ARC Laureate Research Program

Professor Anne Castles
ARC Laureate Fellow
Anne.Castles@acu.edu.au

Anne Castles is Director of the Laureate program, which commenced in June 2023 and is expected to continue for the next five years. She oversees a wide range of projects within the program, including research on basic reading and writing processes to projects linking adolescent literacy to wellbeing. She leads a large group of researchers, including PhD students and junior postdocs, as well as senior researchers, with the aim of building Australia's capacity in this crucial area.

Anne is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW. She has served on the editorial boards of several journals, including Scientific Studies of Reading and the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. She served as President of Learning Difficulties Australia from 2017 - 18. In 2023, The Australian newspaper selected her as one of the 52 most influential people of the year.

Professor Genevieve McArthur
Genevieve.McArthur@acu.edu.au

Genevieve is senior researcher on the Laureate Program. She is also Director of Research Translation at the Dyslexia SPELD Foundation. Her research aims to accelerate the translation of rigorous reading science into practice. She heads the Wellbeing in Literacy (WiL) research team that is advancing theory and practice relating to literacy-related wellbeing in children, adolescents, and adults.

Dr Andrea Salins
Research Fellow, Laureate
Andrea.Salins@acu.edu.au

Andrea's research investigates the cognitive and developmental mechanisms that relate to children's language and reading development. She uses experimental paradigms to identify the processes underlying oral vocabulary learning. Her research examines how these processes can be leveraged to promote vocabulary growth and reading development in both typically developing children and those with hearing impairments. In parallel, she investigates the co-occurrence of reading difficulties with emotional and behavioural outcomes across childhood and adolescence. Using longitudinal cohort data and psychometric assessments, she examines developmental trajectories of reading-related anxiety and the risk and protective factors that shape these pathways. The broader goal of this work is to inform evidence-based approaches to early identification and targeted intervention.

Dr Dalia Martinez
Research Fellow, Laureate
Dalia.Martinez@acu.edu.au

Dalia's research centres on word reading, spelling and reading comprehension, with a particular focus on morphology. Her interest in cross-linguistic differences in reading development has led her to collaborate with research laboratories in Mexico and Canada. She has contributed to the design and implementation of tasks related to word reading and morphological knowledge in English and Spanish and conducted research with lower, upper elementary, and college students in both countries.

Dr Serje Robidoux
Research Fellow (Statistics)
Serje.Robidoux@acu.edu.au

Serje is a researcher and statistical specialist in the fields of literacy and language. He advises researchers on statistical techniques, provides statistical leadership for the ARC Laureate and the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy, conducts workshops on the latest statistical techniques, and critically reviews research proposals. Serje is currently involved in several spelling-related projects, projects focussed on adolescents, and projects continuing to understand the complex interrelationships between literacy and emotional health particularly in children with reading difficulties.

Kimberley Knight
PhD research student
kimberley.knight@myacu.edu.au

Supervisors: Dr Danielle Colenbrander, Professor Anne Castles, Professor Saskia Kohnen

Kim is investigating writing processes, with a focus on expository text-types, particularly paragraphs and essays. She is particularly interested in the potential of the topic sentence and its role in supporting secondary students to think, plan, write and edit. As a speech-language pathologist working in secondary schools, Kim has assisted students with language and learning difficulties to respond to texts and write essays for English. She is a 2026 Visiting Fellow at the State Library NSW and the Assistant Editor for the Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties.

Jessica Colleu Terradas
Churchill Fellow, PhD research student
jessica.colleuterradas@myacu.edu.au

Supervisors: Dr Danielle Colenbrander, Professor Anne Castles, Professor Rauno Parrila

Jessica is researching adolescent spelling and morphology. Her work examines how adolescents' morphological knowledge and understanding of word structure and meaning contribute to spelling and writing performance, and how this knowledge can inform instruction in secondary schools.

A Churchill Fellow and Commonwealth Bank Teaching Award recipient, Jessica is a special education and secondary teacher who has worked across states and sectors in several leadership roles. She is currently the Senior Officer, Literacy Specialist at Catholic Education Canberra and Goulburn, and is passionate about supporting vulnerable students, ensuring every child can read. Most importantly, Jessica works to make a difference - her goal is simple: equip teachers, share knowledge, and impact young people's lives.

Taniya Gonsalves
PhD research student
taniya.gonsalves@myacu.edu.au

Supervisors: Professor Genevieve McArthur, Dr Andrea Sallins, Professor Anne Castle

Taniya recently started her PhD studies at ACU. Her research explores how self-concept and wellbeing interact in students with reading and learning difficulties. In particular, she will explore the factors contributing to reading-related self-concept in secondary school students. Taniya completed her Master's in Applied Psychology with a specialisation in counselling psychology in India. She has worked with schools as a child and educational psychologist and has been associated with healthcare settings as a visiting psychologist. In addition, Taniya is a certified advanced yoga teacher trainer.

Debbi Sundy
Laureate Project Coordinator
Lit@acu.edu.au

Debbi is the Laureate Project Coordinator and the Centre Coordinator for the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy. She has worked in education for more than 20 years in the tertiary, school and community education systems. She is passionate about lifelong learning and completed a Master of Arts from UNISA.

Gabria Vinod
Research Assistant

Gabria is a research assistant under the Laureate Fellowship at the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy. She recently completed her Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) at Macquarie University, investigating the relationship between minimally invasive surgery and visuomotor skills, but has since switched to reading research. She primarily works with researchers under the fellowship and is involved in various projects, including tracking students' word spelling development, the Wellbeing in Literacy (WiL) project, and more. Being involved in these projects has been a rewarding learning experience for Gabria.

45th Annual Society for Mental Health Research Conference
19 November 2025

Dr Andrea Salins recently presented at the 45th Annual Society for Mental Health Research Conference in Adelaide. Her research findings indicated 60% of struggling adolescent readers had elevated reading anxiety. Some readers also presented with social phobia and generalised anxiety, regardless of whether they had accompanying language or attention problems.

Advancing High School Literacy at Research Ed
1 November 2025

Laureate Professor Anne Castles, along with PhD student and Churchill Fellow Jessica Colleu Terradas, presented at the Research Ed conference at St Catherine's School. Their session, Advancing High School Literacy, focused on their current research exploring prevalent impairments in at-risk students, and factors affecting spelling performance in secondary school students.

Visiting fellow State Library NSW - Kimberley Knight
22 October 2025

Congratulations to ARC Laureate Program PhD student Kimberley Knight who received a Visiting Fellow 2026 from the State Library NSW. Kim's project 'Blooming Essays! Plotting the expository writing features of New South Wales high school students' will form part of her PhD studies on adolescent writing processes. The library's Visiting Fellows program supports and fosters writing, research and study.