Marnee Shay

Professor Marnee Shay is a Principal Research Fellow and Deputy Head of School in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. She is an Aboriginal woman whose maternal family is from the Ngen'giwumirri language group (Daly River, Northern Territory), born in Brisbane, with strong connections to Indigenous communities in South East Queensland. Dr Shay is an experienced and qualified secondary teacher.

Professor Shay has an extensive externally funded research program that spans the fields of Indigenous education, policy studies, flexi schooling, and youth studies. She has published in many journals, books and scholarly media outlets. She advocates for strengths approaches in Indigenous education and Indigenous-based evidence to inform policy futures – including co-editing (with Professor Grace Sarra) the forthcoming "Strengths-Based Approaches in Indigenous Education Research and Practice". It will be published by Routledge in September 2025.

She is also the lead editor of a critical text in the field of Indigenous education, "Indigenous education in Australia Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures", published by Routledge in 2021 (with Professor Oliver). The book won a national award for 'The Tertiary/VET Teaching and Learning Resource (wholly Australian) category at the Education Publishing Awards Australia.

Professor Shay's research has substantially impacted policy and practice in her field. She has contributed to numerous policy submissions, non-traditional research outputs (such as podcasts) and school reviews. She serves on multiple government and school boards and committees, including the Queensland Department of Education Ministerial Advisory Committee for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education. Dr Shay's research contributions to education were recognised in 2020 through a National Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) award, a Queensland branch ACEL Excellence in Educational Leadership Award, and the 2021 UQ Foundation for Research Excellence Award.