ProfessorPhillip Dawson

Professor Phillip (Phill) Dawson is the Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University, which is the world's leading higher education assessment research group in terms of publications and citations. Phill is most known for his research on feedback, cheating and artificial intelligence in assessment. His work is highly cited, and he ranks 6th internationally in the field of higher education research over the past five years (ScholarGPS).

In his feedback research, Phill is currently leading an Australian Research Council project into supporting students to make the most of feedback through developing their feedback literacy. This longitudinal study uses behaviour change techniques from the health and social sciences to help students develop and use feedback capabilities not just at university, but also in their graduate working lives.

In his cheating and artificial intelligence research, Phill is currently collaborating with Deakin colleagues on a major project into how to design assessment that is valid and appropriate for a time of artificial intelligence. This project builds on work funded by the Australian higher education regulator TEQSA, which he was one of the leads of.

Phill is a regular contributor to public debate on higher education. His work has been featured on ABC TV, The Australian, The Age, Times Higher Education, the BBC, VICE, Vox, the Financial Times, the Geelong Advertiser, and discussed in the Australian parliament. In his spare time, Phill performs comedy, including in the academia-themed improv show The Peer Revue, which he also produces.