Program and Presenters
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» For directions to the venue, please see Transport Access Guide (PDF, 484.06 KB) (opens in a new window)
Dr. Stephen R. Kellert (opens in a new window) is the Tweedy Ordway Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology and Senior Research Scholar at the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His work focuses on understanding the connection between nature and humanity with a particular interest in the human need for nature, environmental conservation, and sustainable design and development. He recently completed, with Bill Finnegan in 2011, a 60-minute documentary video, "Biophilic Design: the Architecture of Life". Professor Kellert will be sharing insights from his most recent publication Birthright: People and Nature in the Modern World (opens in a new window).
Richard Bawden, OAM, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Sydney, an adjunct professor at Michigan State University, a visiting professor at the Open University in the UK, and a Fellow and Director of the Systemic Development Institute (SDI). Richard has had the opportunity to work in systemic development projects in more than two dozen countries spread across five continents. He has been a Visiting Professor, Professorial Fellow, or Scholar at Cornell, Minnesota, Rutgers and Michigan State Universities in the USA, at the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa, and at the Open University in the UK, and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Richard is the Chair and a Director of the Hawkesbury Foundation and is currently working on ideas for a major initiative in sustainable well-being on the Hawkesbury Campus.
Carol Birrell is an artist, writer and academic exploring the interaction between an Indigenous and Western sense of place. She is a lecturer in Social Ecology at the University of Western Sydney and previously taught Aboriginal Education at Wollongong University. Her earth-based arts practice for the last 12 years, called ‘ecopoiesis’, draws together movement, painting, photography, environmental sculpture and poetry, along with Indigenous understandings as a base for ecological writing and exploring ecological identity. Carol has strong long-term collaborative relationships with Aboriginal communities: Yuin (south coast NSW) and Worrorra (west Kimberley). At present, she is writing a book on the life and teachings of distinguished Yuin Senior Lawman and Elder Max Dulumunmun Harrison and developing research in the field of ecopedagogies.
Charlie Brennan (opens in a new window) works as an academic at Southern Cross University and as a sustainability consultant working on ‘Sacred Places’ projects. Charlie’s teaching and research revolve around working towards environmental and community sustainability, applied ethics, social inclusivity and ‘sense of place’. His area of practice and interest lies in the intersections of practice and theory, community and the environment. Specifically, his focus is upon putting sustainability ideas, ideals, design and targets into practice – which was the subject of his PhD thesis Situating Place-Practice.
Karen Bridgman lectures at the University of Sydney in the Masters of Herbal Medicine. She has been on the Academic Review Committees of the Southern Cross University School of Complementary Medicine (Lismore) and the University of New England (Armidale). Coming from a Nuclear Medicine background, Karen has been working clinically as a Naturopath for over 20 years, the last fifteen in a holistic medical practice (Pymble Grove Health Centre) and a private pathology laboratory (Sydney).
Dr David Bubna-Litic (opens in a new window) is senior lecturer in strategic management at UTS Business. After graduating, David worked as a management consultant in human resources and then strategic management for chartered accounting firms and the Strategic Consulting Group. He has long-term interests in meditation, spirituality and deep ecology, and he teaches on sustainable management, organisation theory and strategy.
Catherine Camden-Pratt (opens in a new window) is passionate about education for personal and social change, and has 20plus years experience in education and welfare across a variety of settings. She graduated with her Masters in Applied Science (Social Ecology) in 1997 and with her PhD in 2003. In 2000 Catherine began teaching in Social Ecology at the UWS and has also taught in diversity and pedagogy studies in the School of Education. Her current teaching includes Learning and Creativity in the Education Studies Major and Applied Imagination in the Master of Education (Social Ecology). Catherine is currently the Course Adviser for the Education Studies Major. She has exhibited her artwork, published a popular press book from her creative and transgressive 2002 PhD, as well as and performing co-written research plays.
Michael Chew is an environmentalist, freelance photographer and community cultural development practitioner. Michael is passionate about the power of creativity and storytelling to empower individuals and strengthen communities, and has initiated various community arts projects in Melbourne and India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and East Timor. He recently returned from a year working on climate adaptation in Bangladesh and is finishing a Masters of Education (Social Ecology) at UWS. He is currently excited about positive news stories and future visions, and is planning for a global journey to document, collect and share these stories with the world.
Brenda Dobia is senior lecturer and Academic Course Advisor for the MEd (Social Ecology) in the School of Education at UWS. She teaches and researches in social ecology and teacher education and has active interests in sustainability education, ecopsychology, cultural psychology and wellbeing. In 2012 she received an Australian Office for Learning and Teaching citation for her curriculum design and teaching. She was also awarded a 2012 Vice Chancellor’s excellence award for sustainability for her work on the Youth Eco Summit. Brenda’s recent publications include Dobia, B. & O’Rourke, V. (2011). Promoting the mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous children in Australian primary schools (opens in a new window) and Dobia, B. (2013). What's in it for the man? Models of masculinity in the worship of the Goddess Kāmākhyā, South Asian History and Culture, 4(2), 230-249.
Dexter Dunphy is Emeritus Professor in the School of Management at the University of Technology Sydney, where he previously held the position of Distinguished Professor. His main research and consulting interests are in corporate sustainability, the management of organisational change and human resource management. Dexter is currently advising on corporate change programs, leading executive development programs, and supporting sustainability initiatives within UTS and other organisations.
Bruce Fell lectures at Charles Sturt University in visual literacy and screen production. He is six years into a longitudinal research project ‘Visible and Invisible Communication’ looking at issues surrounding communication, wellbeing and ecological sustainability. Bruce’s recent publications are: Bring the noise: has technology made us scared of silence? (2012), The Power And Influence Of The Synthetic Cortex in Social Ecology (2011), My Story, Your Story: Talking About Television, Ecology and Wellbeing (2010), Television & Climate Change: The Season Finale (2009).
Graeme Frauenfelder is a global adventurer of playfulness, creativity and kindness. He came to the undergraduate Social Ecology community at Hawkesbury in 1999 to heal, to have a place of belonging and for a taste of experiential learning. His first class honours involved active research in exploring the value of creativity and the arts and the role they play in enriching the human spirit in international community development projects (which included fieldwork in Zambian villages.) As a tutor from time to time at UWS, Graeme is part of sharing Social Ecology in an academic setting in the education units "Learning and Creativity" and "Education and Transformation".
Sally Gillespie is a doctoral candidate at the University of Western Sydney researching “Climate Change and Psyche: Myths, Dreams and Conversations”. She is the author of Living the Dream, The Book of Dreaming and co-author of The Knot of Time, as well as contributor to Depth Psychology, Disorder and Climate Change edited by Jonathan Marshall. Sally practised as a Jungian psychotherapist for over twenty years and served as the President of the CG Jung Society of Sydney from 2006 to 2010.
Susan Goff is a participatory systems facilitator. With a background in theatre arts and social ecology, Susan has worked as an independent scholar through her consultancy, CultureShift, since 1991. She has designed, facilitated and documented over 50 participatory research, learning and evaluation strategies in the public domain, and across several policy arenas embracing social and environmental threats to intergenerational sustainability. As well as running her own consultancy, Susan is a past President and Life Member of the Action Learning Action Research Association and also works as a casual academic at the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney, examines action research doctorates and supervises post-graduate degree students engaging in participatory methodologies.
Tonia Gray joined UWS in 2012 as an Associate Professor, appointed to the Centre for Educational Research at UWS as a Secondary Specialist in Pedagogy and Learning. Her research interests include: eco-pedagogy, human-nature relationships, and reflection and experiential learning in a variety of educational settings. With a wealth of experience in outdoor education, curriculum design, implementation and evaluation spanning over three decades, she was awarded an ALTC Teaching Citation in 2009 and a major grant in 2010 to introduce reflective and experience-based learning to international education within tertiary settings.
Uncle Max Dulumunmun Harrison is a Yuin Elder and senior lawman. He has published a book in 2010 called My People's Dreaming. Uncle Max has spent a lifetime working with his own people to transmit cultural knowledge, as well as teaching other non-Indigenous people about Aboriginal culture. He has attended international conferences/gatherings, taught in schools and universities to students of all ages, been involved in research projects, and continues to take people on journeys to his country (far south coast NSW and Snowy Mts to Victoria) to enable all to connect deeply with Mother Earth. He has a long term relationship with UWS through Social Ecology. He is presently working with Dr Carol Birrell, UWS School of Education (Social Ecology), on his second book which will also be a documentary and interactive website.
Roseanna Henare-Solomona is originally from the Ngati Hine and Ngapuhi tribes (Maori) of Aotearoa New Zealand. Her PhD explored the changes to Maori identity and culture when whanau (families) leave the homeland and migrate to live in Australia. Roseanna has an extensive background in welfare, community development and social policy and she has held numerous positions on government advisory boards and community based committees. She aspires to empower people through education and has successfully mentored Aboriginal, Maori, Pacific Island and intellectually challenged students (with no formal qualifications) through their studies. Roseanna currently teaches in the School of Management at UWS.
Professor Stuart B. Hill was the Foundation Chair of Social Ecology at the University of Western Sydney from 1996 to 2009. He is now an Adjunct Professor in the School of Education. `Stuart has published over 350 papers and reports. His latest books are Ecological Pioneers: A Social History of Australian Ecological Thought and Action (with Dr Martin Mulligan; Cambridge UP, 2001), Learning for Sustainable Living: Psychology of Ecological Transformation (with Dr Werner Sattmann-Frese; Lulu, 2008) and Social Ecology: Applying Ecological Understanding to our Lives and our Planet (with Dr David Wright and Dr Catherine Camden-Pratt; Hawthorn, 2011).
Dale Hunter is a pioneer and leader in the field of group facilitation and has led facilitator education workshops in Australasia, Europe, USA, Canada, Caribbean, China, Malaysia, South Africa and Taiwan. She is a co-founder and director of Zenergy Ltd established in New Zealand in 1993. The vision of Zenergy is “Whole people co-operating in a sustainable world”. Hunter's doctoral thesis (2003) is entitled "Facilitation of sustainable co-operative processes in organisations" from the Social Ecology Research Group (SERG) at the University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, Australia, under the supervision of the inspirational Professor Stuart Hill.
Christina Kirk has a deep understanding of organisational culture and change, developed over 32 years in the corporate world in Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States. Christina was a Partner in Organisational Change and Consulting with IBM Global Business Services, managing a large change consulting practice across Australia and New Zealand. She has held roles in Price Waterhouse Coopers and Corporate Vision, a Management Consultancy based in Sydney. Christina’s passion, continued study and depth of experience focuses on change leadership, culture change and working to build high performance organisations. She recently completed a PhD at UWS, Navigating the complexities of organisational culture change.
Karin Mackay is a working artist and has considerable experience with youth and women’s community groups using a stories and art approach to create a sense of community and raise awareness of important cultural and ecological issues. Karin founded The Women’s Room Centre for Women’s Wellbeing in The Blue Mountains which curated the popular Earthspirit Festival and women’s art exhibitions for 5 years. Karin now works with The School of Education in the areas of Education for Sustainability, Learning and Creativity and Diversity, Social Justice and Equity.
Karen Malone was recently appointed Professor of Education in the School of Education at University of Western Sydney. Dr Malone is also Chair and Founder of the Child Friendly Asia-Pacific network and a member of the UNICEF International Research Advisory Board for Child Friendly Cities. She is also Asia-Pacific Director of the global UNESCO-MOST Growing Up In Cities (GUIC).
Dr Susan Murphy is both a writer and authorised Zen teacher and lineage-holder, teaching since 1998. In 1997 Susan was awarded a a five-year QEII Research Fellowship by the Australian Research Council in social ecology for a study of sense of place based mainly in film and radio work. Her most recent book (also e-book) is Minding the Earth, Mending the World: the offer we can no longer refuse, Picador, Sydney, 2013, a detailed, Zen-inspired response to the tremendous koan presented to the world in our life-times by the environmental crisis we all face.
Margaret Somerville (opens in a new window) is Professor of Education in the School of Education and Director of the Centre for Educational Research. A pioneer in place studies in education she has a long history of collaboration with Indigenous communities about their relationship to place. Her first of five authored books, 'Ingelba and the Five Black Matriarchs' with Aboriginal Elder Patsy Cohen, was described as 'the best politically informed oral history ever produced in Australia'. Her enduring focus in this work is in articulating what non-Indigenous Australians can learn about living in this land from the oldest continuing culture in the world. Her latest book, 'Water in a Dry Land', published in Routledge's Innovative Ethnography Series, is an outcome of this long term research interest.
Dr. Brendon Stewart joined the University of Western Sydney in 1992 taking up a position in the School of Social Ecology. Dr. Stewart recently retired from the position of Senior Lecturer and academic coordinator of the Masters of Analytical Psychology, in the School of Psychology, at the University of Western Sydney (UWS), Australia. His research brings together analytical psychology, Buddhist thought, cultural studies, ecological theory, creativity and learning. His has done extensive research with recently arrived migrants in various local government areas of Western Sydney. Currently Dr. Stewart is working with the Cana Communities in inner city Sydney. Here he is involved with a mentoring programme assisting men who have recently been released from NSW state prisons. He is also involved with the organization of acute need shelters for homeless men.
Tony Webb (opens in a new window) obtained his PhD in trans-disciplinary research at UWS in 2004 for a study looking at the social psychology of shame. A senior lecturer in the School of Science and Health at UWS, Tony coordinates the B. Nat. Sci. Capstone / Workplace Integrated Learning Field Project unit. He has undertaken research into community engagement in water resource issues and currently a Commonwealth/industry funded ‘Researcher in Business’ working in the Goulburn Valley, Victoria, with a grower-worker-community cooperative set up following the closure of the Heinz tomato Processing factory at Girgarre. Tony’s background includes campaigns in the UK/Europe, North America and Australasia around a range of issues including: unemployment; short-life housing; resource/recycling; nuclear energy, radiation health and safety / radiation victims; food irradiation; food policy, and cooperative development. His primary interest is in exploring how we can achieve real engagement in issues of social and ecological concern and particularly how activists can better engage the hard to reach sections of the community.
David Wright (opens in a new window) is Director of Higher Degree Research in the School of Education. His research interests lie in the overlapping fields of cognition, embodiment, performance, creativity, learning and systems thinking. He approaches this work through the lens of Social Ecology, which looks at the relationships that facilitate understanding. Central here is the creative communication of learning. David teaches in the overlapping fields of Social Ecology, Transformative Learning, Creativity and Sustainability. He has published nationally and internationally on cognition, learning, drama, embodiment, constructivism and creativity. He has written plays for performance as well as creative fiction.
