Dr. Hunada Kanbar started her career with an emphasis on building and enhancing school improvement models. But in 2017, a turning point came when she accepted the challenge of heading a team that was committed to infusing technology into education. She has also been honored as the “Most Impactful Female Leader in Education 2025” by CToday Awards. This position entailed assessing schools’ digital maturity, improving technology adoption, and preparing leaders to spearhead technological progress. Through this experience, Dr. Kanbar learned the vast potential of machine learning to enhance education, expanding her vision and greatly enriching her school improvement strategy.

Values-Driven Leadership: Advocating for Effective Change in Education

During her career, Dr. Kanbar has consistently strived for technology to improve student learning outcomes in a meaningful manner. Understanding the complexity of technology integration in schools, she advocated for a customized change management model to deal effectively with these complexities. This model was pivotal in the successful roll-out of a smart learning platform to over 300 schools, proving her absolute commitment to transformative educational practices. Beyond implementation strategy, she went the extra mile to document and analyze this transformation, resulting in presenting her research at the Educational Research Association of Singapore (ERAS) conference.

For Dr. Kanbar, leadership does not concern the piling of awards, but doing something that has a real positive impact on students’ health, academic achievement, and overall well-being. She is convinced that professional achievement and personal satisfaction are deeply connected, especially in the field of education. Her mantra continues to be based on humanity—making sure that her work not only develops students but also supports her and her family’s growth.

Embracing AI and Cultivating Future-Ready Professionals in a Rapidly Evolving World

Dr. Kanbar recognizes that artificial intelligence is poised to reshape education in profound ways, presenting both opportunities and challenges. She advocates for a proactive approach, ensuring that educators and learners are equipped not just to adopt AI but to critically assess its impact. Instead of letting AI control educational advancement, she stresses the need to equip students with the ability to assess its practical and ethical implications. She also points out the increasing demand for impact evaluation expertise to make AI-driven changes effective, responsible, and goal-oriented.

Apart from AI, Dr. Kanbar identifies adaptability and resilience as the key skills of the next decade. One of the most frequent errors she sees in promising professionals is how they tend to lower their expectations, usually concentrating on barriers instead of their strengths. In a more distracting world, staying focused and developing a growth mindset will be essential for success. By adopting AI with a critical eye and developing the skill to navigate ambiguity, professionals can not only remain relevant but also bring about meaningful change in the changing education landscape.