SESSION OVERVIEW
Students can attend an event, join a club, use a service or participate in a leadership program and still feel invisible. Belonging requires more than proximity. It grows when students feel safe enough to participate, able to contribute to something that matters, recognised for what they bring, and free to exercise choice and voice.
This highly interactive workshop adapts BOND, a four-part design heuristic developed through Assessment for Belonging (Ishkova, in press), to the wider student experience:
Build psychological safety and care;
Orient participation towards contribution that makes a difference to others;
Normalise visibility and recognition of competence and contribution; and
Design autonomy-supportive opportunities for student choice and voice.
Participants will first use the Agency × Meaning matrix to examine an existing student initiative. Next, working with an event, orientation activity, club, volunteering program, advocacy process or leadership initiative from their own context, participants will complete a practical BOND audit and redesign one critical student touchpoint. Examples drawn from TEDx-style showcases and student-led Upskill activities will demonstrate how recognition, reciprocal contribution and meaningful choice can be created at different scales.
Participants will leave with a reusable BOND audit and one realistic change they can implement. The goal is not to force visibility or participation, but to create varied, low-risk pathways through which more students can experience: I am safe here. I can contribute here. What I bring is recognised. I have a voice here.
Session Outcomes:
1. Use the Agency × Meaning matrix to diagnose the experience created by an existing program or activity of their own.
2. Apply BOND to identify opportunities for greater safety, contribution, recognition and student agency.
3. Redesign one student touchpoint to move participation towards contribution and co-creation.
4. Incorporate choice and privacy so that building belonging does not require forced visibility.
PRESENTER
Dr Maria Ishkova, SFHEA, is an education-focused academic in the School of Work and Organisational Studies and the inaugural Academic Lead, Student Experience at the University of Sydney Business School.
Drawing on more than 15 years’ experience leading organisational communication across business and industry bodies, Maria brings a strong industry lens to her educational practice. She co-authored the University of Sydney Student Partnership Charter (2024) and contributes to University-wide capability building by co-facilitating student partnership initiatives that create shared language, develop practical capability, and connect colleagues and students across faculties and professional portfolios.
Guided by the Students as Partners philosophy and a passion for amplifying student voice, Maria designs innovative, industry-oriented, and personalised learning that strengthens belonging and student agency. Her educational practice and leadership have received sustained recognition, including the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching and Learning Excellence (2025); Student Experience Award, Business School Leadership Awards (2024); Dean’s Award for Teaching (2022); Academic Enhancement of Student Life Award (2022); SRES Inaugural Award for Relationship-Rich Education (2021); Vice-Chancellor’s
Award for Outstanding Teaching (2020, team); and Wayne Lonergan Award (2019, team).