Speaker Profiles
We are delighted to share the first speaker announcement for ReimaginED25 in Fremantle.
Speakers
Dr Peter Senge
Co-founder, Center for Systems Awareness and MIT Systems Awareness Lab
Peter Senge has been at the forefront of organizational learning since publishing his classic text The Fifth Discipline in 1990, which provided theories and methods to foster aspiration, develop reflective conversation, and understand complexity in service of shaping learning-oriented organization cultures. In 1997, Harvard Business Review named the learning organization as one of “the seminal business ideas of the prior 75 years.”
Throughout his career, Peter has been asking, “how do we create the conditions for people to work together at their best, cultivating the innate systems intelligence that is our birthright but is all but lost in modern culture?” As an engineer by training, his work has always emphasized tools and methods, not for their own sake but as vehicles for building individual and collective capacities.
Starting with the creation of the Society of Organizational Learning (SoL) in 1997, he has focused on developing learning communities within and especially among organizations, as a way to bring about deep change that individual organizations are unable to achieve working alone. This resulted in the SoL Sustainability Consortium in 1998, pioneer businesses who saw social and ecological imbalances shaping the future, the Sustainable Food Lab in 2002, many of the world’s largest food companies and NGOs working together to make sustainable agriculture the mainstream system, and numerous learning communities in primary and secondary education, leading up to the present global Compassionate Systems community.
For this work Peter was named by the Journal of Business Strategy as one of the 24 people who had the greatest influence on business strategy in the 20th century. In addition to being the founding chairperson of SoL, he is co-founder of The Academy for Systems Change and a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Sloan School of Management. He is the co-director of the MIT Systems Awareness Lab based in the Department of Comparative Media Studies / Writing.
Peter graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in engineering. He holds an M.S. in social systems modeling and a Ph.D. in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management. His publications include The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990), The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (1994), The Dance of Change (1999), Schools that Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares about Education (2000, 2010), Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future (2004, 2008), and The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World (2008).
Jan Owen AM HON DLITT
Co-Chair and Convenor, Learning Creates Australia; Chair, Cool Australia; Founder and Principal, Adaptability Q; Co-convenor, FoyerInvest Consortium
Jan has spent her career working at the intersection of individual, organisational and societal change as an entrepreneur, innovator and social sector leader. Her work includes: building and leading alliances; campaigns and advocacy on the rights of children and young people around the globe; strategy, innovation and leadership on the future of education, work and entrepreneurship; facilitating and building powerful strategic community, business, government and philanthropic investment and partnerships committed to our collective future as an inclusive, imaginative and courageous world.
Jan has been the recipient of many Awards acknowledging her commitment to unleashing the unlimited potential of children and young people and services to the Australian community.
Jan is Founder and Principal, AdaptabilityQ: working with innovative leaders and organisations on strategy, innovation & systems change; Co-Chair/Convenor, Learning Creates Australia; Co-Convenor, FoyerInvest Consortium; Chair, Cool Australia and Co-Founder, Be Well.
She is the co-author of Every Childhood Lasts a Lifetime (1996) and The Future Chasers (2014); and Host of the New Work Bites Podcast.
Dr Richard Owens FRSA
Director, Woodleigh Institute, and Co-Founder and Convenor, ReimaginED
Dr. Richard Owens is the Director of the Woodleigh Institute, a global innovation lab dedicated to understanding and enhancing transformative approaches to learning and leadership. The institute has a special interest in regenerative learning and the role it can play in building the capacity of young people to contribute to the thriving of people, places, and our planet.
Richard has over 30 years of experience in teaching, senior leadership, and innovation roles. He has previously served as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, university lecturer, Deputy Head, and Head of School, and was the founding director of an international centre for leadership and learning in Singapore. He has worked with teachers, school administrators, academics, system leaders, regional executives, and academics from Australia, Asia, North and South America, and Europe.
Richard currently serves several networks focused on systems change in education. He is the Convenor of ReimaginED, a unique, participatory conference series that aims to develop our collective capacity to address complex challenges in education. He is the Convenor of the Compassionate Systems Collective, the Australian hub of a global ecosystem of educators advancing deep change in education through a focus on systems awareness. Richard is also a member of the Capabilities for Life faculty group at the RSA, with a mission to transform the way capabilities, skills, behaviours, mindsets, and values are nurtured through a focus on connecting people's needs with those of the planet.
Cameron Thorn
Director, Djoowak: The Beyond Boundaries Institute and Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Western Australia.
Cameron is the Director of Djoowak: The Beyond Boundaries Institute and the Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Western Australia (YEAWA). He was Head of Service Learning, Camps and Tours, Head of Year and Rowing Coach at Perth College, following roles as Project Manager at UWA and Manager of Curtin Leadership Centre at Curtin University.
While a Team Leader, managing the Curtin AHEAD Academic Mentor Program, Cameron received a VC Professional Staff Excellence Award in the team category of Engagement. While in this role, Cameron established Row AHEAD with Clontarf Aboriginal College, an aspiration-raising program to increase Aboriginal participation in higher education.
In addition to a B Ed (English, Design), Cameron is soon to graduate from a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies at UWA, a degree that incorporates key aspects of public policy, social impact and community development. Cameron’s areas of focus in this is the interface between organisations and the communities they serve or are based, and how to maximise the potential benefits of collaborations and structured partnerships. In support of these studies, Cameron was the recipient a Westpac Future Leaders’ Scholarship.
Jessamy Gee
Founder and Director, Think in Color
As one of Australia’s leading Graphic Recorders, Melbourne-based Jessamy Gee has developed a unique skill set in listening, synthesising, capturing and communicating information visually. She is the Founder and Director of Think in Colour, Founder and President of Graphic Recorders Australia, author of GR's Best Mate and co-author of The World of Visual Practice. In 2018, Jessamy was the keynote speaker at the inaugural VizConf in Melbourne. In 2020, she became the first Australian Director to serve on the Board of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners (IFVP). In 2021, Jessamy took over the role of Chapter Host for Creative Mornings Melbourne.
Since launching Think in Colour in 2011, Jessamy has become internationally renowned for her work, and has serviced a diverse range of clients all around Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe across the corporate, community, education and government sectors.
Jessamy has captured talks by some of Australia’s leading minds including former President of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs, former Greens leader Bob Brown, advertising personality Todd Sampson, actor Madga Szubanski, academic and presenter Waleed Aly, Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel and former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, as well as revered international thinkers such as futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil, and originator of lateral thinking, Edward de Bono.
In 2019, Jessamy was invited to Strasbourg by the Council of Europe to graphically record their annual Octopus Conference on Cybercrime - an international event hosting close to 500 delegates from around the world, translated in three languages - showcasing Graphic Recording on the world stage.
Kankawa Nagarra
Bunuba, Walmatjarri and Gooniyandi Elder and Co-designer, Ears of the Heart Project
Kankawa Nagarra prefers to be called by her birth name. She is also known by her English name of Olive Knight. She is an Elder of the Bunuba, Walmatjarri and Gooniyandi Tribes of the West Kimberley, Western Australia. Kankawa is a Translator of her traditional languages and a Musician, Poet, Artist and Storyteller. Her Cultural Knowledge of Systems Awareness drives the way she lives her life and she is a mentor to many.
Kankawa sees that all efforts for Reconciliation, Closing the Gap and the Referendum have failed because people are never willing to look for the reasons in "the Big Wild Fire" where it began and why it continues to burn. Her astute observation about life in the Communities, towns of the Fitzroy Valley is that people who want to help only know how to hold talkfests and develop projects to "put out spot fires" that continue to be lit from the sparks of the wildfire that continues to rage. She believes that the time for this approach is over. Kankawa wants us to 'meet each other human to human'.The first step is to reconnect with 'who they really' are as human beings on our one Earth. This doesn’t happen through our thinking, with our ears on our heads. To help others she shares her deep cultural Knowledge of the Indigenous meaning of deep listening. This happens in the yarn, a place where we can really 'hear' what we have 'listened' to in our Heads.
'Ears of the Heart' was born from this knowing after many hours of Yarning with the Co-founders. Kankawa believes this is the source of who we are as humans and that we can know instinctively, but we have forgotten over time who we really are. The disconnect with this inner knowing is what is at the root of many of the traumas and disconnections that exist for us all today. The first choice we can make to heal our disconnects is to learn how to listen more deeply with this place deep in us, not only with our Ears on our Heads.
Hamish Curry
General Manager, Cool Australia
Hamish has a 25-year background in leading education across schools, libraries, and education companies using design thinking and intercultural learning. He brings tenacity and creativity to his work, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in making education better. Through Cool Australia, he leads the development of new initiatives and refining existing processes to ensure education gets the resources they need to help people and the planet. Hamish would rather do all this while snowboarding.
Hamish has been a school teacher with stints in London, UK and Toyama, Japan. He also led the development of the Eltham College City Campus (Year 9 program). He grew significant school and public programs while Education Manager at the State Library of Victoria. As a Senior Consultant with NoTosh he travelled the world for 4 years helping schools and major companies design better learning. Hamish’s last role was as Executive Director of Asia Education Foundation with University of Melbourne, where he shaped intercultural learning across Australia and 23 other nations in school partnerships and programs. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Melbourne Graduate School of Education.
Professor Josh Byrne
Dean, Sustainable Futures, Curtin University
Josh Byrne is an environmental scientist and urban design professional with a national profile as a consultant, researcher and communicator in urban sustainability. His approach is leadership through demonstration by engaging in projects that provide opportunities to test innovation, build capacity and share learnings with stakeholders and the wider community.
Josh has a long association with applied research, complimenting his extensive industry experience in the urban design and development sector. Following the completion of his PhD, Josh was responsible for running nationwide, demand-led research projects with Curtin University and the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living. His research expertise spans water sensitive design, energy efficient housing and sustainable urban development, and he has authored a number of academic publications, industry guides and factual video series in these fields.
Josh is well known as the WA presenter on ABC TV’s Gardening Australia program where over the past 20 years he has demonstrated how gardening can improve urban livability to a national audience. He is a regular contributor to print and radio media, and author of three popular books on sustainable gardening and low carbon living.
Josh’s unique skill set and interdisciplinary approach to practice, research, policy and communication has been recognised through numerous awards including the Australian Water Association WA Water Professional of the Year, the Planning Institute of Australia WA Planning Champion, and Murdoch University’s Distinguished Alumni for Science and Engineering. He is a member of the Waste Authority of Western Australia, the WA Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority, and the WA State Government Design Review Panel.
Professor Sandra Milligan
Executive Director, Melbourne Metrics, University of Melbourne
Enterprise Professor Sandra Milligan is Executive Director of Melbourne Metrics at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne. Sandra has an unusually wide engagement with the education industry and in educational research.
Originally a teacher of science and mathematics, she is also a former Director of Curriculum in an Australian state education department and has held senior research, management and governance positions in a range of educational organisations, including government agencies, not-for-profits, small start-up businesses and large, listed, international corporations. Sandra’s current research interests focus on assessment, recognition and warranting of hard-to-assess learning. She directs several research partnerships with school networks and organisations working to develop Learner Profiles for their students. She is lead author of Future Proofing Australian Students with New Credentials report, outlining methods to reliably assess and recognise the level of attainment of general capabilities, and of Report 1: Recognition of learning success for all
She was co-founder of The Good Universities Guide series, and has a background in technology commercialisation in education. She is the Convenor of a Melbourne University MOOC targeting professional learning for teachers in the area of assessment and teaching of 21C skills, which has to date has enrolled over 30,000 teachers worldwide.
Tara Merks
Director, Serve Learn
Tara brings passion and over 25 years educational leadership experience to her role as Director of Serve Learn Educational Consultants. Tara has a Masters in Ed Leadership (LeHigh, USA) and PTC Principals Training Certificate (USA), she is an Instructional Coach (Madison Wisconsin, USA) and has led schools around the world in developing sustainable service learning and global citizenship programs. She has presented at international conferences for teachers, leaders and students, ran PD workshops and webinars and supports teaching and learning with in-school consulting. The Serve Learn Conceptual Curriculum Framework is available online with academy courses for students, teachers and leaders.
Tara is a collaborative author of Enacting Equitable Global Citizenship Education in School by Routledge. She repatriated to Melbourne Australia with her two boys Eddie aged 14 and Tom aged 11 after 18 years leading international education in the Middle East (ASK), Asia (ISM) and Africa (AISJ).
Heather Lawrence
Co-designer, Ears of the Heart Project
Heather has been passionate about the unrealised potential of educational settings for over 40 years. Her background in early years education led her to work in diverse settings Nationally and Internationally, over 30 years in Tertiary settings, Adult Education in Community and Education Sectors. Heather taught and researched at University of Melbourne until 2012, and has continued to work with, teach and mentor Educators through Conferences, Seminars, in small groups. Importantly her wish is collaboration with others, to create life serving learning opportunities in trans-contextual ways, based on compassion, care and love.
Heather’s intention was always to bring an 'Awareness' of the complex issues that drive the behaviours of children, youth and young adults and the influences of systems of Education, Health, Economy, Politics on their social experiences in families and Communities. This was highlighted when she began to collaborate with Kankawa Nagarra, where she faced the hard truths of the effects, of multiple and often opposing theories over time, along with ever changing drivers of Political and Economic Policies, on the lives of children, youth, young adults and their families in the Kimberley. More hard truths were faced with the awareness that these circumstances are not unique in Indigenous Communities. This led to deeper Research in Strategic Foresight, Systems Change and Learning Journeys of her own Inner dimensions.
Heather has learned that 'Awareness' on its own was not enough for Teachers, Students and families to participate in ecosystems in Schools they would love to be a part of. She began to hold the question, “How can conditions be created and nurtured for educators and parents and students and the wider Organisations, Governments and others help each other to flourish, together". This question continues for Heather, Kankawa and Ears of the Heart journeymen as they continue learning journey of Indigenous Wisdoms with diverse Spiritual Perspectives with Awareness Based and Compassionate Systems Change methods that deliberately pay attention to the "wildfires" that continue to burn and affect the lives of so many in these times.