Associate ProfessorEmma Rowe

Emma is an internationally recognised academic in education policy and politics. She holds expertise in school funding and school choice; school segregation; and privatisation and marketisation of public schools. Emma was an invited researcher to Indiana University, USA (2022); invited guest lecturer to Yale University, USA (2022); and invited guest speaker to Aarhus University, Denmark (2023). She has presented at Featured Symposiums at the British Educational Research Association, the World Education Research Association and the Australian Association for Research in Education.

Emma was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2020 to study innovation in education; and the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2021) from the Australian Research Council to study philanthropy in public education (2021-2024). Her research has received numerous awards including the Best Paper Award from Springer (2020, 2025), and she is an invited contributor to world-leading organisations (e.g. UNESCO). Emma's PhD received the 'Outstanding Dissertation Award' by the American Educational Research Association (Qualitative Research SIG) in 2015.

Three of Emma's papers have received 'Best Paper' awards by the Australian Association for Research in Education: "Private financing in urban public schools: inequalities in a stratified education marketplace" (co-authored with Laura Perry, 2020); and "Fossil fuel gift economies as petro-pedagogies in public schools" (co-authored with Eve Mayes, 2025). The first paper was intended to be a study about school segregation, although it generated significant media coverage regarding voluntary school fees in public schools. The second paper inquires into fossil fuel philanthropy in public schools, and how this shapes and influences school curriculum. A third awarded paper (led by Elisa Di Gregorio) was titled "Marketising disability: public school principals competing for inclusion funding" (Di Gregorio, Rowe, Langman, Corcoran).

Emma contributes regularly to public engagement and her research is featured on national media, including television, print media and radio. She has authored Opinion Pieces for The Age and ABC News, and she is a leading contributor to discussions and debates regarding education policy and politics.

Emma serves in editorial roles in leading education international journals. She currently serves as Associate Editor for Q1 Journal of Education Policy. She was previously Associate Editor for Q1 Critical Studies in Education (2018-2024), and sits on the Advisory Board of academic journals.

Emma teaches into undergraduate and postgraduate education courses at Deakin. She previously led the Global Education Program (GEP) at Deakin. Prior to joining Deakin University, she taught at Monash University, and worked as an editor, freelance writer and secondary school English teacher. She has previously held leadership positions in secondary schools.