Speaker Profiles

Speakers are listed in alphabetical order

We are excited to welcome 60+ experts from academia, the public sector and industry to the Digital Government Festival. We will keep updating this page as we confirm a few final speakers.

If you're ready to secure your free place at the Festival click HERE.

Alec Christie

Partner, Clyde & Co

Alec is a Partner in the Sydney office with extensive experience across many sectors in privacy, cyber, digital transformations/technology, Cloud, e-commerce, IoT, Blockchain/cryptocurrencies, AI, AR/VR, sourcing, risk and compliance.

Alex Richardson

Alex is the Acting Director of the Regulatory Reform team at the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. Since November 2020, Alex has been working to implement a $75 million package of regulatory reforms announced in the 2020-21 Victorian Budget. Prior to joining the Department of Treasury and Finance, Alex worked as a consultant providing economic and regulatory advice to state and federal departments and regulators.

Alex Roberts

Director of IPAVentures, IP Australia

Alex Roberts is a long-time public servant and international expert in public sector innovation, who is passionate about helping government both keep up with and shape the change occurring in the world. Alex is currently Director of IPAVentures at IP Australia, and was previously Deputy Head of the Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) at the OECD where he was a co-author of Cracking the code: Rulemaking for humans and machines (2020), an innovation primer from OPSI on rules as code.

Ashley Anderson

University of Melbourne

Ashley Anderson is a PhD student and learning designer at the University of Melbourne, where she has worked for the last five years. She studied engineering in the US and linguistics at Monash before working as a bid writer for several years, and then transitioning into learning design. In 2021, Ashley commenced a PhD with the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, exploring better ways to educate leaders in cybersecurity.

Associate Professor Alysia Blackham

Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne

Alysia Blackham is an Associate Professor and Discovery Early Career Researcher at Melbourne Law School. Her research focuses on the intersection of employment law, equality law and public law, using empirical evidence to cast new light on legal problems. Alysia’s recent work concentrates on the consequences of demographic ageing for workplaces. A monograph based on Alysia’s PhD thesis, entitled Extending Working Life for Older Workers: Age Discrimination Law, Policy and Practice, was published by Hart in 2016, and was awarded second prize in the UK Society of Legal Scholars’ Peter Birks Prizes for Outstanding Legal Scholarship in 2017.

In 2017 Alysia commenced the project DE170100228 ‘Addressing Age Discrimination in Employment’, funded by the Australian Research Council as part of the Discovery Early Career Researcher scheme. Further details can be accessed at ageworks.info.

Andrew Thies

Andrew joined the Inclusive Communities team of the Social Policy and Research Centre as a Policy Advisor in April 2021.

He has a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Toronto, Canada, with a focus on the future of work and inclusive labour market policies for marginalised Canadians.

Andrew’s career spans multiple jurisdictions. Before joining BSL he worked in the Victorian Government on economic and social policy issues including affordable housing, infrastructure planning, and Traditional Owner engagement in place-based design.

Andrew leads BSL efforts on disability employment policy, including developing the organisation's response to the National Disability Employment Strategy, as well as providing policy support for disability employment pilots with BSL’s partners.

Anshu De Silva Wijeyeratne

Director of the Regulation & Technology Section in the Future Traceability Hub, at the federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

Anshu De Silva Wijeyeratne is the Director of the Regulation & Technology Section in the Future Traceability Hub, at the federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. In this role, Anshu leads work to trial regulatory technology solutions to step up Australia’s agricultural traceability ecosystem and streamline compliance activities across the supply chain. He has worked across the public and private sectors, including at the federal Attorney-General’s Department, the Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet and international law firm Allen & Overy LLP. Anshu holds a Master of Law from the University of Cambridge, and Bachelors of Laws and International Studies from the University of Sydney.

Brendan Reilly

Branch Manager of the Digital Strategy, Policy and Architecture Branch in the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA).

Brendan Reilly is the Branch Manager of the Digital Strategy, Policy and Architecture Branch in the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA). The DTA, as a trusted advisor for digital and ICT investment, drives strategic whole of government digital policy and advice. The Digital Strategy Branch sets future focused priorities and shapes the whole of government digital strategies, including architecture, to enable a connected, integrated and future ready APS.

Since leaving the private sector in 2009, Brendan held a number of positions in the Department of the Treasury until 2017 before moving to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and then to the Digital Transformation Agency in 2018.

Carys Evans

Director, Digital Twins Victoria

As the Director of Digital Twin Victoria, Carys is leading one of the most innovative digital programs underway in the Victorian Government. The Digital Twin Victoria program is a record $37.4 million investment by the Victorian Government in digital twin technology and spatial innovation to create Victoria online. An experienced public servant, Carys has professional expertise in digital transformation, policy development and implementation gained through more than fifteen years working in both government and the private sector.

Cassandra Strakosch

Head of Communications & Engagement, Good Things Foundation Australia Having worked in the Australian not-for-profit sector for over ten years, Cass mobilises community organisations across Australia to help close the digital divide and finds opportunities to share our knowledge and tell real stories of what being digitally included means to people.

Colleen Chen

Research Fellow, University of Melbourne and solution engineer, Dataiku

Colleen is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and a solution engineer at Dataiku. In a career spanning public sector agencies, advocacy and academia, Colleen led policy development and industry engagement for the Defence Artificial Intelligence Centre within the Australian Department of Defence and was a government lawyer providing advice in the areas of privacy law, information law, and judicial review.

Professor Dan Hill

Director, Melbourne School of Design

Professor Dan Hill is Director of Melbourne School of Design, the graduate school of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. A designer and urbanist, his previous design leadership roles include Vinnova (the Swedish government’s innovation agency), Arup, Future Cities Catapult, Fabrica, SITRA and the BBC, and he has lived and worked in UK, Australia, Finland, Italy and Sweden. He is also Visiting Professor at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Design Academy Eindhoven, and an Adjunct Professor in Design at RMIT University. He is a founding member of the Council on Urban Initiatives, a joint initiative between UCL, LSE Cities and UN HABITAT. Dan was also an inaugural Design Advocate for the Mayor of London, and served as a Trustee of Participatory City Foundation.

Hon. David Bartlett

Hon. David Bartlett was the 43rd Premier of Tasmania between 2008 and 2011. During his time in the Tasmanian parliament he also held a range of other portfolios including Minister for Education and Skills, and Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology. He is now two years into his fourth career. His first career was in technology and telecommunications, having completed a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) and a Graduate Diploma of Business at the University of Tasmania. Post politics his careers have included a number of non-executive chair and director positions in technology start-ups, not for profits and research institutions. He is currently heavily involved in a sport-tech basketball start up. He make the claim to be the only living Australian that has been a relatively junior public servant, a relatively senior public servant, a ministerial advisor, a back bencher, a Minister and a Premier. He has seen the sausage factory of public policy formation through each of these lenses and brings a unique perspective to contemporary public policy formation and service delivery.

Associate Professor David Bissell

University of Melbourne

David is Associate Professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the School of Geography. He combines qualitative research on embodied practices with social theory to explore the social, political and ethical consequences of mobile lives. His research draws on cultural geography and mobilities research to investigate contemporary social problems involving mobility-labour relationships. Recent and forthcoming research projects are about the impact of commuting on cities; how mobile working practices are reshaping the home; and how new forms of workplace artificial intelligence are impacting on employment futures and family mobilities.

David Pembroke

Founder & CEO of contentgroup David Pembroke is a government and public sector communication expert. Since establishing contentgroup in 1997, David has been dedicated to improving the effectiveness of government communication and engagement capability as a “trusted adviser” to senior leadership teams in government and the public sector. He previously worked as a reporter for ABC Radio current affairs in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery in Canberra. He is also founder of the “GovComms Festival”, the world’s first government communication conference, and GovComms Institute which is dedicated to improving the professionalism and skills of government communication professionals around the world. He is also a member of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) expert panel on government communication, IABC and is an honorary member of the Content Marketing Institute.

Dr Deborah Warr

Principal Policy & Research Fellow, Brotherhood of St. Laurence

Dr Deborah Warr joined the Social Policy and Research Centre in 2021 and leads the Inclusive Communities team, which focuses on promoting social and economic inclusion for people with disability.

Deborah has a PhD in sociology and has held posts at Charles Sturt University (2018–20) and the University of Melbourne (2012–17). Her research has included understanding how to build the health and resilience of rural communities, and exploring place-based disadvantage and neighbourhood stigma.

She is committed to supporting the meaningful involvement of marginalised communities in research and has wide experience in participatory methods and co-producing research with community partners.

Doug Campbell

General Manager, Australia, Convergence.Tech

Doug led the Federal Government funded National Blockchain Pilot program to reduce compliance costs and increase understanding of blockchain technology for regulators and businesses. He is focused on helping organisations leverage emerging technologies to transform and develop capabilities including blockchain, NFTs and verifiable digital credentials.

Doug brings significant experience driving value for top tier organisations which sees him work closely with senior client executives to secure funding, design approaches and execute programs of work. His 25+ years of experience has included working in industry (Diners Club UK), for leading analytics software (SAS and IBM) and major consultancies (IBM, Deloitte and KPMG). Doug is a respected leader in the Australian Analytics profession having led the growth, development and subsequent integration of IAPA into ADMA. Awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Industry Award for services to Analytics in Australia.

Eliot Palmer

Manager Regulatory Improvement at Better Regulation Victoria

Eliot Palmer is a regulatory specialist, facilitator and public sector manager who helps policy-makers and regulators to improve their approach to design and delivery of the law.

In his current role with Better Regulation Victoria, Eliot works with regulators to understand their regulatory systems and implement reforms to improve their effectiveness. Before this, Eliot worked for over 15 years in state and local government regulatory settings as a policy and practice reform leader.

Eliot was central to the generational reforms of Victoria’s environmental laws and EPA Victoria’s organisational transformation. He also revised the Victorian Guide to Regulation, managed reforms to Victoria’s Human Service Regulator, and has developed varied regulatory strategies, compliance policies, regulation frameworks, and industry guidance. Eliot holds an Executive Master of Public Administration and a Master in Sound Art.

Eyal Genende

Senior Manager, Deloitte Digital

Eyal is a Senior Manager in Deloitte Digital’s strategy and design practice, a leader in the firms Victorian Government account team and a former practicing lawyer.

He has extensive experience leading multi-disciplinary teams to deliver public sector transformation projects. For instance: developing experience-led strategies to help organisations better understand and respond to citizen’s evolving needs and expectations; through to building mobile applications used by frontline police services; to developing a multi-agency data asset to guide sector wide decision making.

Felix Lipkin

Player Piano Data Analytics (https://ppdataanalytics.com/)

Felix is a Geospatial Data Scientist who has been researching unsupervised machine learning algorithms, building engineering-grade deep learning information products and utilising large ensemble methods since 2011. Having previously worked at CSIRO and Spatial CRC, he has extensive experience in building mapping solutions for complex urban forms.

Gabby Bush

Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, University of Melbourne

Gabby is the Program Manager at the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne. She has pursued research in technology and Art, and AI in Government and has written widely on bias in algorithms and the social impact of Automated Decision-Making. Gabby has a bachelors and Honours in Politics and Religious Studies and a Masters in International Development. Previously, Gabby worked for the United Nations Development Program in Samoa and focused on projects relating to eGovernance and Digitization in the Pacific Islands.

Gabrielle Grist

City of Stonnington

Gabrielle Grist is CX & Service Design Lead at City of Stonnington. She works across systems, spaces and services to improve the experience of living in and interacting with the council.

Gabrielle has held leadership roles in design and customer strategy across the corporate, start-up and public sectors, and taught at the University of Melbourne. She is particularly excited about the transformative potential of design and digital in public services when thinking big, acting local and involving communities.

Georgia Katsikis

University of Melbourne

Before a spinal injury in 2010 that ended her career, Georgia worked as a Clinical Neuropsychologist. Her work focused on patient assessment & treatment, and clinical research.

After spinal surgery and a lengthy recovery process, Georgia returned home to Melbourne.

In 2016 Georgia returned to the workforce after accepting a position as a Community Researcher on the “Choice, Control and the NDIS” project. Since then, Georgia has been involved in numerous disability focused projects.

Giles Nunis

Chief Digital Transformation Officer, WA Primary Health Alliance

Giles has held various senior executive roles in government and in the private sector. He was appointed by the WA Cabinet as the first whole of Government Chief Information Officer & CEO (2015-2018) to lead government technology across more than 100 departments with an annual spend of $1.5 billion.

He was also responsible for the successful ICT commissioning of two brand new high tech tertiary hospitals – Fiona Stanley Hospital and Perth Children’s Hospital. Giles was the co- author and panel member of the first health data linkage review with the Chief Scientist and Prof. Fiona Stanley (2018)

He is currently responsible for the development and operation of the Primary Health Insights Platform (that contains anonymised data from 28 PHN’s across the country – primary care) at WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA). Before WAPHA, Giles was Partner, Deloitte Australia and completed a number of digital health strategies for WA Health 2020-2030 that defined their eMR Program and other digital approaches.

Glenn Archer

Visiting Fellow, Australian National University

After working for over a decade for companies such as Apple and Cisco, Glenn re-joined the APS in 2002 as an SES officer in Centrelink and subsequently went on to hold SES/CIO roles in major Federal government agencies, culminating in his appointment as Australian Government CIO (AGCIO) & head of the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) in 2012. In mid-2014, he took up the role of Research Vice President (Public Sector) at Gartner where he focused on Digital Government - publishing research in this field and supporting government and industry CIOs across the world. Mr Archer was appointed as a Visiting Fellow at the ANU’s School of Research Management in February 2017 – a position he held for two years. For most of 2020, Mr Archer held the position of “Independent Technical Expert” at Customer Service NSW, supporting Minister Dominello on a major multi-jurisdictional IT enabled change program. In 2021, as a Partner at Public Sector Consulting (PSC), he provided consulting & advisory services to the Federal and NSW Governments. In February 2022, Mr Archer returned to ANU as a Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Management.

Cyber Security: During his four years at AGIMO he was closely involved in a range of Cyber Security matters and initiatives – working in conjunction with senior officers from PM&C, AGD, Defence, ASD and DFAT on specific projects and issues as well as being a member/joint chair of several Cyber Security related governance and policy committees. His Division included AGIMO’s Cyber Security Branch, which provided advice to Cabinet and direction to agencies and led the work on a number of specific projects. These projects included the implementation of several initiatives resulting from the 2009 e-Security review and the Internet Gateway consolidation project. He represented Finance, and broader APS community interests, in national security forums and governance bodies. In 2012, he was appointed to the Cyber Security Operations Board.

Hannes Astok

Senior Expert and Executive Director at the Estonian e-Governance Academy (www.ega.ee).

As the Senior Expert on the information society, he promotes the Digital Transformation in the Public Administration. Hannes has consulted and trained with national and local governments in all continents – in Central Asia, Caucasus, South-East Europe, Middle East, East Asia, Africa, South Pacific and Caribbean.

He has been working closely with Ukraine national and local governments from 2012 for the e-government development.

From 2012 to 2013 Hannes served as the Adviser to the President of Estonia on the development of the Information Society; from 2007 to 2011 he was elected as a Member of the Estonian Parliament. 1997-2005 Hannes served as Deputy Mayor of City of Tartu, Estonian 2nd largest city.

Hannes holds the degree from Tartu University in journalism and public relations.

Harriet Shing MP

Parliamentary Secretary for Creative Industries, Digital Government, Equality, and Water

Harriet Shing is a Member of the Victorian Legislative Council and has represented Eastern Victoria Region since 2014.

Prior to her election to the Victorian Parliament, Harriet had worked as a lawyer, senior policy adviser, and industrial relations specialist in the Victorian private, public, and not-for-profit sectors.

Harriet is the Parliamentary Secretary for Creative Industries, Digital Government, Equality, and Water.

She has previously served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Services, and Mental Health.

Harry Human

Senior ConsultantSenior Consultant, BAE Systems Digital Intelligence

Harry Human is a Senior Consultant at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence working in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) in the Federal Government, State Government, Defence, and Critical National Infrastructure spaces. Harry works with these organisations to help them identify, understand, and manage cyber risk. Her work has included cyber capability and maturity assessments, cyber strategy and policy setting, and transformational project management for cyber programs.

Dr Ian Oppermann

Chief Data Scientist, NSW Department of Customer Service & Industry Professor, UTS.

Dr Ian Oppermann is a Digital Economy thought leader, a highly-cited researcher, and a regular speaker about big data, broadband enabled services and the impact of technology on society. An Associate Industry Professor in the Faculty of Engineering & IT at UTS, Ian is also the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist working within the Department of Customer Service. He chairs an 11-member NSW Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee that is advising the State Government on how it should use the technology. The committee will also develop a world-first AI assurance framework for government projects. Ian also chairs the NSW Smart Places Advisory Council, a group which is supporting NSW to bring to life real-world projects that will drive the State’s Smart Places agenda.

Ian has nearly 30 years’ experience in the Information and Communication Technology sector and has led large organizations that deliver products and services that have reached millions of people around the world. He has held senior management roles in Europe and Australia, including Director for Radio Access Performance at Nokia, Global Head of Sales Partnering (network software) at Nokia Siemens Networks, and Divisional Chief and Flagship Director at the CSIRO. He has contributed to six books and co-authored more than 120 papers, which have been cited more than 4000 times. Ian is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia, the IEEE, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and is a Fellow and President of the Australian Computer Society. He is also a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, president of the Australia National Committee of the IEC, and president of the JTC1 strategic advisory committee in Australia. Ian has an MBA from the University of London and a PhD in Mobile Telecommunications from the University of Sydney.

James Wong

Associate, Clyde & Co

James is an Associate in the Melbourne office. With specialised experience in digital law, James helps public and private sector organisations navigate the opportunities and challenges associated with the digital economy, including in relation to digital transformation programs, privacy, cyber risk, emerging technologies and the regulation of digital business models.

James is passionate about the role of technology governance and regulation in shaping a better world.

Janani Venkataraman

Senior Design Researcher at Invoice2Go

Janani Venkataraman is a Senior Design Researcher at Invoice2Go, previously at Standards Australia, Nine.

Janani started her career in software engineering before transitioning into marketing research as a quantitative researcher. After working in several agency roles, a move to the client-side became the impetus to become a mixed-methods researcher drawing on both qual and quant to solve for stakeholder problems. Since then, Janani has worked in product and design teams in both commercial organisations as well as government/not-for-profit to help shape products, services and experiences.

In her spare time, Janani is a recovering lockdown baker!

Professor Janine O'Flynn

Professor of Public Management, ANZSOG and Melbourne School of Government

Janine is a Professor of Public Management at ANZSOG and the University of Melbourne. Her expertise is in public management, with a particular focus on reform and relationships. This covers topics as diverse as the creation and evolution of public service markets to the design of performance management systems.

Professor Jeannie Paterson

Co-Director, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, University of Melbourne

Jeannie Paterson specialises in the areas of contracts, consumer rights and consumer credit law, as well as the role of new technologies in these fields. Jeannie is the co-director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, a new collaborative, interdisciplinary research, teaching and policy centre at the University of Melbourne involving the faculties of Computing and Information Systems, Law, Arts and Science and Co-leader of the Digital Ethics research stream at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute focused on social equity and community-led research.

Julian Smith

Director of Member Experience and Specialist Advice, Head of Agile Practice, Australian Public Service Commission

Julian is a digital transformation leader who specialises in modern ways of working and change transformation. He has worked for over 20 years in the Digital & ICT sector and has successfully led several significant change programs across different Government agencies. As an early contributor to the Governments Digital Transformation agenda, he is passionate about approaches that help design and deliver public services focused on user needs while achieving public policy outcomes. In his capacity as Head of the Agile Practice, Julian leads the Australian Governments agile community group, talks at conferences as well as contributes to international standards/guides. Julian also has background in IT start-ups, including winning the young entrepreneur award for 2003 from the Canberra Business Advisory Council.

Katherine Alsop

Thoughtworks Australia

Katherine is an accomplished research and design professional, with almost 20 years’ experience. At ThoughtWorks, Katherine works in consulting roles and in delivery teams to align organisations around their true purpose – to serve their customers.

Katrina Donaghy

CEO, Civic Ledger

Katrina began her career in the public sector working with the Brisbane City Council and Queensland Urban Utilities. She recognised the potential for governments and industry to apply blockchain technology to create new markets and economies of the future and co-founded Civic Ledger in late September 2016. She is the founding organiser of the Brisbane Women in Blockchain Meetup, Industry Mentor at RMIT Online educational courses in blockchain technology, a past Director on the Blockchain Australia Board. In 2018 and 2019, Katrina was recognised as a Female Fintech Leader Finalist and Female Blockchain Leader Finalist by her Industry peers. In 2020, she was included in the Top 101 Women in Crypto.

Katy Cooper

Director City Futures, City of Hobart

Katy is both a futurist and a 'now'ist. In her current role as Director of City Futures for the City of Hobart, she is focused on engaging, creating and planning our Island Capitals' future stories and its strategic plans/urban designs with a stellar team of professional planners, urban designers, curators and placemakers.

Together, they also bring arts, culture, and events to life to showcase our future in action.

Katy is also responsible for shaping the way Hobart Council steps up to future challenges and collaborates to meet the opportunities of a future city through innovation.

She is also interested in building a thriving futures community across Tasmania and Australia.

Kate Kieran

HBF Health

Kate Kieran is a User Experienced Specialist specialising in User Research, and in particular Usability Testing. Having caught the UX Bug back in 2011 after attending a Web Usability course conducted by the father of Usability himself (Jakob Nielsen), Kate is passionate about creating outstanding experiences through using real user behaviour to inform and guide design decisions. Currently responsible for administering and conducting HBF’s transformation usability testing program, Kate is UX certified by the Nielsen Norman Group (U.S.) and is currently on the home stretch of writing her Psychology Honours thesis.

Kelly Grigsby

CEO, City of Hobart

Kelly Grigsby is the Chief Executive Officer at the City of Hobart. ‘Hobart is one of the world’s most liveable small cities and is an international gateway to Antarctica. As Tasmania’s capital city, Hobart has an important role to play in driving economic activity that benefits all Tasmanians. Prior to moving to Hobart, Kelly was the Chief Executive Officer of Wyndham City Council one of Australia’s fastest growing cities located in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Kelly has extensive Chief Executive Officer experience in local government; and was one of the youngest CEO’s to be appointed in Australian local government when she first commenced in the role. Kelly is recognised as a progressive, community focussed and visionary leader.

As a local government CEO, Kelly is passionate about cities, urban innovation, social and economic inclusion, and social justice. At Wyndham she envisaged and realised the complete transformation of Wyndham City Council into a community focussed, contemporary organisation with a city shaping agenda to achieve its full potential as a globally connected, liveable and vibrant city to accommodate over 490,000 residents.

Kirsty Elderton

Design Director, Nous

Kirsty is a leading digital and design strategist with a background in public service design, organisational design, product design, digital innovation and change. She understands the opportunity that design and digital present to radically transform businesses and governments – particularly to create better and cheaper public services – and has worked on award-winning transformation projects during senior roles in the private and public sector.

Laura Munsie

Director, Usability Section, Industrial Relations Strategy Branch, Australian Government Attorney-General's Department

Laura Munsie is the Director of the Usability Section, in the Industrial Relations Strategy Branch of the Australian Government Attorney-General's Department. The Usability Section focuses on how users interact with the industrial relations system, and has a key focus on how technology can help employers and employees to navigate employment laws. Prior to taking on this role, Laura has over 15 years’ experience in a wide range of policy and legal roles in the Australian Public Service.

Dr Lea Frermann

Lecturer, University of Melbourne

Lea Frermann is a Lecturer in Natural Language Processing (NLP) in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne. Her research investigates how humans represent and describe their complex environment, and how we can teach machines to do the same. She has developed models of language acquisition and common sense knowledge, and methods to represent and summarize the plots of books and films. She also works on using NLP to understand and expose media bias in news coverage.

Lea received her Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 2017. She was a research associate at the University of Edinburgh, and an applied scientist at Amazon AI (Berlin) prior to joining Melbourne University in July 2019.

Leonardo Puglisi

Founder, Chief Anchor & Managing Director - 6 News Australia

6 News was founded by Leonardo Puglisi in 2019 as HMV Local News, covering local news from across the Hawthorn District in Melbourne, with weekly news bulletins on our YouTube Channel.​

But at the beginning of 2020, we rebranded as 6 News & moved to focusing on national & international stories, launching accounts on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, and uploading our original content on YouTube everyday.

Young journalists soon joined our team from all over Australia & even in the US, making our team larger than some regional TV services & helping us bring you 24/7 coverage (read more here)

Our mission isn't to "take down" the already existing mainstream media or anything like that - it's to bring you a genuine alternative, made possible by the younger generation.

No matter your politics - and no matter your location - you will always find unbiased news from our reporters and uncensored views from our guests - right here, on 6 News.

Linda Berrigan

Director of Brand and Storytelling, Good Things Foundation Australia Linda is a brand, marketing and communications specialist with experience across not for profit, government and corporate organisations in both Australia and the UK. An inspirational leader, skilled strategic thinker, experienced stakeholder manager and marketing specialist, Linda is passionate about tackling social inequality and driving positive social impact through innovative campaigning, communication and advocacy. In her role as Director of Brand and Storytelling, Linda shines a light on how Good Things Foundation is opening up a world of possibilities for people who are digitally excluded, ensuring everyone can fully participate in society.

Lisa Schutz

CEO, Verifier

Lisa Schutz is the Founder and CEO of Verifier. Verifier is a privacy-by-design, consent driven data sharing platform (www.verifier.me) that enables people to share their data in order to get better outcomes – including more efficient loan and rental property applications and financial wellbeing monitoring. Verifier was one of the nine data recipients who tested CDR ahead of its launch. Lisa sits on the Consumer Data Advisory Committee for Banking and Energy. She is a founding director of The RegTech Association (www.regtech.org.au). Lisa has a Masters by Research on Information Sharing in Credit Markets and is the author of Decisions not Data (2015). For more background see: www.linkedin.com/in/schutzlisa.

Luke Bassett

Automated Approval Lead, Digital Twins Victoria

Luke Bassett is the Automated Approval lead in Digital Twin Victoria, heading up the 3D building rules-of-code framework aiming to enhance the building approval experience and integrate approvals into Victoria’s Digital Twin. The Digital Twin Victoria program is a record $37.4 million investment by the Victorian Government in digital twin technology and spatial innovation to create Victoria online. Luke has more than a decade of experience within and for government delivering platforms enabling the Victorian community to plan smarter and easier.

Maddie Druce

Code for Australia

Maddie transitioned into human centered design after a successful 8 years of business ownership. She was drawn to design because of her fascination with complex problems and the many different ways these could be solved.

Maddie began her design career as an Experience Designer, working with startups, government and NFP’s before moving into Strategic Design. She now works in a Melbourne-based agency with a range of clients across the public and private sectors and loves the variety of subject matter and problem spaces she gets to dive into.

Marina Troyak

Director Supplier Policy and Innovation Development, NSW Department of Customer Service

Marina Troyak is the Director, Supplier, Policy and Innovation Development within the Digital NSW Division of the Department of Customer Service. Marina is responsible for the development of whole of government ICT policy, strategic change projects (including development and delivery of the Innovation Procurement Pathways), strategic Supplier Relationship management framework and industry engagement. Marina is currently focused on promoting procurement practices that help NSW Government realise its innovation ambition, diversifying the partnership ecosystem and spend, and contributing to the growth of the domestic technology sector.

Marina’s experience spans over 15 years leading commercial negotiations, price and large deal construction, regulatory compliance and risk management projects, and policy and business processes optimisation. Prior to joining NSW Government, Marina held roles in the technology and financial sectors with large companies like Unisys, Westpac and Zurich, and in the fintech start-up community

Mark Bayly

Senior Manager Channels, Ambulance Victoria

Mark Bayly is doing digital transformation, one conversation at a time.

Skills that he has developed over many years having sat at the board tables of some of Australia's largest corporations, advising on digital strategies, marketing and brand for both internal and external audiences.

At Victoria Police, as Online Communications Manager Mark took an omni channel approach to delivering digital projects through social media, video production, communications, marketing, brand and third party customer relationship management tools, including a world first for policing having implemented AI chatbot technology.

And as Senior Manager Channels for Ambulance Victoria, Mark is currently responsible for the evolution of digital communications platforms across the organisation.

Prior to being one of the pioneers of the digital revolution Mark's career spanned journalism and broadcast television programs across a number of genres including documentaries, factual and entertainment based programs for all the major television networks.

Mathan Ratinam

Principal Service Designer, Dept of Premier & Cabinet (Vic)

He is currently the Principal Service Designer at the Digital, Design and Innovation branch at the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

He has spent the last decade operating at the intersection of design and international development focusing on climate technologies, entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems, and human and environmental security.

Prior to his current role, he was the inaugural Managing Director of CivVic Labs at LaunchVic, the Victorian Government's startup agency.He was also the Lead Design Specialist in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Unit at the World Bank and has been engaged as a strategic designer by the White House during the Obama Administration, various UN agencies, the US Dept of Defense, international NGOs and served as an advisor to the Australian Government’s Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

As an educator he has taught at Columbia University and Parsons School of Design in New York. He holds a PhD in Architecture from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia.

Matt Lewis

Managing Director at Capability Wise

Matt Lewis is an Australian-based consultant with a unique blend and depth of technology expertise, government systems, and complex project management experience that will allow him to successfully deliver customer outcomes.

Matt has been designing and executing complex projects and programs for government and private sector customers for over 17 years. His experience ranges from projects with small budgets up to $50M USD, and small teams through to teams of 100+ geographically dispersed staff.

Matt has experience across all elements of project delivery from concept initiation and business case development through to implementation and system sustainment. This experience has been gained both as a project manager and delivery executive, and as a technologist. This blend of experience allows Matt to transition seamlessly between communicating with senior leaders to project team members and technical experts.

Matt has experience delivering complex digital transformation, modernisation, and enterprise agility projects both here in Australia and internationally, with a strong focus on government portfolios such as taxation, small business, and education. Matt’s expertise includes to transforming business processes through user centred design and architecture, and leveraging technologies such as APIs and process automation to streamline customer engagement and government data collection. In 2019, Matt also co-authored a paper for the OECD entitled:

Unlocking the Digital Economy – A guide to Implementing Application Programming Interfaces in Government’.

Matt Sawkill

Managing Director, Code for Australia

Matt has 20 years of experience in design-led digital agencies as a full-stack developer, technology consultant and team leader, and currently puts them all to good use at Code for Australia as Managing Director. Matt is obsessed with the craft and delivery of easy to use, accessible and performant digital services and products at scale. Open source software, web standards and human-centred design are the foundations of this approach. In his spare time, you’ll find him geeking out on food, music and movies.

Professor Megan Richardson

Professor of Law, Melbourne Law School

Megan Richardson is a Professor of Law at the Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne, and a Chief Investigator in the multi-institution ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. Her fields of research and publication include intellectual property, privacy and personality rights, law reform and legal theory. She was one of a group of scholars convened by the Australian Law Reform Commission to explore the meaning of 'privacy' for its 2006-8 privacy reference, and in addition served on the international advisory panel for the New South Wales Law Reform Commission's invasion of privacy review in 2006-2009. She was also a member of the advisory committee for the Australian Law Reform Commission's reference on Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era (report published 2014).

Melissa Harris

Chief Executive, Land Use Victoria

Melissa Harris is the Chief Executive, Land Use Victoria (LUV) which is the agency within the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) responsible for all aspects of land administration including property titles, valuations, subdivisions, land monitoring, surveying, spatial services, government land advice, the $45 million Digital Cadastre Modernisation project and the $37 million Digital Twin Victoria project. She is also Registrar of Titles in Victoria. LUV comprises two divisions, Strategic Land Assessment and Information and Land Registry Services and includes over 500 staff members and management of the $2.7 billion concession deed for the operation of the Victorian Land Registry.

Melissa is also the Chair of the Australia and New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC), the peak intergovernmental organisation providing leadership on all aspects of spatial information in Australia and New Zealand.

Melissa began her career as a town planner and has dedicated her career to public service, working across state and local government for over 30 years. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Major Projects Leadership Academy through Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. Melissa was recognised as one of the Top 50 Women in the Victorian Public Sector for 2019.

Professor Michele Acuto

Director, Melbourne Centre for Cities

Michele Acuto is director of the Melbourne Centre for Cities, Professor in Urban Politics and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. He is an expert in urban governance and international affairs.

Michele is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Before joining the Faculty, Michele was Director of the City Leadership Lab and Professor of Diplomacy and Urban Theory at University College London, having previously worked as Stephen Barter Fellow of the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities at the University of Oxford. He also taught at the University of Canberra, University of Southern California, Australian National University and National University of Singapore. Outside academia, Michele worked for the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the Kimberley Process for conflict diamonds, the European Commission's response to pandemic threats. He also has worked for several years on city leadership and city networks with, amongst others, Arup, World Health Organization, World Bank Group, the C40 Climate Leadership Group, and UN-Habitat. In 2018-19 he co-chaired the Nature Sustainability International Expert Panel on "science and the future of cities".

Miguel Carrasco

Managing Director and Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group

Miguel Carrasco is a Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group. He is the global leader for BCGs Center for Digital Government and the regional leader of BCG’s technology practice in Asia-Pacific. He has extensive experience in private and public sector transformations and has led projects across a range of topics including digital product and services, customer service excellence, public sector modernisation initiatives, digital innovation, digital identity, digital economy, artificial intelligence and the future of work.

In Australia, he has worked across a range of sectors including social services, tax, employment, education, industry and defence. He has also supported digital transformation projects in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. Internationally, Miguel has worked with a range of governments, including the UK, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Denmark, the Netherlands, Singapore, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. He has also hosted a number of study tours to Estonia, the USA and New Zealand.

Miguel is a member of the Business Council of Australia’s (BCA) Skills, Education, and Flexibility Committee and Innovation Taskforce and is a member of the Digital Identity Ministerial Advisory Committee for the NSW Government. Miguel holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Accounting from UTS Sydney.

Dr. Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

EGOV Adviser, United Nations University, Operating Unit for Policy-Driven Electronic Governance

Dr. Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen is an EGOV Adviser at the United Nations University, Operating Unit for Policy-Driven Electronic Governance, an international think tank on digital transformation of the public sector in Portugal.

He is responsible for multiple digital transformation projects on strategy development, performance and data management, user centric service design, eParticipation, and capacity development China, Georgia, Uganda, and Saudi Arabia. With the International Social Security Association, Morten is leading the research on the impact of the digital transformation of social security, and how improve the digital inclusion of marginalized communities including women and children.

Morten regularly run executive training on digital transformation of the public sector in internationally and is a guest lecturer at several European universities.

Past employment includes the Danish Agency for Digitisation, Danish Technological Institute, European Institute of Public Administration, Centre for the Development of Enterprise; European Commission, and University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Morten is educated in Denmark, South Africa, and the UK, with a ph.d. at Tallinn University of Technology. He is the author and co-author of various publications, a reviewer various journals and on multiple conference committees.

Dr Penny Williams

Senior lecturer in the School of Management, QUT

Penelope Williams (Penny) is a senior lecturer in the School of Management whose research explores the changing nature of work and the intersections of technology and work. Her research interests span work in the gig economy, flexible work arrangements, the impact of technology, including AI on work and workers, precarious employment and digital capability/employability skills for university graduates. Penny has over 15 years experience in corporate HR and strategic consultancy roles, working across public and private sectors, nationally and internationally. She is an experienced workshop facilitator with a depth of knowledge in workforce planning, and strategic HRM, and has undertaken industry based research projects addressing the structure and effectiveness of HR, and planning for future workforce needs. Her background underpins her current research into how work is changing, with a focus on the challenges that technology, digital platforms and new modes of employment present for organisations, individuals and wider society. Penny lectures in the QUT Business School, and has been the recipient of a QUT Vice Chancellor's Performance Award for her teaching practice, as well as a Grand Finalist in QUT's Sessional Teaching and Reflection Showcase for the creation of innovative and effective teaching practices. Penny is a member of Australian Human Resources Institute and Fellow and Associate Fellow (Indigenous) of the Higher Education Academy (UK).

Pia Andrews

http://pipka.org/standard-bio/

Pia Andrews is an open government, digital transformation and data geek who has been trying to make the world a better place for 20 years. She usually works within the (public sector) machine to transform public services, policies and culture through greater transparency, democratic engagement, citizen-centric design, open data, emerging technologies and real, pragmatic actual innovation in the public sector and beyond. She believes that tech culture has a huge role to play in achieving better policy planning, outcomes, public engagement and a better public service all round. She is also trying to do her part in establishing greater public benefit from publicly funded data, software and research. Pia was recognised in 2018 and 2019 as one of the global top 20 most Influential in Digital Government and was awarded as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Women in Australia for 2014. Pia has also studied martial arts since 1990, and brings the philosophies and practices of Gung Fu and Chan Buddhism into her work every day.

Pia is currently taking something of a public sector sabbatical, working as a Strategic Advisor to the Public Sector in AWS. She is in a newly formed team made up of experienced public servants who provide futures oriented policy and outcomes focused advice, support, exploration and experimentation, to agencies and departments across Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. You can read about her goals for this role and to influence digital transformation of the sector here.

Rachel Maiden

Director, Digital.NSW

With a Masters of Policy Studies and nearly 15 years working in regulatory roles in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales, Rachel is passionate about the role of user-centred design in the policy process. Rachel is currently working on improving digital accessibility for both customers of government services and the people who work with the NSW Public Service – building capability, partnering with industry, providers and advocacy groups, driving strategy and compliance.

Rebecca Sloan

Lead Content Designer, Australia Post

Rebecca Sloan is a Lead Content Designer at Australia Post. Her career background covers government, agency and private sector, most recently in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet as a content and service designer.

Her areas of interest revolve around bringing people and experiences together in ways that make sense and use resources and knowledge efficiently. This includes connecting journeys and experiences within complex service delivery models, using design methodologies to improve integration between content and other disciplines, and advocating for synergistic strategic approaches to service delivery through collaborative ways of working.

Rebecca began her career as a human-centred designer as a child, carefully honing her craft by asking at least 100 questions every day (mainly ‘Why?’). She is now a parent to a very curious 3 year old daughter.

Richard Sargeant

Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group

Richard Sargeant joined Boston Consulting Group in November 2021. Working in the public sector, energy, and other industries, he supports clients in the UK and around the world as they renew their organizations to take full advantage of artificial intelligence. He is passionate about the integrated transformation of technology, human systems, and culture necessary to achieve a step change in organizational performance and social impact.

Richard also serves on the board of the UK government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation. From 2016-21, Richard was COO of Faculty, an AI technology firm. Before that, he was a founding Director of the UK Government Digital Service, Director of Digital and Data Transformation at the Home Office, and led the Electricity Market Reform program at the Department of Energy & Climate Change. He was also Head of Public Policy at Google.

Robin Doherty

Thoughtworks Australia

Robin is ThoughtWorks Australia's Regional Security Champion. He was a general purpose software developer for 10 years, until the growing disregard for users’ security and data privacy evident in the software industry inspired him to specialise.

Robin believes traditional approaches to security are failing to keep up with the rapidly evolving landscape of threats, as well as the forever-increasing pace of change in agile delivery and modern software architectures. He is passionate about making it better.

Dr Ronny Andrade

Digital Accessibility Lead, RMIT University

Ronny Andrade works as Digital Accessibility Lead at RMIT University. He supports the delivery of accessible digital assets and his work spans across the entire product life cycle: from design to implementation to use. More broadly, Ronny’s work addresses systemic barriers to digital access in the context of higher education. Ronny is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies, has a doctoral degree (PhD), and lived experience of low vision. As part of his doctoral research, Ronny investigated accessibility in videogames for people with visual impairment.

Roger Christie

Founder & Managing Director, Propel

Roger Christie is the Founder & Managing Director of Propel – a multi award-winning consultancy that helps leaders protect and enhance their digital reputation.

For more than fifteen years, Roger has helped government, corporate and NGO leaders and their teams use social media to communicate strategy, attract talent, access growth opportunities and engage staff.

Roger has worked with a range of clients across the ASX100 and more than 30 federal and state government agencies. He founded the Government Digital Leaders Network and has run education programs for the Australian Institute of Company Directors among others.

Sam Flynn

Chief Operating Officer, Josef Legal

Sam Flynn is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder at Josef, and leads Josef’s business operations, governance, marketing and customer success functions. Sam has worked in advertising, as a lawyer and as an associate at the Supreme Court of Victoria. Sam has extensive experience in the intersection of technology and law, launching myki fines, one of the first successful examples of B2C legal tech. Sam is an advocate for using legal tech to bridge the access to justice gap, and he serves as an Advisory Board member of the Centre for Legal Innovation (CLI).

Dr Sarah Barns

Visiting Fellow, Melbourne Centre for Cities

Dr Sarah Barns is an urban digital strategist, researcher, and creative producer. She is author of Platform Urbanism (Palgrave Macmillan 2019) and is project lead on the STORYBOX Partnership program with the ABC, City of Parramatta, City of Sydney and Western Sydney University, creating inclusive media and storytelling for public spaces.

Dr Shaanan Cohney

University of Melbourne Dr Cohney is a Lecturer at the University of Melbourne where his research centers on the interplay between computer systems and the law, with particular focus on applications of cryptography. In 2019, Dr Cohney was the inaugural Geller Fellow of the Wharton Public Policy Initiative, with a summer placement in the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where he assisted in the development of technology strategy within the commission.

Sarah Pulis

Co-Founder, Intopia

Sarah Pulis is a digital accessibility and inclusion expert and co-founder of Intopia, a digital inclusion consultancy. Sarah has over 12 years’ experience working with non-profits, corporates and individuals to create a more inclusive digital world.

She has a breath of expertise from organisational strategy to inclusive product design. She's also affectionately called the "Walking WCAG" by her team for her WCAG knowledge.

Sarah is also founder of A11y Bytes and A11y Camp, Australia’s largest events on digital accessibility and inclusion.

Shane Moffitt

Deputy Chief Information Security Officer of the Victorian Government, Department of Premier and Cabinet (VIC)

Shane has been the assistant CISO of Victoria for close to 4 years. In this time Shane was responsible for the delivery of the first Victorian cyber strategy and the development of the recently released second Victorian cyber strategy. In this time, the central Victorian government cyber team has grown from 5 staff to over 30 people with an ever-increasing remit. Prior to commencing this role, Shane was the Oceania lead for ISO27001 at EY. Shane holds an MBA in computing, multiple industry certifications and is an ACSC accredited IRAP assessor.

Stephanie Speck

Chief Communications Officer, Victorian Department of Education & Training Stephanie Speck is the Executive Director, Communications Division and Chief Communications Officer for the Department of Education and Training, Victoria. Steph has lived and worked in more than 20 countries, accumulating almost 25 years’ experience as a strategy and communications adviser, supporting democratic reform in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Steph has launched TV channels (including the Middle East’s most popular, MBC Action); was Deputy Director of the first Palestine Investment Forum; led a US$1billion governance reform portfolio in Afghanistan; and held several high-level public diplomacy and spokesperson roles, including as Senior Adviser to the Senior Minister of Afghanistan, the President of Somalia and the Prime Minister of Iraq. She recently returned to Australia after three years leading communication and advocacy initiatives for the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, in Geneva.

Susan Cullen

Design Director, Australian Taxation Office

Susan has had over 15 years experience leading design innovations in Government. She has worked for the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, Family Safety Victoria, and the Victorian Department of Education and Training. Susan heads up Design in the Australian Taxation Office for Victoria, where she led the ATO Design component of the stimulus measures in response to COVID-19. She co-developed the systems-led design approach pioneered in the ATO. Susan holds an Executive Masters in Public Administration and is researching Mastery in Design in large organisations for her PhD.

Toni Jones

ASPAC Head of Cities & Local Government, Partner in Charge Industries, Enterprise, KPMG Australia

As the ASPAC Head of Cities and Local Government and Partner in Charge Industries for Enterprise, Toni focuses on assisting complex and high growth enterprises achieve their strategic objectives.

Toni has more than 20 years of experience in professional services and consulting in Australia and the United Kingdom in a variety of industries and organisations. She has a particular focus on business process improvement, operating model design, finance and back office transformation, and system specification, selection and implementation.

Toni’s project experience spans major corporates and the public sector, including private family businesses, wholesale and retail, financial services, professional services, government and not-for-profit. This experience enables her to bring valuable insights to clients.

Trudy Jones

Trudy Jones, Assistant Director, Modern Awards, Economics & Research Section, Fair Work Commission

Trudy is the Product Owner for the MAP Database. She is a subject matter expert on Modern Awards and is a part of the project team developing APIs for the MAP Database. Trudy led the consultation with industry, regulatory agencies and government prior to the development of APIs for the MAP Database and during User Acceptance Testing of the APIs.

Trudy has been with the FWC for 11 years and has worked on modern awards reviews aimed at reducing award complexity and improving award compliance.

Dr Vanessa Teague.

Associate Professor, Australian National University

Vanessa cryptographer living and working on Wurundjeri land in Southeastern Australia. Vanessa is interested in cryptographic protocols that support a free and democratic society. She work on openly-available research and open source software for supporting democratic decisionmaking and empowering ordinary people to make choices about their own data.

Vicky Yuan

Player Piano Data Analytics (https://ppdataanalytics.com/)

With a background in design, Vicky brings a user-centred approach to Player Piano's computer vision projects. Having always had a keen interest in urbanism, Vicky is on a personal mission to make data about our cities beautiful and accessible to all.

The Hon Victor Dominello MP

NSW Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government

Victor Dominello is a senior Minister in the New South Wales Government and has held various portfolios over the last decade including Aboriginal Affairs, Innovation and Finance.

In 2019 he was appointed the inaugural Minister for Customer Service and in 2021 was also appointed the inaugural Minister for Digital Government.

Victor firmly believes the use of real-time data and technology are the most powerful ways to improve quality of life and reduce suffering.

Victor was a member of the original Crisis Cabinet which led the NSW response to Covid-19 and now sits on the Covid-19 and Economic Recovery Committee. His particular focus has been on delivering digital solutions such as the Service NSW QR code check-in feature and the real-time data analysis which has informed the state’s decision making.

Victor has been the driving force behind the roll out of the Digital Driver Licence, the establishment of the $2.1b Digital Restart Fund and the rapid expansion of the Service NSW app to include QR code check-ins, the voucher programs, such as Dine and Discover, Covid-19 test alert notifications and the registration of positive rapid antigen tests.

In addition to digital, technology and customer experience, Victor is also obsessed with Batman.

Dr Willhemina Wahlin

Dr Willhemina Wahlin (she/her) is a practice-led design researcher, facilitator and practitioner. Her research sits within Design for Social Innovation, implementing Design Thinking, Human-Centred Design and Co-Design for community-led outcomes.

Willhemina’s recent research has focused on the implementation of designerly approaches to Local Government strategic planning and evaluation. Partnering with an Australian local government, the study draws on methods of Human-Centred Design, Co-Design and Public Policy Design to enhance the community engagement processes in the creation of a Cultural Strategic Plan and will track its evaluation strategy over its four-year life.

She has also led a team of researchers to develop the Creative Citizen Project. This project investigates the role that design plays in promoting civic engagement, upstander behaviour and social cohesion. Its aim is to enhance both the political knowledge and creative problem-solving skills of young regional Australians by combining Design Thinking, Civics and Citizenship education and creative storytelling skills. Project partners include The Whitlam Institute, Swinburne University of Technology and PROOF: Media for Social Justice.

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