renAIssance fAIr
2 - 4 December 2026
2 - 4 December 2026 | UOW Wollongong campus
Join us for one session, one day or all three days.
Register now
About the renAIssance fAIr
AI is reshaping how we teach, learn and support student success. The renAIssance fAIr brings the UOW community together to share perspectives, showcase innovative practice and explore what’s next for AI-enabled education at UOW — from classroom innovation and student partnerships to industry perspectives, emerging technologies and lessons from across the renAIssance program.
Across the three days, you can expect keynote and industry speakers, live panels and discussion, project and practice showcases, student partner features, opportunities to get hands-on with emerging technologies and experience live demonstrations, as well as space to connect, reflect and exchange ideas with colleagues from across the University.
The fAIr will culminate in the launch of UOW’s new AI in Education Blueprint, helping shape the next chapter of AI-enabled education at UOW.
Whether you are curious, sceptical, experimenting with AI or already embedding it in your teaching, there is something in the program for you.
Special Guest: Emeritus Professor Liz Johnson
Emeritus Professor Liz Johnson has taught, researched and led in Australian universities for over 40 years with a focus on learning and teaching leadership. As Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Academic from 2019 to 2025, Liz led Deakin University's ambitious Education and Employability strategy, including the drive to premium digital learning and outstanding student experience.
Since 2025, Professor Johnson has worked with the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, authoring its 2026 report on professional practice for higher education teachers, and as an honorary with the University of the South Pacific working on assessment reform. In January 2026 she joined the Victoria University Council.
Professor Johnson led whole-of-institution curriculum reform projects at Deakin University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor Teaching and Learning (2014-2018) and previously at La Trobe University. She has led nationally funded projects, including Successful WIL in Science, on work-integrated learning in science faculties, funded by the Office of the Chief Scientist of Australia and the Department of Education and Training. Liz was awarded an OLT National Teaching Fellowship in 2012 and became a Principal Fellow of AdvanceHE in 2019.
Explore the program
Explore the program across three days. Join us for a single session, a full day or all three days.
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11.30 am
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12.15 pm
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2.30 pm
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3.30 pm
Day 1
2 Dec
- Opening Address from Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor G.Q. Max Lu AO
- Keynote by Emeritus Professor Liz Johnson
- In Conversation (with Max & Liz) chaired by DVCE, Professor Helen Partridge
- Student panel: Partnership and co-design for AI futures- renAIssance Student Partners
Read more...
Day 1
11.30 am
renAIssance Student Partners:
Student panel: Partnership and co-design for AI futures- Jessica Jayaswal
- Da Diem Quynh (Quinn) Nguyen
- Roseline Mary Rozario
- Olivia Vercoe
- Taha Yassen Parker
- Terence Watts
- Elaine Rodrigues Fields
- Program highlights feature with Academic and project leads
A showcase of practical teaching examples from across UOW (names/details to be announced soon)
Academic Leadership Panel: In conversation with Deputy Deans Education, Deans & Academic Leads
Day 2
3 Dec
- Industry expert panel (facilitated by Associate Professor Bonnie Dean)
- Insights from AI Professional Practice Co-Labs
Professor Ann Rogerson, Associate Professor Alyce Mason & Megan Smith
Exploring assessment innovation through Assessment Reimagined and CALM.
Day 2
11.30 am
From Threads to Tapestry: Reimagining Assessment and Learning Futures
Assessment Reimagined and CALM projects - Professor Ann Rogerson, Associate Professor Alyce Mason & Megan Smith
How do we know learning has happened — and how should assessment evolve in an AI-enabled world? This combined session brings together members of the Course-wide Assurance Learning Mapping (CALM) project team, Assessment Assurance Working Group and Assessment Reimagined Think Tank to celebrate progress, connect course-wide assurance with authentic, integrity-embedded assessment, and translate shared insights into practice. Join us to test the emerging weave, strengthen the connections and help shape the next phase of assessment at UOW
Associate Professor Christopher Moore
Explore student-facing AI agents, design challenges and lessons learned.
Day 2
1 pm
Adventures in AI-Enabled Learning
Cogniti Champions & AI Study Buddy projects - Associate Professor Christopher Moore
Join the academic adventurers who led this year's experiments in learning design, building AI agents and testing them with real students. AI in the wild answer unpredictably, but these agents respond appropriately at midnight, coach a draft without writing it, and hold the line when the educator cannot be there. Pick up an expedition card, walk the booths where the builders have their agents open, complete a challenge at each, and ask them why the agent answered that way. Explore the field reports: the learning design challenges, their solutions, what students did, and what nobody expected.
AI-Enabled Education Panel
A panel exploring questions, tensions and aspirations for AI at UOW and the broader environment.
Day 2
2.50 pm
Panel: resistAInce in Action: Join the conversation
AI-Enabled Education Panel
Resistance is not refusal, because critical pushback belongs in the conversation, not outside it. This year the resistAInce media series has brought educators and students together to tackle the big questions about AI in education. Join us to push the conversation further: to examine the claims made on behalf of AI and to weigh anxieties and aspirations in UOW's tradition of critical inquiry. Bring your questions to the panel. What concerns you most about AI? What do we know, and what do we only assume? What should we expect of the future, and what should we want from it?
Day 3
4 Dec
External speaker to be announced.
Dr Lorraine Fields
A conversation about what makes learning at UOW distinct and deeply human.
Day 3
11.30 am
The Future Of Learning Is Human
Learning By Design project - Dr Lorraine Fields
We set out to build learning design principles. What we found instead was something more fundamental: a conversation about purpose, belonging, memorable teachers, the promise and challenges of AI, and what makes learning at UOW distinct.
Across our campuses and communities, staff and students shared what learning means to them, what it feels like when it is working, and what is lost when it is not. This is the story of UOW voices on the future of learning, and the relationships, values and connections that will ensure that future remains unmistakably human, distinctly UOW, and shaped by what matters most to our people.
Next steps and community input on the future of AI in education.
Speakers
Who should attend
The renAIssance fAIr is open to all UOW staff and students, across every faculty and division — you don't need to be involved in a renAIssance project to take part.FAQs
Contact
For any enquiry, please contact renaissance-program@uow.edu.au
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