor Katrina Falkner is the Pro Vice Chancellor for Learning and Teaching at the University of Adelaide and leads the Computer Science Education Research Group (CSER). She previously served as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, and Head of the School of Computer Science. Her roles include leading initiatives such as the CSER Digital Technologies Education Program, funded by a $7.2M government contract, and driving cultural transformation within the university. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE).

• Affiliations: Merger Integration Management Office, Division of University Integration
• Research Focus: Computer Science Education, Distributed Systems Modelling, Computational Thinking in K-12
• Grants: Over $26M in government and industry funding

Her work addresses inequities in education and technology access, including supporting over 45,000 teachers through CSER MOOCs. Key projects include the MEDEA modelling environment for distributed systems and collaborations in conservation drones with ecology researchers.

Scientific Awards: Includes EdTechSA Leader of the Year (2015), ACS Gold Award (2015), and recognition as one of Australia's top 100 innovators (2021).

Advising and Grants: Supervised numerous PhD and master's students, with ongoing recruitment for projects in computational thinking and educational technology. Her grants include initiatives to expand MOOCs for mathematics and teacher training.

Labs/Teams: Leads the CSER group and previously directed the Modelling & Analysis Program within CDIT (2011-2021). Current research explores NLP for learning analytics and collaborative programming environments.