Dr Annetta Cayas is a Lecturer in the School of Education and Tertiary Access. She has research experience in parent engagement and inclusive education, coupled with extensive experience in teacher-education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Annetta has taught across a range of courses, including professional experience, practitioner inquiry, sociology of education, and qualitative research. She is also a registered secondary science teacher, and teaches into secondary science education courses.

Annetta’s research advocates for new understandings about what it truly takes for parents and teachers to do their carework with young people in contexts dominated by school improvement agendas. She was awarded a 2025 QUT Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award for her PhD, which examined how school and educational policy expectations for parent engagement shape the everyday lives of parents, students, families, and teachers. Annetta has a particular interest in applying the theory and methodology of institutional ethnography in her research, and is joint-coordinator for the Asia Pacific Institutional Ethnography Group.