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Conference brochure now available
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Pre Conference Workshops:
Tuesday 1 December, 9am - 5pm
Workshop A:
The attention revolution! with B. Alan Wallace
or
Workshop B:
The art & science of teaching and learning with Dr Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Conference Day One:
Wednesday 2nd December,
8.30am - 5:30pm
MORNING SESSIONS
Understanding the Brain
Changing Your Brain
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
Learning & The Brain
Young Minds
Conference Day Two:
Thursday 3rd December,
8.30am - 5:30pm
MORNING SESSIONS
The Science of Mind with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
AFTERNOON SESSIONS
Emotions & the Brain
The Science of the Mind at Work: Case Studies
When Things Go Wrong
Post Conference Workshops:
Friday 4th December
Morning Workshops
9am - 12pm
Workshop 1: Positive psychology and positive education
Workshop 2: Mind your mind – reducing the risk of dementia
Workshop 3: An introduction to Mindfulness integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Workshop 4: Whole brain thinking
Afternoon Workshops
2pm - 5pm
Workshop 5: Revealing concealed emotions
Workshop 6: Spark: the science of exercise and the brain
Workshop 7: The power of positive parenting
Workshop 8: Music and creativity for mind, health and resilience
› Add this to my calendar
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Professional Development Points
Members of some Endorsing Associations such as the
Australian Counselling Association
The Australian Psychological Society
Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM)
are entitled to claim conference attendance as professional development points.
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SPEAKERS
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Arun Abey,
Co-Founder, ipac,
Director, The Smith Family,
General Manager Strategy, AXA APH,
Author: How Much Is Enough?
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Arun Abey has a passion for helping people enjoy happier lives by identifying their values and goals, and putting clear plans in place to achieve them. This led to him co-found the international lifestyle financial planning firm ipac 25 years ago. A noted strategic thinker and writer, he is Executive Chairman of ipac and Head of Strategy for AXA. His latest book is How Much is Enough? Money, Time and Happiness, A Guide to Making the Right Choices.
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Jim Bond, Dyslexia Awareness Campaigner
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Jim Bond was born in Gosford in 1959 and later moved to Sydney, where he attended high school until he was 14. He left school at that age because he had been unable to learn to read (he still finds reading extremely difficult). This subsequently prevented him from being admitted to TAFE, and great difficulties in taking exams also hampered his employment with the State Rail Authority to such an extent that he lost this employment. After a difficult passage of life he was able to turn his life around by deciding to become a public advocate for dyslexic people, and in this he has been extremely successful. He has developed close contacts with parliamentarians interested in dyslexia (their interest often stemming from there being dyslexic people in their families), and his determined, persistent and skilful advocacy culminated in the passage in December 2008 of an amendment to the NSW Education Act which made children with significant learning difficulties legislatively recognized for the first time as a group entitled to special help in schools.
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Dr Jane Burns, VicHealth
Senior Research Fellow, Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, University of Melbourne; Director of International Research, Policy and Practice, Inspire Foundation;
Honorary Fellow, Brain & Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney
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Jane is an expert in youth suicide and depression prevention. Her work focuses on public health and social interventions across a variety of settings including the community, schools and the internet. She has a special interest in understanding how technology can be used to promote the mental health and well being of young people. Jane is a VicHealth Senior Research Fellow and holds joint appointments at the Inspire Foundation, Orygen Youth Health Research Centre and the Brain & Mind Research Institute.
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Dr Michael Carr-Gregg,
Adolescent Psycholgist,
Ambassador, beyondblue and Mind Matters;
Author: Surviving Adolescents: The Must-Have Manual for All Parents
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Described recently as Australia's Dr Phil, Michael is one of Australia's highest profile psychologists. After 7 years as an Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne, he now works as a consultant psychologist atthe Albert Road Centre for Health in Melbourne. He is a founding member of the National Coalition Against Bullying and an ambassador for the National Depression Initiative - Beyondblue as well as Mindmatters - one of 16 youth suicide prevention programs run by the Federal Government. He is a columnist for Australia's biggest selling daily newspaper the Herald Sun, GirlfriendMagazine and regularly appears on Channel 7's top rating Sunrise program, Weekend Sunrise and the Morning Show and as a program psychologist on Radio 3AW.
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Dr Bruno Cayoun,
Clinical Psychologist, Macquarie Psychology;
Director, Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Institute, Hobart;
Honorary Research Associate, University of Tasmania;
Author: Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: Principles and Guidelines
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Dr Bruno Cayoun is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice and Director of the Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Institute in Hobart, Tasmania. He is the principal developer of Mindfulness-integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and teaches this approach internationally. He is also an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Tasmania and a clinical supervisor in mindfulness research worldwide. Dr Cayoun has practised mindfulness meditation and undergone intensive training in mindfulness centres in France, Nepal, India, and Australia for the past 20 years.
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Associate Professor Neil Cole,
Mental Health Research Institute;
Consumer Consultant;
Playwright: Topo The Play
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Neil Cole is Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne based at the Mental Health Research Institute. He is a former lawyer, a member of the Victorian State Parliament for over a decade and, in the 1990s, the Victorian Shadow Attorney-General. He has had ten plays produced in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane including ‘Alive at Williamstown Pier’, ‘A Policewoman’s Absurdity’, ‘Billy Possible’, ‘Dr Cade’, ‘The Campaign’ ‘Personality Games’ which he co-wrote with Prof. Gordon Parker from the Black Dog Institute in Sydney, and ‘The Trial of Adolf Eichmann’. He has won the Griffin Theatre Award for the best new writing for theatre in 1999 and was short listed for the Victorian Premiers Literary Award in 2001.
Neil was the first politician in Australia and overseas to admit to having a mental illness namely bi-polar mood disorder. He currently works at the Mental Health Research Institute investigating the links between creativity and mental illness. Neil is also a public advocate on mental illness and has spoken extensive in Australia and overseas. He is the consumer representative on the National Advisory Committee on Mental Health. He has been on all levels of committees within the Australian Labor Party including a National Conference delegate, is currently a delegate to State Conference and is on the Arts Policy Committee.
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Tania de Jong, AM,
Artistic Director,
Music Theatre Australia and Pot-Pourri;
Founder, Creativity Australia
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Tania de Jong is the inspiration, co-founder and artistic director of Pot-Pourri and of Music Theatre Australia one stop entertainment and event production company. A graduate of the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Law with Honours and the Victorian College of the Arts, Tania is considered one of Australia's most talented sopranos. She has performed with the Victoria State Opera and as a soloist with a number of orchestras. In 2006 Tania received the Ernst and Young Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award for her work in founding The Song Room. Tania's other awards include the "Outstanding Individual Contribution to Australian Culture", Churchill Fellowship and the Accessibility Award in The Melbourne Awards. She was a finalist in the Telstra Business Women's Awards and has recently been inducted into the AGSE Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. Tania is on the Board of Child Abuse Prevention and Research Australia. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 for service to the arts as a performer and entrepreneur and through the establishment and development of music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities. She has recently founded Creativity Australia to bring wellbeing and greater engagement into the workforce, and in partnership with disadvantaged communities, through creative thinking and leadership programs.mindfulness meditation
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Dr Maryanne Demasi,
Presenter, Catalyst,
ABC TV
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Maryanne worked for a decade as a hands-on research scientist. She completed a PhD in Medicine at the University of Adelaide, travelling around Australia and overseas presenting her PhD findings. Maryanne has specialised in rheumatoid arthritis research, based at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Her innovative research has appeared in several internationally published medical journals.
More recently Maryanne hung up her lab coat, picked up a microphone, and began working as a medical-science reporter for Channel 7 news. After two years, she gained a reputation for reliable, accurate journalism and for breaking news on the latest medical stories. Maryanne has also worked as an advisor to South Australia’s Minister for Science and Information Economy.
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Hanan Dover,
Forensic Psychologist, School of Psychology,
University of Western Sydney,
UWS Muslim Advisor
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Hanan is an Executive member of the UWS Psychology and Spirituality Society. An Adjunct Lecturer and Postgraduate Psychology student at UWS, Hanan has research in interests in the Psychology of Religion, namely Muslim religiosity and spirituality. Hanan is also the President of Mission of Hope and the Australian Society of Islamic Psychology. She is also an Executive member of the Psychology from an Islamic Perspective Interest Group of the Australian Psychological Society. Hanan is on the Board of the International Association of Muslim Psychologists and the National Consultative Committee for the Centre of Excellence of Islamic Studies. Hanan is also a practicing psychologist who consults with individuals and organisations with religious and spiritual worldviews.
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Dr Paul Ekman,
Professor Emeritus,
University of California, USA;
Director, The Paul Ekman Group;
Author: Emotions Revealed: Recognizing faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life
and Co-Author with His Holiness
the Dalai Lama: Emotional Awareness
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Dr. Paul Ekman is co-author with the Dalai Lama of Emotional Awwareness. He is an expert in reading clues embedded in the face, body and voice to especially assess whether criminal evidence given in interviews is truthful and is the inspiration for the popular TV series Lie to Me starring Tim Roth. For 32 years, Paul Ekman was a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco. His pioneering research on facial expression and body movement began in 1954. In addition to his basic research on emotion and its expression, he has, for the last thirty years, also been studying deceit. Currently, he is the Manager of the Paul Ekman Group, LLC (PEG), a small company that produces training devices relevant to emotional skills, and is initiating new research relevant to national security and law enforcement. His many honors have included the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association in 1991, and an honorary doctor of humane letters from the University of Chicago in 1994.
Articles reporting on Dr. Ekman’s work have appeared in Time Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Psychology Today, The New Yorker and others, both American and foreign. Numerous articles about his work have also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post and other national newspapers. He has appeared on 48 Hours, Dateline, Good Morning America, 20/20, Larry King, Oprah, Johnny Carson and many other TV programs. He has also been featured on various public television programs such as News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and Bill Moyers’ The Truth About Lying.
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Dr Maree Farrow,
Research Fellow, Alzheimer’s Australia Vic
and Dementia Collaborative Research Centre 2:
Prevention, Risk Reduction and Early Intervention
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Dr Maree Farrow is an experienced cognitive neuroscientist. Working with neuroscience research groups at Swinburne and Monash Universities and the Howard Florey Institute, her research has involved studies of the developing and ageing brain, and neurological and psychiatric disorders. As a Research Fellow with Alzheimer’s Australia Vic, she is currently working on research and public education projects related to dementia risk reduction. Recent publications include two papers for Alzheimer’s Australia – Dementia Risk Reduction: The Evidence and Dementia Risk Reduction: What do Australians know?
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Richard Fidler
Host, The Conversation Hour,
ABC Radio
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Richard Fidler is a broadcaster who has had several lives as a musician, writer and performer. He currently hosts the ABC radio programme The Conversation Hour, broadcast on 612 ABC Brisbane and 702 ABC Sydney.
In another life Richard was a member of comedy group The Doug Anthony Allstars (DAAS), which played to audiences all over the world, as well as just about every town and city in Australia.
Since then Richard has presented a very wide range of TV shows over the years, from Race Around the World, to Aftershock, a series on technology and the future, and the incredibly low rating Vulture. For a while he was a comedy executive with ABC TV, notionally responsible for shows like The Glass House and The Chaser. He recently co-wrote a satirical book on Australian politics titled, Jack the Insider: The Insider’s Guide to Power in Australia.
Richard lives in Brisbane and he’s currently the president of the Institute of Modern Art in Fortitude Valley.
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Evian Gordon
Scientific Chairman and Founding Director,
The Interdisciplinary Brain Dynamics Centre, Westmead Hospital;
CEO and Chairman, Brain Resource Comany
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Associate Professor Evian Gordon is the current Scientific Chairman and Founding Director of the Brain Dynamics Centre (BDC) at Westmead Hospital, which currently has over 60 full-time interdisciplinary research staff and over 300 publications. He is also currently the CEO and Chairman of the Brain Resource Company (BRC).
BRC has established the first standardised international database on the human brain (the Brain Resource International Database, BRID). Over 100 scientists are linked to the BRC international consortium and over 70 labs (in the USA, Europe, South Africa and Australia) use BRC methodology. Over 50 scientific publications have emerged from the BRID.
Associate Professor Gordon published the first book on Integrative Neuroscience, is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Integrative Neuroscience and a recipient of the inaugural Royal Societies Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research in 2003.
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Tenzin Gyatso,
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama,
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
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His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, and a spiritual leader revered worldwide. His travels in the cause of peace and a free Tibet have made him an international celebrity. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1989, he is universally respected as a spokesman for the compassionate and non-violent resolution of human conflict. In recent years a number of western universities and institutions have conferred Peace Awards and honorary Doctorate Degrees upon His Holiness in recognition of his scholarship and distinguished writing on Buddhist philosophy. His Holiness has travelled extensively, speaking on subjects including universal responsibility, happiness, compassion, and kindness.
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Eleonora Gullone,
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology,
Monash University
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Dr Eleonora Gullone is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Monash University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. Professor Gullone is internationally recognised for her contributions to our understanding of the emotional development of children. Recently, Professor Gullone has extended her work to examine the importance of emotion regulation for children’s psychological functioning. Gullone has over 100 peer reviewed publications in national and international journals in these research areas.
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Baroness Susan Greenfield,
Director, Royal Institution of Great Britain;
Fullerian Professor of Physiology, Honorary Fellow, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, UK;
Author: I.D.: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century
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Baroness Greenfield is Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (the first woman to hold that position) and Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, where she leads a multi-disciplinary team investigating neurodegenerative disorders. In addition she is Director of the Oxford Centre for the Science of the Mind, exploring the physical basis of consciousness.
Her books include “The Human Brain: A Guided Tour” (1997), “The Private Life of the Brain” (2000), and “Tomorrow’s People: How 21st Century Technology Is Changing the Way We Think and Feel” (2003) and “‘ID’ - The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century” published in May 2008 by Hodder Publishing. She has spun off four companies from her research, made a diverse contribution to print and broadcast media, and led a Government report on “Women In Science”. She has received 29 Honorary Degrees, Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (2000), a non-political Life Peerage (2001) as well as the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur (2003). In 2006 she was installed as Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University and voted `Honorary Australian of the Year’. In 2007 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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Professor Marc Hauser,
Harvard College Professor of Psychology; Director, Cognitive Evolution Lab; Co-Director, Mind, Brain and Behavior Program; Fellow, Center for Ethics,
Harvard University, USA
Author: Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong
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Marc Hauser's research sits at the interface between evolutionary biology and cognitive neuroscience and is aimed at understanding the processes and consequences of cognitive evolution. Observations and experiments focus on human and nonhuman primates, incorporating methodological procedures and theoretical insights from behavioral ecology, infant cognitive development, evolutionary theory, cognitive neuroscience, biological anthropology, linguistics and philosophy. Current foci include: the nature of our moral judgments, the computations subserving our language faculty, the evolution of cooperation, economic decision making, conceptual representations in the domains of mathematics, space, language and music, and animal communication.
He is the recipient of a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, a Medal of Science from the College de France, and a Guggenheim Award. His work has frequently been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, NPR, ABC News, National Geographic, and several international newspapers and magazines. Hauser has published over 200 articles in major research journals as well as three single-authored and three multi-authored books. His most recent book was Moral Minds, with translations in Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Korean.
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Dr. Leonie Kronborg,
Coordinator/Lecturer Postgraduate Studies in Gifted Education,
Krongold Centre, Faculty of Education,
Monash University
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Dr. Leonie Kronborg is Coordinator/Lecturer of Postgraduate Studies in Gifted Education, Faculty of Education, and co-ordinator of a psycho-educational assessment program for gifted and talented children at the Krongold Centre, Monash University. She is a member of the Executive of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children and an Australian delegate. She is a Past President of the Australian Association for the Education of the Gifted and Talented and the VAGTC. Her research interests include talent development of gifted females, education of high ability students, effective teachers of the gifted and changing teacher attitudes towards the gifted.
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Sue Larkey,
Autism Spectrum Specialist and Teacher;
Author: Making it A Success
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Sue Larkey is uniquely positioned within the Education system having both taught as a Primary School Teacher and Special Education Teacher. Sue has taught students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder in the mainstream and at a Specialist Autism School. She combines this practical experience with extensive research, having completed a Masters in Special Education and currently undertaking a Doctorate in Education.
Sue has worked with over 1000 children with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome and through this has seen how we can support and teach these students in ways we would never have imagined two decades ago. She now views an Autism Spectrum Disorder as a "Diffability" a different way of seeing and interpreting the world. She will share her personal experiences of teaching students to communicate, social & emotional skills, behaviour and sensory processing. Through understanding these students different way of thinking Sue believes we are able to teach differently and make education a success.
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Professor Rhoshel Lenroot, MD
Chair of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatry, UNSW School of Psychiatry
Research Fellow, Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
Clinical Director for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Southeast Sydney and Illawarra Health Services
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Rhoshel Lenroot, MD is the Chair of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales. Rhoshel began as a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine before undergoing her training in medicine and psychiatry at the University of New Mexico in the United States. She then spent several years doing research on brain development with the Child Psychiatry Branch of the National Institutes of Mental Health before relocating to Sydney in 2009. Her research interests currently focus on using neuroimaging techniques to study brain development, sex differences, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism.
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Julie McCrossin
MC, Journalist, TV & Radio Presenter
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Julie McCrossin talks to people for a living. After 20 years as a broadcaster with ABC Radio National, ABC TV and Network Ten, she is now a freelance journalist and facilitator. www.juliemccrossin.com
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Natasha Mitchell,
Presenter, All In The Mind,
ABC Radio National
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Natasha Mitchell is an award winning science & health broadcaster, and host of All in the Mind on ABC Radio National. She’s received international recognition for her work, including the Grand Award and 4 Gold World Medals at the New York Radio Festivals; and a prestigious MIT Knight Journalism fellowship in 2005/6. Natasha originally trained as an engineer, joined the ABC in 1997, and now does what she really loves – probing the wonders and idiosyncrasies of the human condition. Her writing also appears in Australian newspapers and magazines.
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Michael Morgan,
CEO,
Herrmann International Asia
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Michael Morgan is the founder and CEO of Herrmann International Asia. With more than 25 years of experience, he is one of the region’s leading experts on Whole Brain Thinking, innovation and creativity. He presents widely to professional audiences and has written two major books: Making Innovation Happen and Creating Workforce Innovation. Since the early 1980’s, Michael has been working with leading Australian and multinational corporations and institutions to harness and develop the true power and potential of their people. Both individuals and teams, including those from some of Australia’s largest industrial, pharmaceutical, technological, financial companies and educational organisations, have also learned to understand and communicate more effectively with colleagues, customers and trainees, as a result of employing whole brain thinking.
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Andrew O'Keeffe,
Principal, Hardwired Humans
Author; The Boss
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Andrew O'Keeffe is the Principal of Hardwired Humans and author of The Boss.
Andrew helps business people increase their effectiveness by bringing into consciousness the nine human instincts. If we understand our instincts then we are no longer limited by them and we can make intelligent behavioural choices. He is involved in leadership education with AGSM Executive Programs and Mt Eliza.
Andrew’s background has included senior HR roles with IBM, Optus, Sinclair Knight Merz and Hewitt Associates. He holds a bachelor of Economics from The University of Sydney.
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Sue Pieters-Hawke
Co-Chair,
National Dementia Advisory Group,
Author: Hazel’s Journey
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Sue is the principal of SPH Resources, a business committed to supporting personal happiness and enhancing community and organisational life.
She is the author of the bestselling book Hazel’s Journey, the story of her mother’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease.
Once dubbed 'the accidental advocate', Sue has a lifetime of experience in social change and personal development technologies. Sue supports people in building personal resilience and participating in constructive community engagement, by providing consultancy, personal support, strategic and media services.
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Dr. John J. Ratey, M.D.,
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School, USA;
Best-selling author: Spark: the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
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John J. Ratey, M.D. is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and at Harvard’s Continuing Medical Education Program, a private practitioner in Cambridge, Massachusetts and an author of numerous life-changing books. His research and synthesis of scientific principles have provided a wealth of understanding of the role of the brain-body connection to optimize mental and physical health and unlock human potential.
Dr. Ratey is highly published in the fields of psychiatry and psychopharmacology; The Distraction Series, a seminal work in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of ADD/ADHD, Shadow Syndromes tackles mild forms of major mental disorders that sabotage and A Users Guide to the Brain -Your manual to understanding the brain.
Spark - The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain proves that exercise is the key for proper brain functioning, from the way we learn, to mood and attention, stress, anxiety, addictions, hormonal changes and the effects of aging. Spark is a call to get in sync with our metabolic design. Spark is a revolution, a war against chronic disease and obesity and Dr Ratey is the change-agent working nationally for policy change.
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Alan Saunders,
Presenter, The Philosopher’s Zone,
ABC Radio National
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Alan Saunders was born and educated in London. He came to Australia in 1981 to pursue research at the Australian National University and was subsequently awarded a PhD. Having joined the Science Unit of ABC Radio National in 1987, Alan Saunders founded The Food Program which was broadcast until 1997. He now presents The Philosopher’s Zone and By Design, a weekly programme on architecture and design, gardens and food. Alan has written about food and other topics for various publications. He is the author of A is for Apple, and his first novel, Alanna, was published by Penguin in 2002
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Professor Matt Sanders,
Professor of Clinical Psychology, Director, Parenting and Family Support Centre,
The University of Queensland;
Queenslander of the Year, 2007
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Professor Matthew Sanders is the Founder of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program. Professor Sanders has served as the Chairperson of the Evaluation Policy Subcommittee for the Board of the National Suicide Prevention Council, a member of the Ministerial Task Force on Work and Family and acts as a Media Spokesperson for the Australian Psychological Society on child and family issues. Recently, Matt received the President’s Award for distinguished contribution to psychology in Australia from the Australian Psychological Society.
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Sophie Scott
National Medical Reporter, ABC TV,
Author: Live A Longer Life
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Sophie Scott is the national medical reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Her stories appear on the ABC's flagship news bulletin at 7.00pm, Lateline, Stateline and 7.30 Report. Her reports can be seen throughout the Asia-Pacific Region, through ABC's Australia Network. She can also be heard on ABC radio. In 2005, Sophie Scott received an Australian Museum Eureka Award award for medical reporting, and she has also won the Research Australia media award. Both were in recognition of her ability to communicate complex information in a way that the general community can easily understand. She is on the Executive of the Australian Medical Writers Association. She wrote the best-selling book “Live a Longer Life" in 2007. Her second book on happiness will be published in early 2010.
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Dr Martin Seligman,
Director, Centre for Positive Psychology,
University of Pennsylvania, USA,
Best-Selling Author: Authentic Happiness
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Dr Seligman’s research into positive emotion, positive character traits, and positive institutions has demonstrated that it is possible to be happier — to feel more satisfied, to be more engaged with life, find more meaning, have higher hopes, and probably even laugh and smile more, regardless of one’s circumstances. Positive psychology interventions can also lastingly decrease depression symptoms. He is the international best selling author of Authentic Happiness and Learned Optimism among many other titles.
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Dr Daniel Siegel, MD,
Psychiatrist and award-winning educator, Author: The Mindful Brain,
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine; Director, Center for Human Development, USA
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Dan Siegel received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry. An award-winning educator, Dan Siegel is currently an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine where he is a Co-Investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development and is Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. Dr Siegel is the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organisation that focuses on how the development of insight, compassion and empathy in individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes. His latest book is Mindsight: change your brain and your life .
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Professor Amanda Sinclair,
Foundation Professor Management Diversity & Change,
Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne
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Amanda Sinclair is the author of numerous articles and books including Doing Leadership Differently (1998, 2004) and Leadership for the Disillusioned (2007) which argue for leadership that increases freedom for people, both followers and leaders. With colleagues, she has pioneered new approaches to teaching, practising and researching leadership, incorporating insights from meditative traditions, mindfulness research and her work as a yoga teacher. Amanda is Foundation Professor of Management (Diversity and Change), Melbourne Business School, The University of Melbourne.
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Dr Charlie Teo,
Director,
Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery
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Dr Charles Teo, MBBS FRACS, is a world renowned neurosurgeon who has dedicated his life to treating patients with brain tumours. He established the Cure For Life Foundation to help fund advancements in the treatment of brain cancer, hopefully one day leading to a cure. Dr Teo continues to develop new and innovative surgical techniques. Currently he works at the Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney and is the founding director of The Centre for Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery. He has been an invited speaker to almost every continent and over 24 countries and has featured on television programmes such as 60 Minutes, the ABC's Australian Story, Today Tonight and A Current Affair.
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Dr Michael Valenzuela,
Research Fellow in Regenerative Neuroscience, School of Psychiatry,
University of NSW;
Author: It’s Never Too Late to Change Your Mind
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Dr Valenzuela is a Research Fellow in Regenerative Neuroscience at the School of Psychiatry, UNSW. His background is in psychology, clinical medicine and neuroscience research. Dr Valenzuela’s PhD focused on the topic of brain reserve and for this work he was awarded the prestigious Eureka Prize for Medical Research in 2006.
Dr Valenzuela’s current research interests are aimed at understanding the competing forces of neuroplasticity and neurodegeneration in the human brain. In particular, he is interested in how we can use the science of neuroplasticity to help prevent dementia in the first place. He has published over 30 scientific reports, gained over $1 million in research funds, and is the author of the popular science book ‘It’s Never too Late to Change Your Mind’ which details the latest medical thinking about what you can do to avoid dementia (ABC Books 2009).
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B. Alan Wallace,
President,
Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, USA,
Author: Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism, and Christianity
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Dynamic lecturer, progressive scholar, and one of the most prolific writers and translators of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D., continually seeks innovative ways to integrate Buddhist contemplative practices with Western science to advance the study of the mind. Having devoted fourteen years to training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama, Dr. Wallace went on to earn an undergraduate degree in physics and the philosophy of science at Amherst College and a doctorate in religious studies at Stanford. His books include Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment and The Attention Revolution – Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind.
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Dr Mathew White,
Head Of Positive Education,
Geelong Grammar School
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Dr Mathew White is Director, Training and Leadership at non-profit organisation Teach for Australia and a Fellow in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. This is a new teacher education course for top graduates supported by the Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, and delivered with the University of Melbourne who has been selected to work with Teach for Australia and corporate collaborators including Freehills, Corrs, Google, The Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Co to tackle the achievement gap in Australian schools. The Teach for Australia initiative has been developed to attract the best and brightest university graduates into the nation’s classrooms. Through the initiative, high-calibre graduates from Australian universities will sign up for a unique and intensive two-year teaching placement in Australian schools. After preliminary training at the University of Melbourne, the graduates, supported by in-school mentors, will be placed in challenging school environments to help raise student achievement. Most recently Mathew led the position of Head of Positive Education (HOPE) at Geelong Grammar School. As Head of Positive Education Mathew coordinated the integration of Positive Psychology principles as developed by Martin Seligman into the educational experiences and curriculum of students and staff across all campuses. Mathew has participated in symposia panels considering the teaching Positive Psychology in Schools at the first World Congress on Positive Psychology in Philadelphia in June 2009.
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This event is endorsed and supported by a wide range of organisations.
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