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Dr. Wendy Burke

Lecturer, Information Technology

Contact

Campus

Mt Helen Campus

Biography

Wendy Burke is an early career researcher and lecturer with a diverse background in education, computing, human-centred cybersecurity and community engagement. Her research sits at the intersection of education, technology and wellbeing, with a strong focus on equity and empowerment.

Wendy’s current work involves the use of an innovative self-assessment tool designed to help those within the healthcare sector evaluate and improve their cybersecurity preparedness through psychological empowerment. By integrating human factors with technological measures, she aims to foster a culture of cybersecurity ownership and resilience. 

Alongside her research, Wendy is deeply committed to teaching and curriculum development in information technology. She believes the ideal educational environment is participant-centred, where learners engage in authentic and relevant experiences that build confidence and capability. She sets high expectations for her students and herself, promoting and role-modelling a growth mindset.

Wendy has been fortunate to contribute to the learning journeys of hundreds of students from diverse backgrounds, and she takes pride in helping to raise confident learners who will make a meaningful impact in the world. Her teaching practice is grounded in inclusivity, curiosity and a drive to connect theory with practice, empowering students to thrive in their academic, professional, and personal lives. 

Available for

HDR Supervision

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More about Wendy

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Federation University 
  • Graduate Certificate of Education (Tertiary Education), University of Ballarat 
  • Graduate Certificate of Information Security & Intelligence, Edith Cowan University 
  • Cert IV Workplace Training and Assessment (TAA), University of Ballarat 
  • Bachelor of Computing (Honours), University of Ballarat

Areas of interest

  • User-centred cybersecurity 
  • Information technology 
  • Psychological empowerment in IT 
  • Digital literacy education 

Areas of expertise

Wendy’s expertise lies in human-centred cybersecurity, with a focus on how individuals engage with and respond to cybersecurity risks in real-world settings. She has particular experience in the healthcare sector, developing tools and approaches that support cybersecurity awareness, behaviour and preparedness. Her work also spans education, including the use of emerging technologies and the development of effective teaching practices. 

Current

  • PhD student, Federation University, ‘Cyber security Governance and the Strategic Consequences of Electronic Health Record Breaches in the Healthcare Sector’, associate supervisor.
  • PhD student, Federation University,  ‘A Mixture-of-Encoders Framework for Interpretable Representation Learning’, associate supervisor. 
  • PhD student, Swinburne University, ‘Privacy-Preserving Federated AI for Automated Detection of Clinical Anomalies in Distributed Healthcare Systems’, external supervisor. 

  • Programming and software development 
  • Cybersecurity 
  • IT strategy, governance and management 
  • Information systems and data 
  • Health informatics and healthcare technology 
  • Education and curriculum development 
  • Emerging IT areas 

Presentations

  • Oseni, T. & Burke, W. (2024). Self-Assessment for Cyber Security [Presentation]. ICSL- Japan Research Exchange. Federation University Australia 
  • Burke, W. (2022). Never have I ever ... had my personal health details stolen? [Presentation]. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning in Health Higher Degree in Research Symposium. Federation University, Virtual, Australia 
  • Burke, W., Stranieri, A., Oseni, T., Gondal, I. & Miller, C. (2022). “We trust Facebook, we trust mobile apps, but we don’t trust our own healthcare systems like MyHealthRecord”: Preparing users for healthcare cybersecurity attacks [Poster Presentation]. 15th Australasian Conference on Health Informatics and Knowledge Management (HIKM’22), Online. 
  • Burke, W. (2021). “It’s no longer bad guys in their bedrooms”: Insights into healthcare cybersecurity [Presentation]. HDR Research Conference: Celebrating Our Research Together. Federation University, Virtual, Australia 
  • Burke, W. (2019). Hi, “I’m not your doctor, I’m just trying to steal your medical records”: An investigation into healthcare cybersecurity and countermeasures. [Presentation]. WE2ST Conventicle: Research sharing day for Women in Engineering, Education, Science and Technology. Federation University, Ballarat, Australia 
  • Burke, W. (2019). Imagine taking a survey to gauge your preparedness for healthcare cybersecurity attacks. [Presentation]. HDR Research Conference: Research that Matters. Federation University, Ballarat, Australia 
  • Goriss-Hunter, A., Echter, A., Javidan, F., Burke, W., Meade, A., Oseni, T., & Firmin, S. (2019). What makes them stay? Exploring teaching  approaches and initiatives that may encourage women’s engagement in STEM within Higher Education. [Presentation]. SJIDE Conventicle: Moving beyond ‘us and them’ in diverse education communities. Federation University, Ballarat, Australia

Centre for Smart Analytics (CSA)

Wendy is part of the Centre for Smart Analytics (CSA), which aims to develop new knowledge and innovative solutions to develop smart and resilient cities, regions and industries.

Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL)

Wendy is part of the Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL), which aims to research fraud and other illegal activity in the internet commerce sector and address those security issues by enhancing the knowledge and tools available.

Women in Engineering, Education, Science and Technology (WE2ST)

Wendy is part of the Women in Engineering, Education, Science and Technology (WE2ST), which aims to strengthen the participation, visibility and impact of women in STEM through interdisciplinary research, collaboration and mentorship.

Social Justice, Inclusion and Diversity in Education (SJIDE)

Wendy is part of the Social Justice, Inclusion and Diversity in Education (SJIDE) research group, which is focussed on equity, diversity, inclusion, opportunity, regionality and wellbeing in formal and non-formal educational settings.
  • Publications

From Dis-empowerment to empowerment: Crafting a healthcare cybersecurity self-assessment