Do you have lived experience that could help SAGE and its participating institutions?

Would you like share that experience to promote social justice in tertiary education and research, and achieve meaningful systemic change?

SAGE is bringing together an exciting and important new Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) to help expand our capacity for intersectional leadership. The LEAP will provide strategic advice, grounded in lived experience, to influence SAGE’s programs, practices, and policies.

We are now seeking Expressions of Interest for these paid roles.

Who we are looking for

No formal qualifications are required. We value your lived experience, insights, and commitment to equity.

We particularly encourage EOIs from people whose experiences reflect the richness and complexity of intersecting identities, including but not limited to:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
  • People with disability
  • Neurodivergent people
  • LGBTQIA+ communities
  • People from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds
  • Migrant, refugee, and asylum seeker backgrounds
  • People living in regional, rural, or remote areas
  • People with caring responsibilities
  • Other relevant lived expertise, which we encourage you to identify.

What’s involved

As a LEAP member, you will be asked to:

  • Attend and actively participate in at least one online meeting annually.
  • Provide timely and focused feedback on key documents, resources, and initiatives (such as Athena Swan and SAGE Awards, organisational guidelines and program development).
  • Undertake independent reviews of SAGE Award applications on related topic areas.
  • Share your lived experience, insights, and reflections in ways that help improve sector-wide understanding of equity issues.
  • Contribute to discussions about what inclusive, just, and culturally supported higher education, TAFE and research environments should look and feel like.
  • Collaborate respectfully with other members of the panel and SAGE staff, recognising the diversity of perspectives and experiences in the (virtual) room.

Terms

  • Support systems are flexible, trauma-informed, and culturally supported
  • SAGE will provide a modest honorarium (fees aligned with not-for-profit standards, allocated per meeting and per task)
  • Appointments: up to 2 years, with potential for renewal
  • Participation: Online/remote/ad hoc

Honorarium

  • SAGE will provide a modest honorarium (fees aligned with not-for-profit standards, allocated per meeting and per task).
  • A rough guide for what is expected:
    • Annual meeting participation (2–2.5 hours) + prep AUD $200
    • Review of a SAGE Cygnet Awards AUD $200
    • Review of SAGE Bronze, Silver or Gold Awards (Panel member) AUD $350
    • Additional ad hoc meeting, consultation or document review/input AUD $100–250
    • Ancillary costs (reimbursements) as needed.

Apply Now

Regardless of whether you’ve had formal roles or qualifications we invite you to express your interest.

Expressing interest is not a final commitment to participate. It’s an opportunity to find out more about whether this is the right fit for you.

We encourage you to respond in the format that works best for you: written, video, audio, or supported submission.

📅 EOI round extended to: 24 October 2025

✅ Submit online via This SurveyMonkey Form or email us to submit via video/audio/assisted options

📄 Draft Terms of Reference  (ToR to be reviewed, edited and confirmed with LEAP members)

 

Apply now and help shape a more inclusive future for SAGE and the sector

Apply now