Dr Katherine McLay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. She holds a B.A., B.Ed.Stud. (Hons I) with the University Medal awarded in 2000, and a PhD conferred in 2016 from the University of Queensland. Her doctoral thesis, supervised by Professor Peter Renshaw and Dr Louise Phillips, is titled iKnow, iAm, iPad: A Reflexive Microethnographic Investigation of iPad-using High School Students, which examined sociocultural aspects of student iPad use in high school settings. McLay began her professional career as a secondary school teacher of English and Legal Studies, gaining 18 years of experience, 10 of which were as Head of Senior English at independent schools in Queensland and Victoria, Australia. In 2011, she served as Lecturer in the Tertiary Preparation Program at UQ College, Ipswich.

In her current role, McLay teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programs, coordinating English Curriculum courses in the Bachelor of Education (Secondary), Master of Teaching (Secondary), and the Honours program within the Bachelor of Education (Primary). She co-chairs the School of Education’s Indigenous Engagement Committee, leading efforts to indigenise curriculum through staff workshops, funding for Indigenous resources, cultural capability modules, and collaborations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and knowledge holders. A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she contributes to teaching excellence in humanities, arts, and social sciences. Her research specializations include literacy, dialogic pedagogy, teacher professional learning, student wellbeing, and technology-enhanced learning. With 39 publications cited over 530 times, key works encompass Enacting Smart Pedagogy in Higher Education Contexts: Sensemaking through Collaborative Biography (2021), The impact of parent mediation on young children's home digital literacy practices (2023), Beyond TPACK: A case for foregrounding affect in technology rich 21st-century teaching and learning (2024), and Teacher relationships and social connectedness (2025). McLay is a member of the editorial team for Qwerty: Interdisciplinary Journal of Technology, Culture and Education.

Professional Email: k.mclay1@uq.edu.au