Sonja Heydeman is the Director of the award-winning Digital News Academy at Melbourne Business School. Her focus is on innovation in learning, facilitating industry-wide digital transformation, creating dynamic industry networks, fostering learner communities, and supporting individual learners. Under Sonja’s leadership, the Digital News Academy has garnered numerous accolades, including international excellence awards in e-learning, content, partnership & ecosystem development. In her previous role, Sonja was a lecturer and course coordinator in the Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) and the Graduate Diploma in Journalism at RMIT University. Bridging academia and industry, she led a nationally recognised interdisciplinary project to develop skills training in data journalism. Sonja was recipient of the RMIT University Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia’s Outstanding Educator of the Year, the Ed Montano Award for Industry Engagement, the Adrian Miles Award for Innovation & Imaginative & Creative Leadership and the Dean's Award for Diversity and Inclusion. A veteran journalist, Sonja also has close to 30 years' experience in commercial newsrooms, the ABC, and SBS.