Our Team

Your SCEI-HE experience will be supported by an academic director, course coordinator, field placement officer, student welfare coordinator, and staff and student support officers.

Professor Adela McMurray

Professor Adela McMurray

Chair – Academic Board 

Professor Adela McMurray, PhD, has academic and industrial experience in manufacturing and service industries. She has over 82 publications, won best author and teacher awards and research grants totaling over $2.5 million. She is an active participant on corporate and academic boards of both universities and private higher education(HE) institutions.

Professor Chris Trotter

Professor Christopher Trotter

Member – Academic Board
Member – Course Advisory Committee

Dr Chris Trotter is Emeritus Professor in the department of social work at Monash University. Prior to his university appointment he worked for 20 years as a child protection worker, probation officer and manager. He has undertaken more than 40 funded research projects and has more than 120 publications, including 3 sole-authored and 8 edited books. He has a strong international reputation, particularly for his work on pro-social modelling. His book Working with Involuntary Clients has been published in multiple languages and Professor Trotter has been invited to more than 15 different countries to present conference plenary sessions and workshops.

Associate Professor Kay Margetts

Associate Professor Kay Margetts

Member – Academic Board
Chair – Course Advisory Committee

Kay is an established expert in the Early Childhood Education sector, holding a Doctor of Philosophy, Master of Education and numerous publications specialising early years education. Kay holds an honorary membership with the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and consults independently for various universities and private higher education providers on both course development activities and board appointments.

Mr Hector Gaston

Mr Hector Gaston

Member – Academic Board
Chair – Course Advisory Committee

Hector is an experienced local government executive with a broad history of working within service and regulatory/funding frameworks.

He has been responsible for setting and driving organisational strategy to ensure the successful development of inclusive communities and the delivery of significant community infrastructure.

Hector has further experience in the management of large budgets and the implementation of organisational change, service excellence and cultural change. Hector is currently the Director of Community Services at the Hume City Council.

Dr Natasha Ziebell

Dr Natasha Ziebell

Member – Academic Board
Member – Course Advisory Committee

Dr Natasha Ziebell is a Senior Lecturer at Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. She has designed, coordinated and taught programs in initial teacher education and professional learning programs for teachers. Her research focuses on curriculum reform, curricular alignment and authorship, with a particular focus on the intended, enacted and assessed curriculum. Recent projects include the Learning+ mathematics tutoring program, the Australian Education Survey focusing on teaching and learning during COVID-19,  exploring complementary classroom and museum experiences in collaboration with the Melbourne Museum, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to support students with diverse needs.

Natasha is the Deputy Lead of the National Ethics and Privacy Sub-committee for the Assessment for Graduate Teachers, and the Chair of the Parliament of Victoria Education Advisory Panel. Natasha began her career as a teacher in early childhood settings and primary schools before joining the University of Melbourne in 2007.