Meet two of our new PhD students
Introducing Michelle Pedlow and Yessy Hidajat
In this post we hear from two of CRADLE’s newest PhD students, Michelle Pedlow and Yessy Hidajat. Both Michelle and Yessy share their thoughts on their decision to undertake further study and their aspirations for the PhD journey ahead.
Michelle Pedlow
Tell us about yourself and why you chose to do a PHD
I currently work as the Curriculum Strategy and Educational Innovation Lead and Assessment Lead in Nursing at The University of Western Australia (UWA), where I spend much of my time thinking about programmatic assessment, feedback, and educational innovation. I also lead UWA’s Assessment and Feedback Community of Practice, where we discuss and share practice on all things assessment, feedback, generative AI, and the future of higher education. Prior to joining UWA, I worked on a whole-of-institution curriculum transformation project exploring how our institution might respond to the emergence of generative AI and its implications for learning, assessment, and assurance.
Outside of work and study, I spend quality time with my family and friends. I’m married to an engineer, and we have two children: a daughter in Year 8 and a son in Year 5. In my downtime, I am usually the designated taxi driver for my children’s sporting and social schedules, while also trying to carve out time to read fantasy and sci-fi novels (my preferred ‘anti-research’ activity), see friends, pat a cat, or paint.
I chose to pursue a PhD because I reached a point in my career where curiosity started to outweigh certainty.
After 16 years of working in curriculum and assessment design, I realised I was less interested in quick fixes and more interested in understanding deeper questions: how students engage with feedback over time, why learning trajectories vary, and what helps learners take ownership of their development, even when feedback quality is inconsistent. The PhD became a pathway to contribute more meaningfully to a field I genuinely care about, while continuing to challenge myself intellectually and creatively.
What is your PhD topic?
My PhD explores feedback as a longitudinal interpretive process, focusing on how students make sense of, connect, prioritise, and use feedback – or choose to disregard it – to inform their learning across a higher education program over time. Rather than focusing in on single feedback encounters, the research zooms out and explores how learners navigate complex and often fragmented feedback environments across courses, educators, and contexts.
This research aligns strongly with the research strengths of CRADLE, particularly its internationally recognised leadership in assessment and feedback research. Being connected to CRADLE provides an invaluable opportunity to engage with a global network of researchers who are shaping contemporary conversations around assessment, feedback, learning, and higher education transformation.
What are you most looking forward to during your PhD journey?
More than anything, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to keep learning, evolving, and growing – both professionally and personally. One of the things I enjoy most about higher education is that there is always another question to explore, another perspective to consider, or another way to rethink existing assumptions.
I’m also looking forward to the intellectual stretch that comes with undertaking a PhD. Research allows space to slow down, think deeply, and engage critically with complex problems in ways that day-to-day professional work doesn’t always allow. While I know the journey will be challenging at times, I’m excited by the possibility of contributing meaningfully to conversations about feedback, learning, and assessment in contemporary higher education.
Yessy Hidajat
Tell us about yourself and why you chose to do a PHD
My PhD journey began 18 years ago, when I stepped into teaching. After leaving my career in the corporate sector, teaching was meant to be a temporary stopover, something I would do while figuring out my next move. I did not expect to enjoy it so much that I decided not to look back or anywhere else. Working in Indonesia’s non-formal education sector introduced me to a remarkably diverse range of students, from secondary school students and teachers, government officials, and engineers, and individuals from both highly privileged and deeply underprivileged backgrounds. Teaching also opened doors to multiple roles in education, including material developer, educational project coordinator, and teacher trainer. While these experiences gave me continuous professional and practical insights, they reminded me that I was missing the academic foundation necessary to support my development as an educator.
I pursued my education, taking an MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and an ICT degree at the University of Leeds, England, on the Chevening Scholarship. Going back to formal education after years of being a practitioner was a journey of self-discovery. I learned that I enjoyed learning about how people learn and teach and, to my surprise, how much I enjoyed the process of researching educational practice. I loved the research process, along with the challenges it posed and the learning it offered. That experience planted the first small seed of considering a PhD.
What is your PhD topic?
My study explores how undergraduate students who underperform engage with their feedback processes. I am particularly interested in understanding their engagement and the factors that both help and hinder their learning. Working with students who sometimes struggle with their academic tasks has made me curious about how they interpret, respond and act on feedback.
Like many teachers, both feedback and underperformance are topics that are close to my heart.
CRADLE’s research focus on assessment and feedback means I learn from, and am supervised by, the experts in the field. Beyond that, my supervisors guide me in ways that allow me to draw on my practitioner experience while challenging me to expand my knowledge and understanding of the topic.
What are you most looking forward to during your PhD journey?
As a cotutelle student with Coventry University, I look forward to learning from others and sharing my experience with the academic communities at Deakin and Coventry University.
Although navigating two university systems and institutional cultures can be demanding, I quickly realised how fortunate I am to have access to a wide range of expertise, resources, and communities. Being anchored in two research centres allows me to build connections with fellow PhD students and the wider academic communities, and this dual environment has expanded my perspective in ways I did not anticipate.
Through my PhD project, I hope to share insights that enrich discussions on underperformance from a feedback perspective. I also hope to contribute by offering perspectives that help develop more supportive feedback cultures and processes for students at all performance levels.
We welcome Michelle and Yessy and look forward to working with them on their timely and fascinating research.
Tomorrow!
CRADLE Seminar #6
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