Research Projects

See all of Dr Pretorius’ publications

I am an interdisciplinary scholar whose work interlaces personal narratives with institutional systems to understand how lived experience and academic structures shape one another. My research champions compassionate, equitable, and creative learning environments, with a sustained emphasis on doctoral education, academic identity, student wellbeing, AI literacy, autoethnography, and qualitative research methodologies. I design inclusive, student‑centred pedagogies and research practices that foreground care, justice, and growth. My work is grounded in reflexivity, relational ethics, and methodological transparency. I combine rigorous qualitative methods with collaborative design to co‑create knowledge alongside students and colleagues. I am currently working with a range of national and international scholars on four major research projects that reflect my dedication to building more inclusive and student-centred approaches to higher education.

AI and Epistemic Justice: Transforming Higher Education Through AI Literacy

Generative AI is changing how we learn, teach, and research, but not everyone has equal access or power to shape that change. AI and Epistemic Justice explores how universities can use generative AI in ways that widen participation, value diverse ways of knowing, and build students’ critical judgement, not just their technical skills. Rather than treating generative AI as a tool, this project treats it as a social co-creator of knowledge. At its core, the project involves the development of AI literacy, positioning generative AI as a reflexive tool for the democratisation of knowledge. As such, this project helps embed justice-oriented practices where everyone can learn with AI in ways that are ethical, inclusive, and future-ready. This study has received funding from the School of Curriculum, Teaching, and Inclusive Education at Monash University and the University of Southern Queensland. The findings from this study have been translated into publicly accessible learning resources available on YouTube, the AI Literacy Lab, as a free online course through KnE Learn, and in the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency’s Gen AI Knowledge Hub.

Behind the Academic Curtain: Exploring Wellbeing, Identity, and Belonging Among PhD Students

Behind the Academic Curtain illuminates the lived experiences of PhD students as they navigate the often-unspoken norms, rules, and complex expectations of academic life. While doctoral study fosters deep disciplinary expertise and valuable transferable skills, PhD students frequently encounter conflicting demands that can impact their wellbeing, identity, and sense of belonging. Grounded in a commitment to inclusion, reflection, and epistemic justice, this project examines how students’ cultural backgrounds, personal experiences, and social resources shape their academic journeys. By offering students a platform to share their own stories, I aim to reveal the invisible dynamics that influence how doctoral education is experienced in practice. Through a creative and compassionate lens, this work seeks to offer fresh insights for researchers, educators, and policymakers on how to build more supportive, inclusive, and person-centred research environments where PhD students can flourish both personally and academically. This project has received funding from the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia and the School of Curriculum, Teaching, and Inclusive Education at Monash University.

From Page to Practice: Doctoral Writing Groups as Tools for Pedagogical Innovation

From Page to Practice focuses on the continued development of collaborative writing groups as transformative spaces in doctoral education. Writing groups are not just about getting words on the page; they are where researchers learn the craft of academia. Effective writing groups improve output and quality, but more importantly, they help researchers become part of a scholarly community. The result is better writing, stronger identity, higher retention, and sustained academic success. In this project, I am designing and evaluating structured and inclusive writing groups across continents that turn feedback into dialogue, support equitable participation, and connect writing to identity and career development. By weaving together research, practice, and community-building, this project illuminates how collaborative writing groups can serve as catalysts for more inclusive, holistic, and student-centred approaches to doctoral education. This project has received international funding from the Monash-Warwick Alliance Education Fund.

Methodological Imaginaries: Innovating Qualitative Research in Higher Education

Many people ask how researchers turn lived stories into trustworthy evidence. Methodological Imaginaries is my practical answer: a research programme that designs and tests transparent and creative ways of doing qualitative research that fit the realities of contemporary higher education, including when digital and generative AI tools are part of the process. This project blends methodological rigour with creativity, offering step‑by‑step guidance that is both ethically grounded and easy to use in diverse contexts. By prioritising participant agency and context, this project challenges unhelpful research conventions, redistributes representational power, and models justice-oriented, context‑responsive methods. The result is research that is more inclusive, transparent, and useful in practice, helping students, supervisors, and research teams do qualitative work with confidence, care, and clarity.