Dr Elisa Di Gregorio is a Lecturer in the School of Education, College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences at Adelaide University. Elisa completed her PhD in 2024 at the University of Melbourne, where she undertook both her Master of Teaching and Initial Teacher Education.
 
As a former secondary school teacher, Elisa is passionate about creating supportive and capacity-building learning environments for students and challenging structural disadvantage that can create barriers for student learning and access to schooling.
 
Elisa’s work as a critical policy researcher has allowed her to pursue these interests, examining schooling systems and the politics of educational inequality, particularly as it pertains to school funding policies in Australia. She holds expertise in Australian school funding architectures and formulas, school choice, and equity funding for marginalised groups, including students with a disability. Her work has been recognised nationally, receiving the Post-Graduate Researcher Award from the Australian Association for Educational Research (AARE) in 2024 for her paper titled ‘Marketising Disability: Public school principals competing for inclusion funding.’ Prior to joining Adelaide University, she has held roles as a Research Fellow and Academic Tutor across various Australian Universities.