Dr Adrienne Burns
Senior Lecturer in Biological and Environmental Science - School of Environmental and Rural Science
Phone: +61 02 6773 3957
Email: aburns@une.edu.au
Biography
Adrienne’s mission as a university educator and researcher, is to enable future graduates to make meaningful contributions to global challenges by ensuring quality student learning outcomes. Through a diversity of teaching roles, including course coordination and curriculum development, unit delivery, and designing transitional programs, she fosters an ethos of quality student learning outcomes through sharing teaching and learning experiences with colleagues, to build contemporary networks for learning excellence.
STEM Education Program Development and Research
Adrienne was appointed Leader of Learning establishing the Science Learning Hub in 2022 in the Faculty of Science Agriculture Business & Law. The SciLHub provides a qualified tutor network for both on-campus and online modes to improve student retention and engagement across UNE’s STEM programs. Her current research focus is in STEM education to align innovative practices with broad outcomes in tertiary science courses, and support programs for transition to university science.
Adrienne secured over $400 000 HEPPP (Higher Education Partnerships participation program) funding since 2019. As the principal investigator for a ‘Boosting Science Program’ which assisted students with limited science background to transition to a range of science and applied science courses at UNE. This was awarded the Learn-X Award: Learning & Development Platinum prize as Best Social Program (2020). Further HEPPP funding secured in 2023, developed a mentoring program (‘STEM education transition for undergraduate pathways’) for students in pathways to STEM and allied STEM bachelor’s courses, and she is currently part of the 2024 multidisciplinary team: ‘Supporting transition for maths in context’, developing open access resources to embed maths support across a range of foundation science programs.
Her contribution to online advances in blended learning has received national recognition through a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning as part of the Australian Awards for University Teaching 2021.
Collaborations: Adrienne is fostering networks for scholarship of STEM teaching and learning; developing best practice for university transition through blended learning, and providing supportive pathways for students from diverse backgrounds into STEM and STEM related fields.
Environmental Science & Ecology Research
Adrienne has over 20 years’ experience as an aquatic ecologist with specialities in riverine basal foodwebs, and algal biology. Her research is focussed on understanding the fundamental biogeochemical processes such as nutrient and organic matter cycling, and ecosystem metabolism that support aquatic food webs. She has a specific interest in the ecology of microbial biofilms in wetland and river systems which occur on all submerged surfaces, and have short life cycles, allowing a rapid response to changing conditions
In her research field of aquatic ecology, she is an experienced research student supervisor with Honours and PhD completions dating back to 2009 in aquatic foodwebs, riverine, biogeochemistry and conservation. Adrienne is available to supervise post graduate and honours projects in aspects of aquatic ecology, in collaboration with The Aquatic Research group.
