Associate ProfessorAbbey MacDonald

Dr. Abbey MacDonald is an Associate Professor in Arts Education at the University of Tasmania. Her academic work spans the intersections of education, creative arts, and culture. Her teaching and research innovations are primarily utilised within education advocacy campaigns, policy development, curriculum review and education resource creation. A/Prof MacDonald has positively influenced innovation agendas within these settings. Her ability to communicate to, from and across professional contexts has established her as a credible voice among policymakers, educational leaders, and cultural institutions.

A/Prof MacDonald brings more than a decade of sustained strategic leadership to her work, which extends beyond academia into professional education and creative and cultural industry settings, locally, nationally and internationally. By integrating diverse ways of knowing and doing inherent to education, creative industries and culture, She has contributed a decade of sustained leadership (2013-2023) of peak state and national professional organisations for visual art education in Australia (Tasmanian Art Teachers Association; Art Education Australia).

In addition to leadership within her specific professional field of visual art education, A/Prof MacDonald supports the broader education research community via a range of research service roles (2012 -2025) with the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE); the peak national professional association of educational researchers in Australia.

A/Prof MacDonald has helped lead research transformation and innovation at UTAS through a range of roles, including Deputy Associate Head Research, Research Translation and Graduate Research Coordination, Research Integrity Advisor, and Auditor for Non-Traditional Research Outputs.

Following her 2024–2025 secondment to the University of Melbourne as Senior Academic Fellow (Indigenous Exhibition Learning), A/Prof MacDonald remains connected to Ngarrngga through ongoing research collaborations and resource development initiatives stemming from  65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art.

Professional recognitions:

• International Society for Education through Art (InSEA)  Excellence in Praxis Award, 2024
• Engagement Award, College of Arts Law and Education (UTAS), 2022
• The Educator (Australia) Higher Education Rising Star, 2020
• Teacher's Mutual Bank Australian Teacher Educator of the Year, Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA), 2019
• Vice Chancellor's Award for Early Career Academic Teaching (UTAS), 2018