Section: Overview
Overview
Key publications
Research funding
Supervising & teaching
Career

Key details

Areas of expertise

  • Higher vocational education
  • Career development
  • Disability rights
  • Qualification reform
  • Higher Education

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

About Lizzie Knight

Lizzie works in Victoria University's Mitchell Institute. A key area of interest is equity of access to and in tertiary education, the provision of institutional information and support for transition into post-school education.

She has published widely on employability, higher and vocational education, qualifications reform, always taking an explicit stance promoting equitable access to career information, education provision and outcomes. Her edited book 'Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education' was published by Palgrave in 2022.

She acts as the research advisor for the Career Industry Council of Australia, sits on the executive of the Australasian Vocational Education Research Association (AVETRA), is Associate Editor of Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education and Reviews Editor of International Journal for Lifelong Learning.

Lizzie's academic work starts from her background as practitioner. After teaching English as a foreign language in London, Lizzie worked as an assistive technology trainer in 2001, and for the next five years worked in support for tertiary students with disabilities as Disability Liaison Officer. Then she worked in central student support as an Assistant Registrar in London at the teacher training specialist college the Institute of Education, University of London, until she retrained as a Professional Career Practitioner on her return to so-called Australia, including at the Ministerial Company Education Services Australia. In 2017, after six years of interrupted part-time study, Lizzie completed a PhD at Monash University, investigating equity and access to higher education change in pre-enrolment information between the 1970s and 2010s in Australia and the UK.

Lizzie is a disabled, settler researcher working on the Traditional Lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Qualifications

  • PhD (Education), Monash University, 2018
  • Graduate Certificate Career Education and Development, RMIT, 2010
  • Cert IV Training and Assessment, 2010
  • Master of Arts (Higher & Professional Education), University of London, 2006
  • Bachelor of Arts (1st Class Honours) Teaching English as a Foreign Language and Education Studies, Middlesex University, 2004

Key publications

Year Citation
2023 Bennett, D., Knight, E., & Bell, K. (230426). Graduate employability and the career thinking of university STEMM students (pp. 88-103). Routledge.

doi: 10.4324/9781003380290-8

2022 Knight, E., Staunton, T., & Healy, M. (220623). About University Career Services Interaction with EdTech (pp. 303-315). Cambridge University Press.

doi: 10.1017/9781108979146.030

2022 Hodge, S., Knight, E., Rawolle, S., & Webb, S. (220101). Higher Education in Vocational Institutions in Australia: What s Going On? (pp. 189-214).

doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-84502-5_10

Year Citation
2022 Wade, A., Williams, M., Knight, E., Tham, M., Gao, Y., & Dixon, J. (220811). Strategies for skills and jobs in Melbourne's West. Melbourne, Victoria: Centre for International Research on Education Systems.
2021 Knight, E., & Hodge, S. (211130). The best of both worlds? Integrating VET and higher education.

Year Citation
2023 Hooley, T. J., Bennett, D., & Knight, E. B. (231101). Rationalities that underpin employability provision in higher education across eight countries. Higher Education, 86(5), (1003-1023).

doi: 10.1007/s10734-022-00957-y

2023 Leif, E., Knight, E., Buhne, J., Ford, E., Casey, A., Carney, A., Cousins, J., Dinmore, S., Downie, A., & Dracup, M. (230101). Building Australian tertiary educator Knowledge and skill in Universal Design for Learning. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 36(1), (55-64).
2023 Andrewartha, L., Knight, E., Simpson, A., & Beattie, H. (230101). Balancing the books: how we can better support students who are parents. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 45(2), (160-173).

doi: 10.1080/1360080X.2023.2180164

2022 Corcoran, T., Whitburn, B., & Knight, E. (220101). Inherent requirements in higher education: locating You in Us. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 26(2), (69-75).

doi: 10.1080/13603108.2021.1986166

2022 Knight, E. B. (220101). The homogenisation of prospectuses over the period of massification in the UK. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 32(1), (19-36).

doi: 10.1080/08841241.2020.1806177

Research funding for the past 5 years

Please note:

  • Funding is ordered by the year the project commenced and may continue over several years.
  • Funding amounts for contact research are not disclosed to maintain commercial confidentiality.
  • The order of investigators is not indicative of the role they played in the research project.

Supporting students with disability in vocational educational and training (VET)
From: University of Tasmania
Other investigators: Dr Melissa Tham, Ms Esther Doecke, Dr Yuan Gao
For period: 2021-2022
Not disclosed
Courseware for cadetships - proof of concept
From: Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund
Other investigators: Mr Peter Hurley
For period: 2021-2022
$90,000
VU RISE: Skills and Jobs for Melbourne’s West (SJMW)
From: Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund
Other investigators: Mr Graeme Newman, Dr Melissa Tham, Aspr Janine Dixon, Prof Glyn Wittwer, Mr Christopher King, Mr Andrew Wade
For period: 2021-2022
$748,000
Integrating Higher Education and VET qualifications to support movement between the sectors
From: National Centre for Vocational Education Research
For period: 2021-2021
Not disclosed

'My Career Pathways' Needs Analysis
From: Centre for Multicultural Youth
Other investigators: Dr Melissa Tham
For period: 2020-2021
Not disclosed
Support for Care-Experienced People in Higher Education
From: Collier Charitable Fund
For period: 2020-2020
Not disclosed

Vocational Institutions, Undergraduate Degrees
From: ARC - Discovery (Non-Lead Org)
For period: 2017-2020
$32,000

Supervision of research students at VU

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

Currently supervised research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
1 PhD Integrated Principal supervisor

Currently supervised research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD Integrated (1) Principal supervisor

Other supervision of research students

I have supervised research students and may be available to provide supervision on request.

Key industry, community & government roles

Dates Role Department/Organisation
Feb 2020 - Jan 2024
Research Advisor
Career Industry Council of Australia
Aug 2013 - Feb 2025
Management Committee Member
Disability Discrimination Legal Service
Aug 2019 - Apr 2024
Executive Member
Australasian Vocational Education Training Research Association
Dates Role & Department/Organisation
Feb 2020 - Jan 2024
Research Advisor
Career Industry Council of Australia
Aug 2013 - Feb 2025
Management Committee Member
Disability Discrimination Legal Service
Aug 2019 - Apr 2024
Executive Member
Australasian Vocational Education Training Research Association

Awards

Year Award
2014

Australian Postgraduate Award for Exceptional Research Potential - Australian Research Council via Faculty of Education, Monash University

2015

Monash Graduate Research Equity Scholarship - Monash University

2013

Vice Chancellor's Award for Diversity and Inclusion - Monash University

Keynote and invited speeches

Year Title/Description
2021

ARPCE Online Social Justice Seminar Series

Disability and Education 29th Sept 2021 – 4-6pm Special thanks to Taylor & Francis and The Edge Foundation who sponsored this series.

2022

Inclusive principles for VET

2022 CCA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Professional memberships

  • Professional, Career Education Association of Victoria
  • Registered Professional Career Development Practitioner, Career Industry Council of Australia
  • Member / SIG Convenor Professional and Higher Education, Australian Association for Research Education
  • Member, The Australian Sociology Association