Conference Facilitator

Kathy Bowlen

After 20 years working in radio and television, Kathy Bowlen is one of the states’ most experienced media performers. Kathy spent a decade presenting the weekly current affairs program, STATELINE, on ABC TV, conducting studio based interviews, reporting, and also presenting the ABC’s weekend television news bulletins. Kathy spent two years presenting the national breakfast news; hosted the international half hour weekly current affairs program “Asia Focus”, and wrote and produced two half hour documentaries.

Since leaving the ABC, Kathy has started her own business, “Media Savvy”, specialising in executive level interview training, along with media training, and M-C ing events. Kathy is also working as the National Media Manager at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, and serves on the governing council of Swinburne University.

Keynote Presenters

Elizabeth Broderick

Social, Political and Professional Realities of Women Today,  Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commission for Age Discrimination, Australian Human Rights Commission, NSW.

Elizabeth Broderick is a lawyer, mentor and innovative leader, 2001/02 Telstra NSW Business Woman of the Year and the Australian Corporate Business Woman of the Year.

Prior to her appointment as Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination, Elizabeth was a partner at one of Australia’s leading law firms, Blake Dawson and developed the firm’s business case for flexibility  in the workplace.  Her efforts contributed to creating a workplace where more than 25 percent of the law firm’s workforce now uses flexible work arrangements. Elizabeth has travelled the length and breadth of Australia listening to women and men’s concerns about gender equality and age discrimination. In 2009, she took a group of Aboriginal women to the Commission on the Status of Women in the United Nations to tell their story of rebuilding their community following years of alcohol abuse.  This enabled community women’s voices to be heard on a global stage.

Elizabeth is an adviser to the Australian Chief of the Defence Force on women’s issues and a member of the UTS Advisory Board and the Vic Health Advisory Board.  

Elizabeth has also been invited to join the Advisory Board of the Australian National University College of Law’s Centre for International and Public Law.

Valerie Hannon

Learning Innovation in the 21stC: Engaging Girls on Their Terms, Valerie Hannon, Director, Innovation Unit, Department of Education and Skills, UK.

Valerie Hannon is Managing Partner of The Innovation Unit. She leads the work on Education and Children's Services, and has a strong interest in the work in local government and the third (non-profit) sector. Valerie has been a Director of Education in a large county Local Authority (Derbyshire). She has worked in a broad range of Local Authorities, and was an advisor to the Local Government Association. Before joining local government, she was a senior research fellow in the University of Sheffield and led on education policy for the Equal Opportunities Commission. Her teaching experience was in secondary schools. She is a former USA Harkness Fellow.

Valerie was a member of the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education, which produced the report All Our Futures (1999, DfES/DCMS). She subsequently acted as advisor to the then DfES (now DCSF), the QCA and to the Creative Partnerships programme, to promote creativity in learning, teaching and leadership.

She has worked independently with a range of Local Authorities, UK public agencies, and overseas education systems interested in building innovative capacity. She is a regular contributor to international conferences and seminars on these themes, working for both the OECD and ANZSOG (Australia and New Zealand School of Government). Valerie is a Trustee of two third sector organisations working in the field of creativity and learning.

Kaz Cooke

“A Trip to Girl World: Allow Kaz Cooke to be your guide, based on the research for her bestselling book for teenage girls, Girl Stuff.  Hands inside the bus please.”

Kaz Cooke has been a firm favourite of women readers since her first best-seller, Real Gorgeous, the Truth About Body and Beauty in the early 1990s. Her latest book, Girl Stuff: Your Full on Guide to the Teen Years, drew on Kaz's survey results in which more than 4000 girls told her their worries and thoughts on everything from puberty, confidence, sex, alcohol and drugs and much more. In the year of its first edition, 2008, Girl Stuff won the Australian Booksellers' Association Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry's Non Fiction Book of the Year, the Best Designed Children's Non Fiction Book at the Australian Publishers Association Book Design Awards, and an honour prize in the Children’s Book Council of the Year Information Book of the Year. Kaz is the mother of a tween-age girl and lives in Melbourne. She is currently working on a grown up version of Girl Stuff, called Women's Stuff. She is an ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Project. Her website is www.kazcooke.com.

Risk Behaviour in Young Women Panel

Louisa Deganhardt
Louisa Degenhardt is a Professor and Assistant Director at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), University of New South Wales. She is currently the recipient of an Australian NH&MRC Senior Research Fellowship. Louisa completed her PhD in 2001 on the comorbidity between drug use and mental health problems in the general population.

Louisa led a number of national illicit drug surveillance projects from 2001-2008. These included the Illicit Drug Reporting System, the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System and the National Illicit Drug Indicators Project. She was the chief investigator on a large project examining the Australian “heroin shortage”.  Louisa is an investigator on a large US National Institutes of Health case control study, examining potential gene-environment interactions between childhood trauma and the later development of heroin dependence.  She is currently involved in several international projects examining the epidemiology of drug use and dependence, and related problems, across the globe. 

Professor George Patton

Professor George Patton Director of Adolescent Health Research at Melbourne’s Centre for Adolescent Health. He is a Senior Principal Research Fellow with the National Health and Medical Research Council. His group has undertaken studies ranging from the sociological to biological. This included the Gatehouse Project, a trial of promoting social inclusion in Victorian schools. He has advised the World Health Organization over the past decade on adolescent health and development and chairs the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare advisory group on ‘Young Australians, their health and well-being’.

Dr Laura Vogl
Dr. Laura Vogl is a research fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) at the
University of New South Wales. In her work at NDARC, Laura has developed and evaluated a number of
effective computerised school-based programs for the prevention of alcohol misuse, cannabis and
psychostimulant use. Laura has a particular interest in the differential effectiveness of prevention programs for males and females. She is also particularly interested on the impact of parental supply on the progression of adolescent alcohol use, and is a chief investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery grant investigating this issue. Laura is a chief investigator on a project examining the differential gender effects on the uptake of ecstasy use in adolescents and adulthood. Laura has extensive experience as a clinical psychologist in the area of general adolescent and adult mental health. Her research interests include the prevention of mental health problems and adolescent mental health issues.

Relationships and Work

 Lynne Pezzullo

Reality check: work life balance and the educational nexus
Lynne Pezzullo is director of the non-profit think tank WFA and prime author of WFA’s 2009 report “Reality Check: work life balance”.  Also a director and chair of the economics consultancy Access Economics and mother of four, Lynne is a sought after speaker and much published author in her chosen field of health economics as well as in women’s issues.  She is a review for the Medical Journal of Australia, Telstra Business Woman of the Year ACT 2008, a participant in the 2008 Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit and features in Who’s Who of Australian Women 2009.

 Mary Crooks

Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust
Mary has been Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust since November 1996. Her previous experience has largely been in tertiary teaching, public policy and the design and management of public processes that enable people to give voice and act on issues of concern within their communities.

As Manger of the Victorian Women’s Trust she oversees the multi-faceted work of the Trust in its philanthropy, advocacy, policy, research, public events; and special project initiatives.

Major projects she has managed during her time at Victorian Women’s Trust have included The Purple Sage Project, Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives, The Welfare of Former Religious, A gender Lens for Inclusive Philanthropy.

 

Women and Faith

 Sherene Hassan

Leadership, Power and Politics

 Stephanie Foster

Deputy Secretary, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government

Stephanie Foster graduated in Arts (English literature and German) with honours from Monash University in 1986. She joined the Department of Defence as a graduate trainee in 1987, and spent sixteen years within the Intelligence community in a range of analytic and management positions.   Included in this period was a three year posting to Washington as the Defence Signals Directorate’s Liaison Officer between 1996-1999. 

 Paula Dwyer

Ms. Dwyer holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Melbourne majoring in accounting and economics, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia.

Emma Cassar

 Emma is currently working for Corrections Victoria, within the Department of Justice, in the position of General Manager, Women’s Prison Region.  The Women’s Region consists of a maximum security prison located in Deer Park, Melbourne and a minimum security prison located in Maldon. The region manages approximately 310 women.   Emma manages all functional areas of the prison including custodial operations, vocational services, business and finance, clinical services and research/quality assurance.  Emma has a Doctorate of Forensic Psychology from Melbourne University and has worked within Corrections Victoria as a Forensic Psychologist, Custodial Operations Manager, Clinical and Offender Programs Manager and Project Manager.   Emma also has a private practice, Myndscape Consulting, which focuses on providing clinical supervision, organisational consultancy work, training and program development. Prior to her psychological training, Emma managed several small businesses, and has lectured at several universities. More recently, Emma won the Victorian Telstra Young Business Women of the Year. She then went on to win the National, Telstra Young Business Women of the Year, sponsored by Marie Claire.

Girls and Learning Workshops

Seminar 1 - Girls and Leadership and Learning, Leoni Degenhardt, Director, Degenhardt Consulting NSW

Dr Leoni Degenhardt is a consultant who assists schools in the areas of Learning, Leadership and Organisational change
 
She has over twenty years’ experience in senior leadership in schools.  This, combined with a PhD in educational leadership, has given her expertise and insights which she is able to put at your disposal.

Leoni works with organisations, schools, universities, and professional bodies which are striving to adapt and transform themselves to meet the needs of the Knowledge Society.  She has experience in strategy, cultural change, learning communities and leadership approaches for the 21st century.

Seminar 2 - The artful human – Are we educating people out of their creativity, Tania de Jong AM, Founder Creativity Australia, Creative Universe, Music Theatre Australia, Pot-Pourri and The SOng Room

Tania de Jong AM is the artistic director of Pot-Pourri and of Music Theatre Australia. A Bachelor of Honours in Law from of the University of Melbourne and a graduate of opera at the VCA, Tania is considered one of Australia's most talented sopranos. Tania was named 2006 Ernst and Young Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year as Founder of The Song Room. A finalist in the Telstra Business Women's Awards she was inducted into the AGSE Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame. Tania is on the Board of Child Abuse Prevention and Research Australia. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008. She has recently founded Creativity Australia to bring greater creative thinking and leadership into organisations and communities to improve wellbeing, social connection, innovation capability and productivity.

Seminar 3 - Girls and Maths: Why do gender differences in educational and occupational outcomes persist? Dr Helen Watt, Associate Professor, Monash University.

Dr. Helen Watt is an Associate Professor at Monash University. Her career has encompassed Macquarie University (1997-8), Sydney University (1998-2003), the University of Western Sydney (2003-4), and the University of Michigan (2003-2006). Career highlights include Australian Research Council Discovery grants; awards from the Australian Association for Research in Education, American Educational Research Association, Positive Psychology Summer Institute, the University of Michigan, Monash University, and the University of Sydney. Her expertise relates to motivation, gendered occupational choices, and teachers' perceptions and aspirations. Her research interests are in the motivational processes that underlie life choices - particularly the ways in which gender gets incorporated into life planning as it relates to education and occupation. Helen has published and presented widely in these areas

Seminar 4 - Connects and disconnects: Why would a girl study information technology anyway?  Dr Julianne Lynch, Senior Lecturer, Deakin University, VIC

Dr Julianne Lynch is a researcher and senior lecturer at Deakin University. Her areas of expertise include the sociology of technology, educational innovation and change, technology and learning, and gender and information technology. She has taught in a wide range of areas within primary, secondary and tertiary teacher education programs, most recently in introductory subjects on identity and difference, and in specialist subjects on classroom technologies and learning. Julianne was a chief investigator on an Australian Research Council project that focused on gender and information technology in Australian secondary schools.

Seminar 5 - Realities and challenges of educating girls in a Co-Ed School, Jann Robinson, Principal, St Lukes’ Grammar Schools, Sydney, NSW

Jann Robinson was educated in co-educational schools and has taught in boys only schools, co-educational and girls schools.  She has held leadership positions in girls and co-educational schools and in 2005 became the Principal of St Luke’s Grammar School, a Pre K to Year 12 co-educational school. As an educator she is passionate about the academic outcomes of students and sees those linked with student well being. She has a commitment to using 21st technologies in the classroom and in having teaching and learning which is meeting the needs of all students being mindful of interests and the different learning styles of students. Her experiences in working in an all girls school for eight years has  shaped her approach to the needs of girls as they are prepared for life beyond the school gate.

She is the Chair of the Heads of Co-Educational Independent Schools in NSW and the ACT which has approximately 60 schools as members.

Seminar 6 - Girls and education: Where are we now? , Dr Judith Gill, Associate Professor, University of South Australia, SA

After teaching high school students for ten years, Judith Gill came to educational research in order to investigate gender effects and schooling.  Her research interest moved from the identification of factors associated with student motivation to the schooling practices that are involved in gender construction in students. This area canvassed the whole broad range of schooling structures and processes and led to several publications about the effects of school gender context.  She has maintained an interest in gender as a key dimension of social, intellectual and cultural organisation and has conducted research into the ways in which gender impacts on people's self understanding, world vision and life choices.

Seminar 7 - Do girls learn differently? Michael Auden, social philosopher, teacher and author

Michael is a social philosopher, teacher, author and consultant on gender education. The Centre for Leadership in Education, which he founded 20 years ago, works to improve the ability of teachers to teach girls using up-to-date research and teaching strategies. Through in-house sessions, his books and his public seminars, Michael works with teachers on overcoming barriers and creating opportunities in the education of girls. Michael works closely with schools to provide teachers with an understanding of how modern research on female brain development can assist them to improve the efficiency of their teaching methods. His seminar, How Girls Learn, has been a popular way for him to share girl-friendly strategies while using many of the learning style preferences associated with girls in school.

Girls and Wellbeing Wokshops

Seminar 8 - Helping girls move beyond Bratz,Britney and Bacardi Breezers, Dannielle Miller. Co-Founder, Enlighten Education

Co-founder of Enlighten Education, which provides girls with training and suport to stand up to limiting media and social messages. In 2009, the Australian Newspaper named Dannielle as Australia’s number one emerging leader in learning. She works with thousands of girls across Australia and New Zealand and makes regular appearances to advise on teen issues. She is the author of the teen parenting book, The Butterfly Effect. A major innovator and expert in the field of education and student welfare, Dannielle is a popular speaker at youth and education conferences and forums. 

Seminar 9 - The Obesity Epidemic and Increasing Incidence of Eating Disorders – How to Manage the Spectrum in Children and Adolescents?–  Melissa Whitelaw, Clinical Paediatric Dietitian, Royal Children’s Hospital and Dr Rob Roseby, Deputy Director of Adolescent Medicine at the Centre for Adolescent Health  

Melissa Whitelaw is a Clinical Paediatric Dietitian at the Royal Children’s Hospital and The Centre for Adolescent Health. Melissa worked for more than 20 years as a Physical Education teacher in Independent Girls’ Schools, before returning to university to study Nutrition and Dietetics. In 2004, she commenced work at the Royal Children’s Hospital, The Centre for Adolescent Health and in private practice at Melbourne Children's Clinic. Melissa has worked in several medical units over this time and as the Adolescent Unit Dietitian for the last 5 years. She has presented on Anorexia Nervosa at local conferences and at the Society for Adolescent Medicine Conference in Los Angeles, 2009. Melissa regularly speaks to students in schools and lectures in undergraduate and post graduate courses on Adolescent Medicine and Eating Disorders.

Dr Rob Roseby is Deputy Director of Adolescent Medicine at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Childrens Hospital, Melbourne. He trained in respiratory paediatrics originally and has many years of clinical experience, including 6 years in Alice Springs where he was head of paediatrics and was exposed first hand to the significant health issues of Aboriginal Child Health. It was there that he developed an interest in nutrition and where it can go so wrong. In addition to his clinical work Rob has interests in policy, preventable disease and clinical governance.

Seminar 10 - Too much too young: Addressing the sexualisation of girls, Melinda Tankard Reist, Writer, Speaker, Advocate for Girls' Education

Melinda Tankard Reist is a Canberra author, speaker, commentator and advocate with a special interest in issues affecting women and girls. She is author of Giving Sorrow Words: Women’s Stories of Grief After Abortion (Duffy&Snellgrove 2000), Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics (Spinifex Press, 2006) and the newly released Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls (Spinifex Press, 2009). Melinda is also a founder of Women’s Forum Australia and editor of WFA’s magazine-style research paper Faking It: The Female Image in Young Women’s Magazines. She is listed in World's Who’s Who of Australian Women and in demand as a speaker in Australia and overseas. Melinda also helped initiate the new grassroots campaigning movement, Collective Shout: for a world free sexploitation www.collectiveshout.org  and  www.melindatankardreist.com 

Seminar 11 - Developing Social Resilience, Evelyn Field, Psychologist, Speaker and Author

Evelyn Field is a counselling and media psychologist, professional speaker and author. She is on the advisory council of the National Centre Against Bullying and has written two bestsellers on school bullying, now in five languages,. Her self-help book on dealing with workplace bullying will be released early 2010. Evelyn believes that organizations, like schools, need to respect their whole community, students, parents and staff and that students and staff need to develop their emotional and social resilience to manage life’s challenges and difficult relationships. 

Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli writes and researches on social justice, diversity and equity issues in education and health. Her primary areas of interest are cultural diversity, gender diversity, sexual diversity and family diversity. Apart from academic chapters and journal articles, her publications include: Someone You Know, Australia’s first AIDS biography; Girls Talk: Young Women Speak Their Hearts And Minds; Tapestry, a biographical narrative on five generations of her Italian family; When Our Children Come Out: how to support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered young people; and the following three with Dr Wayne Martino: Boys’ Stuff: Boys Talking About What Matters, So What’s A Boy? Issues of Masculinity and Schooling and "Being Normal is the Only Thing To Be": Adolescent Perspectives on Gender in Schools.

Seminar 13 - Cyber Bullying - Why worry...we're anonymous, who cares…I'll be so famous, so what...if I get caught? Kate Hadwen, Senior Research Fellow, Edith Cowan University, WA

Kate Hadwen is a Senior Research Fellow with the Child Health Promotion Research Centre, directed by Professor Donna Cross, at Edith Cowan University. The research centre is currently conducting 14 longitudinal school-based health promotion research projects involving children, adolescents and their parents in the areas of bullying prevention, aggression and violence, cyber bullying, depression and anxiety, school connectedness and drug use, obesity prevention and smoking cessation. Kate has taught Junior, Middle and Senior school students in Government, Catholic and Independent schools in three states of Australia, she has been a curriculum co-ordinator, Deputy Principal, Head of Boarding and a National Project Manger / Curriculum Writer for a resilience building school and community based program. Kate currently directs the cyber friendly parents’ projects within the centre and most importantly has three children of her own. 

Seminar 14  - Physical Intelligence – Finding the Balance, Jane Gorman, Annie Rose, Jane Elms and Jane Stephens, Lift Education, VIC

Lift education spans areas of social, physical and sexual health, enabling young women to make connections between healthy bodies and productive lives.  
LIFT educators have extensive and diverse experience in health and social education. Our purpose is to empower students with self-knowledge, which will provide them with strategies to meet the challenges of our rapidly evolving world. We are all parents of adolescent children.

Covering the areas of sexual, physical and social awareness our school programs aim to demystify issues surrounding young developing bodies. We encourage an understanding of physical diversity, fitness, efficient and effective postural habits. Our workshops address issues of identity, body image, self- esteem and sexual safety. Emphasis is always on the importance of good communication and how individual behaviour impacts on others. 
 
Lift Education comprises the follow associates: Annie Rose, a registered nurse and counsellor, Jane Elms, a teacher and psychotherapist, Jane Stephens, a physiotherapist and Jane Gorman, a physiotherapist.  

Global and Ethical Responsibility Panel

Amanda McCluskey (Panel Chair)
Amanda McCluskey, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investment, Colonial First State. In the role of Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investment, Amanda focuses on developing and delivering Colonial First State Global Asset Management’s strategy on sustainability and climate change issues. Amanda works closely with the investment teams across all asset classes to build in a consideration of ESG issues and identify new investment opportunities. Amanda also engages the investment community more broadly to increase the awareness of the risks and opportunities for long term investors. Amanda is the founding Deputy Chair of the Investor Group on Climate Change a non-executive director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and a non-executive director of the Climate Change and Business Centre In recognition of her leadership on climate change issues in particular, Amanda was named one of Sydney’s most influential people in 2009 
  

Larissa Brown

Larissa Brown is the 2008 Australian Young Environmentalist of the Year. She is the founder and executive director of the Centre for Sustainability Leadership, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting Australians to make their communities, workplaces and sectors more sustainable. Larissa was named one of Melbourne’s ten most influential environmentalists by The Age Magazine, 2007.

Frank Pegan 
Frank Pegan has been the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Catholic Super since 2001.  Frank is a
leader in promoting and advocating the adoption of ESG (economically, socially responsible and ethical
governance) principles throughout the investment community. He is a founding member and presently
Chair of the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) who research the financial risks of climate change and contribute to the national debate. The IGCC represents investments over $600 billion in both Australia and New Zealand. Over recent years he has addressed Senate Standing Committees on the adoption of an Emissions Trading Scheme and had the former US Vice President, Al Gore meet with his Catholic Super Board. (Mr. Pegan hosted Mr Gore's address to the Australian investment community on his most recent visit to Australia.) 
 
As CEO of Catholic Super, Frank was the first signatory to the UN Principles of Responsible Investment and a foundation member of the Carbon Disclosure Project. Frank is regarded as an international leader in this area and is frequently sought as both a speaker and contributor to panels and conferences.
 
Prior to being CEO of Catholic Super Frank was Finance Director of the Catholic Education Office Melbourne and remains a member of the Melbourne Archdiocesan Finance Committee. Mr Pegan holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Commerce and is a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA). 

Jane Sloane

Jane Sloane is Executive Director, International Women’s Development Agency. IWDA works to create positive change for women and their communities through programs designed to address poverty and oppression as well as through advocacy, leadership and education programs in Australia.  Jane has held senior roles with Marie Stopes International, World Vision, AusAID and AusAID, was founding CEO of the Social Entrepreneurs Network and General Manager, Sydney Media Centre for the Sydney Olympics. She has a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies, is a Churchill Fellow, a Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Fellow, a Queens Trust recipient and a recipient of a Woman of Distinction Award by the Asia Pacific Business Women’s Council for her humanitarian work. Jane was one of the 75 Australians trained by Al Gore as advocates climate change action.

 
Ian Wishart 
Ian Wishart is the CEO of Plan International Australia.  Plan is one of the oldest and largest children’s development organisations that works to empower communities to overcome poverty. By actively involving children, and working at a grass roots level with no religious or political agenda, they unite and inspire people around the globe to transform the world for children. 

Ian has extensive experience in the international aid sector both in Australia and overseas. He previously worked for World Vision Australia for eleven years from 1989-2000. In that time he was first Emergency Relief Project Officer, Manager of the Emergency Relief Group, then National Director in Laos and finally Manager Strategic Planning. 
 
He has worked on assignment all over the world including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Rwanda, Mozambique, Cambodia and Somalia. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).
 
Ian holds a Science Degree from the Australian National University, a Graduate Diploma in Education from Canberra University and an Executive MBA from Mt Eliza Business School and is also a graduate of the Sir Edward Weary Dunlop Asian Leadership Program run by Asialink Trust.