Lee Hawkins

Lee has helped software teams improve testing while creating places for Australian testers to exchange and examine practical experience. Conference leadership, the TEAM Melbourne meetup and writing support learning across the testing community. The EPIC TestAbility Academy brought testing education to young adults on the autism spectrum, making training another substantial part of this contribution to software quality.

Lee Hawkins is a software testing author and former consultant based in Portarlington, Victoria, now retired from active consultancy with Dr Lee Consulting. A career in IT began in 1996, spanning development and testing roles. During a long tenure at Quest Software, Lee helped teams around the world improve software delivery and advocated context-driven testing tailored to project needs.

Community organising and education formed a major part of that career. Lee co-founded the TEAM Melbourne meetup, chaired the programme for CASTx18 Melbourne, and co-organised Australian Testing Days 2016 and Testing in Context Conference Australia 2019, giving Australian practitioners spaces to present and debate practical work. Co-founding the EPIC TestAbility Academy introduced software testing training for young adults on the autism spectrum.

Writing continues to shape this ongoing contribution, notably through An Exploration of Testers, a blog started in 2014, and a chapter in Taking Testing Seriously exploring Rapid Software Testing. Lee continued one-to-one mentoring in 2025 and has volunteered testing skills for the UK Vegan Society website and VeGuide mobile app.