Thilinika Wijesinghe

As an Education Designer at James Cook University's Education Design, Quality, and Standards Directorate, I bring over 15 years of diverse experience in education, international relations, marketing, and communications to my role. With a commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration, my aim is to lead initiatives that contribute to educational innovation.

My academic journey includes earning a Ph.D. in Philosophy focusing on Education from Southern Cross University, where I conducted research on speculative drama's role in understanding children and young people's perspectives on climate change. Prior to this, I pursued a Master of Arts in International Relations from Colombo University, Sri Lanka, and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, Psychology, and English Literature from Bangalore University, India.

I have contributed to academic publications exploring topics such as youth digital media practices for climate justice and climate change education. Additionally, I have presented my research at esteemed conferences worldwide.

My work experience spans across academia and professional careers as a Research Associate, Project Manager, Student Experience Manager, Program Support Education Officer, and a Digital Media Expert.

I am currently based in JCU Nguma-bada campus (Cairns).

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

• Presented at JCU’s Decarbonisation Forum on the topic Climate change, young people, and speculative drama (March, 2025)
• Wijesinghe, T. (2024, November, 30  - December 4). AI, learning, and speculative drama: Navigating the intersection of dependence and creativity in education [Paper presentation], Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2024, November, 30  - December 4). Engaging speculative drama in environmental education: A methodological workshop [Workshop], Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Sydney, Australia.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2021, November, 28 – December, 1). Children’s futures: the role of Speculative Drama and the voices of children [Paper presentation]. Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Online.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2021, November, 28 – December, 1). Collaborative poster presentation with children and young people of PhD research study on the ‘Voices of children’ [Poster presentation]. Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Online.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2021, October, 21 – 22). Children’s Voices - the future world. [Poster presentation]. PRAXIS – Southern Cross University Postgraduate Conference, Online.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2021, May, 19 – 22). Co-Constructing Knowledge with Children and Young People as Co-Researchers in Climate Change Education through Arts-Based Research – An explorative study on the importance of working with Children [Paper presentation]. International Congress of Qualitative Research (ICQI), Online.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2021, April, 8 – 12). Future Worldviews of Children and Young People on Climate Change through Speculative Drama [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Online.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2020, October, 22 – 23). An exploration of how theatre/ drama could serve as a medium of data collection in projects related to children and young people [Paper presentation]. PRAXIS – Southern Cross University Postgraduate Conference, Online.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2019, June, 25 – 26). Being and Becoming through Seeing – Exploring the role of Speculative Drama in shaping the vision of children and young people in terms of climate change [Paper presentation]. PRAXIS – Southern Cross University Postgraduate Conference, Gold Coast, Australia.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2019, June, 25 – 26). An exploration of how theatre could serve as a medium of data collection in projects related to children and young people [Poster presentation]. PRAXIS – Southern Cross University Postgraduate Conference, Gold Coast, Australia.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2019, December, 1 -5). An exploration of how Speculative Drama can be engaged to understand children and young people’s future worldviews on Climate Change [Paper presentation]. Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
• Wijesinghe, T. (2019, December, 1 -5). The role of theatre in research – An exploration of how theatre could serve as a medium of data collection in projects related to children and young people [Poster presentation]. Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Brisbane, Australia

WORKSHOPS

• Presented at the 2025 AI in Higher Education Symposium Australia & New Zealand on the topic ‘Unlocking Critical Thinking with Gen AI: Exploring Concepts Across Time’ to an audience of over 1500 both online and face-to-face.
• Invited workshop conducted for Australian Association for Environmental Education (2024)

Conducted drama workshops for postgraduate students at SCU and Sri Lankan students, focusing on drama as practice in education.