Helen is an Industry Ph.D student in the School of Education at La Trobe University investigating ways to improve learning and teaching experiences of students diagnosed with autism. She is passionate about challenging thinking that leaves children with autism feeling excluded from educational and social opportunities available to their non-autistic peers. The research is funded by an Industry Phd Scholarship, and is conducted in partnership with Parade College Bundoora, a Catholic Boys Secondary School in Melbourne, Australia. Helen's supervisors are Professor Sue Grieshaber and Dr Anne Southall. Her external school-based supervisor for this project is Mr Guy Logan, Director of Diversity, Student Support Services, Parade College. Helen's lived experience as the parent of an autistic son drives her commitment to explore ways in which a critical approach might improve both student and teacher agency at the industry partner school.

Helen has a Ph.D in music education from Charles Darwin University, and her other research interests include instrumental music education, the piano works of Béla Bartók, analysis of post-tonal music, and the incorporation of analysis in one-to-one instrumental music lessons. Helen is also a pianist, teacher, and senior Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) piano examiner with over 30 years' experience in examining and adjudicating at piano eisteddfods and competitions. She enthusiastically embraces education as a means of facilitating an individual’s personal development and self-expression, as well as building their confidence and self-esteem. Helen has presented academic papers at national and international conferences in music education and at national conferences on subjects relating to her current research.