Speaker kit
Bios in three lengths, downloadable headshots, speaking topics and recent hosts. Copy freely into programmes, introductions and event pages.
Bios
Use the length that fits. Please keep the name as “Dr. Soroush Sabbaghan” on first mention and “Soroush” or “Dr. Sabbaghan” after that.
Dr. Soroush Sabbaghan is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education and the inaugural GenAI Educational Leader in Residence at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. He researches, teaches and speaks on generative AI in education and edited Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education (Edward Elgar, 2025).
Dr. Soroush Sabbaghan is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education and the inaugural GenAI Educational Leader in Residence at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. His research examines how generative AI is changing the way people learn, think and make judgments, and what educators can do so that access to AI strengthens human agency rather than replacing it. He edited Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education (Edward Elgar, 2025) and speaks with K–12 schools, universities, libraries and public institutions across Canada about AI literacy, assessment, integrity and the human judgment that learning depends on.
Dr. Soroush Sabbaghan is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education and the inaugural GenAI Educational Leader in Residence at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. His work asks a single question from many angles: how can generative AI be designed, taught and governed so that it strengthens, rather than weakens, human responsibility, learning and care?
His research examines how generative AI reshapes learning, scholarship and assessment. Recent studies explore graduate students’ experiences of authorship, originality and integrity in AI-mediated scholarship, how undergraduates use generative AI as a learning support, and how AI personas can help researchers practise interview and qualitative methods. His work appears in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology and the Canadian Journal of Action Research, and he edited Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Ethical, Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (Edward Elgar, 2025).
Soroush also puts these ideas into practice through tools such as SMARTIE, which supports inclusive course and assessment design while keeping the educator’s judgment at the centre. For him, the question is not whether AI can make education faster, but whether it can help us become more intentional about what education is for.
Headshots
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Web size · 1200 × 917 · WebP
Download web size →Print size · 2344 × 1792 · JPEG · 2.3 MB
Suitable for printed programmes, posters and slides.
Download print size →Topics
Sessions are tailored to the audience, from whole-school PD days and district leadership retreats to conference keynotes, and always grounded in classroom realities and human-centred design.
How students and educators can use AI as a thinking partner, supporting self-regulation, gifted learners and deeper engagement rather than replacing thought.
What it means to learn and assess when correct answers are easy to generate, and how to redesign tasks for the age of AI.
Understanding, adapting to and responding to generative AI as educators, with practical strategies for everyday teaching.
The skills, ethics and responsibilities of schools in the AI era, and AI through an equity, diversity and inclusion lens.
Helping boards and schools develop AI vision and mission statements, and assignment-level approaches that align with learning outcomes.
Hands-on workshops on lesson planning with AI, prompt design, feedback and inclusive learning-experience design.
Recent hosts
Keynotes, invited sessions and school workshops since autumn 2025.
Keynote, IOTEIR, Bridgewater State University · Massachusetts, United States
Keynote, CALICO 2026, Miami University · Ohio, United States
Westmount Charter School · Calgary, Alberta
Keynote, AI Futures Event, Canadian Urban Libraries Council
UCalgary–Minerva Learning Forum
One Library Event, University of Regina
Calgary Public Library, Board of Directors retreat
Calgary Public Library, Leadership Training Session
AUArts, Teaching and Learning Day
Calgary Arts Academy
STEM Innovation Academy, all-school professional development
Connect Charter School, professional development · Calgary, Alberta
Closing keynote, Calgary Public Library
Connect Charter School, professional development · Calgary, Alberta
Closing keynote, ATESL Conference
Keynote, Advance Learning Partnership inaugural conference on generative AI and education
Delta West Academy
Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board · Hanover, Ontario
Keynote, International Conference on Society, Culture, and Technology
Practical sessions for educators and instructional designers on prompt design, ethical use, assessment, and learning experience design
Digital transformation talk on institutional mission, human-centred design, and AI as part of a broader learning ecosystem
Booking
For keynotes, school and district PD days, workshops or panels, email with your dates, audience and goals and I will reply with options.
