Rate My Professor Venesser Fernandes

Dr. Venesser Fernandes serves as Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership Studies and Associate Head of the School of Education, Culture and Society within the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. She delivers courses in the Master of Educational Leadership and Master of Education programs and supervises doctoral students. Her teaching and research interests include school improvement and effectiveness, educational leadership studies, data-informed decision-making in schools, evidence-based organisational change and development in education, measurement and evaluation in education, social and emotional learning in education, and issues of social justice in education. She researches using approaches such as narrative enquiry, case studies, institutional ethnography, and phenomenology, with expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals including SDG 3, SDG 4, and SDG 13.

Fernandes has led research projects such as a partnership with Independent Schools Victoria examining the agility and adaptability of 42 principals during the COVID-19 pandemic, underscoring emotional intelligence in leadership transitions. Funded by the Dean’s Early Career Research Award, she conducted qualitative case-study research on data-informed decision-making processes led by senior and middle-level leaders in Victorian public, independent, and Catholic schools. As an educational consultant, she supports schools and systems in Australia and overseas in developing continuous improvement through data-informed and evidence-based practices. She contributed to the Principal Preparation Program with the Department of Education & Training Victoria and Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership, and served as an Accredited School Reviewer for the Department. Appointments include Honorary Visiting Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University since 2022, External PhD Examiner for universities including University of Sydney and University of the South Pacific, and Fellowships: Higher Education Academy (UK, 2024-present), Royal Society of Arts (UK, 2022-present), and Australian College of Educators (2019-2023). Awards include ACEL New Voice in Educational Leadership Research Scholarship (2015) and Dean's ECR Research Fund (2017). She is Editor-in-Chief of International Studies in Educational Administration and International Journal of Educational Management (2022-present), Youth Leadership Chair for the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, and serves on the Generational Renewal, Inclusion and Diversity Steering Committee for the International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement. Key publications feature 'Identifying an educational praxis of culturally relevant female school leadership in urban Pakistani schools' (School Leadership & Management, 2024), 'Finding meaning in complex care nursing in a hospital setting' (Nursing Inquiry, 2024), and editorship of Asia Pacific Education: Leadership, Governance and Administration (2020).