Resume

Born in Madrid, Macarena is a qualified teacher specialising in teaching Spanish as a foreign language, as well as art history. Macarena has been teaching the Spanish language and culture from beginner to advanced levels at the University of Sydney in the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies since 2012. She has more than ten years of experience teaching Spanish in Australia. Macarena previously taught at the University of Technology Sydney, the Cervantes Institute, Mt. Kuring-gai Community College, and Spanish Solutions.

During her time as a teacher at the University of Sydney, Macarena has received teaching awards in recognition of her outstanding contribution to teaching and student learning. In 2016 Macarena was presented with the Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Teaching with Distinction. In 2015 she received a Commendation for Excellence in First Year Teaching, presented by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Macarena is a certified examiner of the Diploma in Spanish as a Foreign Language (DELE) for Basic, Waystage, Intermediate and Advanced levels. She is also a tutor for the on-line learning system Aula Virtual de Español (AVE).

Currently Macarena is writing her thesis at the University of Sydney. Her thesis examines the concept of embedding culture in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language in Australian universities.

Resume

Amanda Gordon (B.A. Hons Psyc) FAPS

Amanda has been the Director and Senior Clinical Psychologist of Armchair Psychology Practice since 1989. The Practice comprises herself and three other skilled Psychologists, all of whom are also members of the Australian Psychological Society. To ensure their continual development and best client support, all Armchair Psychology Practice practitioners have quality supervision.

Amanda provides specialist counseling to women and men in all stages of life, dealing with individual and relational responses to a wide variety of life events, including establishing and dealing with relationships, balancing home and work, empty nest, career choices, depression, anxiety and physical health. She also sees children and adolescents, often with their families.

Also, at Amanda’s discretion, Armchair Psychology Practice holds focused group sessions.

Amanda has been involved in teaching “Professional Ethics and Private Practice” to the Clinical Masters and Doctoral students at the Psychology Department, University of Sydney. She also provides courses to support the NSW Ambulance Service, and is currently working to create cultural change in Australia’s Immigration Detention Centres, through the training of all staff in the new policies for mental health and psychological support of those in distress and those who are victims of torture and trauma.

Amanda is a peer reviewer for the N.S.W. Health Care Complaints Commission.

Amanda is the immediate past President of the Australian Psychological Society, the peak professional body representing over 16000 psychologists nationally. For several years prior to her election as President in Oct 2004 she was Director of Communications and Vice President of the Society.

She is a long-standing member of the College of Clinical Psychologists, and prior to her election to the Board of the Society in 2001, was a member of the National Committee of that College of the Society. Members of the College are involved in Continuing Professional Development, and thus Amanda’s work uses best practice techniques at all times. Amanda is also an accredited pregnancy counselor and a member of the College of Health Psychologists of the Australian Psychological Society.

Amanda’s Presidential Initiatives for the APS included the founding of National Psychology Week, the Bendi Lango Foundation for the Provision of Bursaries for Postgraduate Indigenous Psychology Students, and the APS Strategic Leaders Programme.

Amanda is one of Australia’s best known Psychologists, with over twenty years of experience in the media. She was a weekly contributor to the ABC’s Late Night Psychologist national program from 1989 to 2001 During those 12 years Amanda was called to address the full range of psychological issues. She coped with challenges from callers and responded compassionately and productively to the problems raised. She was the weekly Psychologist on Network Ten’s Monday to Friday for the life of that programme, and has made regular appearances on Today Tonight, Midday, GMA and other television programmes. Increasingly, whenever there is an issue of emotional or psychological interest to be discussed the media are quick to call on her for comment.

Amanda is a well-known speaker, and is often asked to contribute to conferences as a Keynote or Panelist.

Resume

Dr Nick Gordon has a PhD in late medieval Italian and early modern European history from the University of Sydney. He has lectured and tutored in Italian, European and architectural history at universities in Sydney, and has led tour groups in Italy. His current research focuses on how late medieval Italians contested control of their cities through books, buildings and festivals.

Resume

Tom Gordon. Tutor of CCE

Resume

Claire is a registered Psychologist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Disability Studies. Claire has a background in providing counselling and assessment for adults with an intellectual disability and mental health concerns. As co-facilitator of the Social Networking Group, she supports a group of people with intellectual disabilities and without intellectual disabilities to learn and share from one another about making and sustaining social connections, with a view to improving mental health. Claire also co-facilitates the Professional Development Program for Person Centred Champions and this year, will join the team in teaching the Diploma of Disability course in Singapore and across Australia. Prior to joining CDS, as partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Bachelor of Health, Claire undertook a placement at Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney in 2008. Here she assessed the adherence of RRCS to new EQuIP criteria issued by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. Claire also completed a research placement at Westmead Breast Cancer Institute and now at CDS is involved in both data collection and analysis on a range of projects.

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Kylie joined the Centre for Disability Studies in 2013 following 17 years working with the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care. She has a comprehensive knowledge of disability services; particularly those operated by NSW government. She has been responsible for both direct service provision and the monitoring and management of accommodation and respite services for people with a disability.

Throughout her varied roles Kylie has contributed to improving the quality of life of people with a disability and enhancing their participation in community life. Kylie enjoys teaching and coaching staff to ensure they are performing at their best, providing quality services to people they are supporting, and getting more satisfaction from their work. She has developed and delivered a range of training sessions for frontline staff, team leaders and middle managers, as well as senior executive and leadership teams.

In her current role at CDS Kylie coordinates the Diploma of Disability and Diploma of Community Services Work contextualised in Person Centredness. Her formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science in Psychology, Diploma of Management and Leadership, Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management and Cert IV Training and Assessment. She has completed E-learning for your Business through the University of Sydney, and the Learning to Teach Online MOOC from University of New South Wales.

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Leanne is a highly skilled and passionate learning designer, educator, author and speaker. She has been designing and teaching within organisations for more than 20 years, with a particular emphasis on leadership development and the role this plays in transformational growth.

As a Leadership Learning Designer for Woolworths Group and Director of Bright Happy Schools delivering NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) accredited professional development programs to teachers, Leanne incorporates critical and creative thinking and design thinking principles into the content she designs and delivers to build leadership capabilities and personal wellbeing within organisations.

Leanne has a Master of Education, a Bachelor of Arts and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science (Instructional Design). She is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Leanne also holds current accreditation in JDI (Judgement, Drive, Influence), LSI & GSI (Learning Styles Inventory & Group Styles Inventory), and Mental Health First Aid.

Leanne loves empowering her students to become innovative, creative, unique problem solvers. She enjoys inspiring them to live life well, with passion and purpose.

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Dr Robert Gow is a highly engaging teacher, a motivational communicator, and an entrepreneur. Robert currently lectures at the University of Sydney Business School in business strategy and core problem solving skills such as Critical Thinking and Design Thinking at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels.

In addition to his current academic role, Robert is the Managing Director of Gow Learning International an organisational development management consultancy and a Director of Bright Happy Schools which delivers professional development programs to teachers accredited by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for teachers to maintain their registration. As a management consultant, Robert has consulted to a range of private and public sector organisations throughout Australia, and has partnered with Lenovo the world’s largest PC manufacturer to deliver online learning programs throughout China after having established a representative office in Shanghai, China.

With a PhD in Education, a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Education, Robert is passionate about helping people grow and develop – to be better today than they were yesterday.

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Craig is a highly experienced facilitator and consultant and has worked with numerous high profile organisations. This includes project management of change initiatives, implementation of new systems, and the facilitation of education in leadership/management, strategy, finance, project management, risk management, coaching, customer service and corporate/financial systems.

Craig is a faculty member of the AIM Business School, delivering the Managing Financial Resources subject to graduate students. He is an Associate Lecturer at Macquarie University Business School, a casual lecturer at Central Queensland University, and has previously lectured at Charles Sturt University.

Since 2003, Craig has been a facilitator at the Australian Institute of Management, develops and delivers education programs for the Australian Human Resources Institute and competency–based training for the HR Space. Craig has also developed and delivers finance education for the Australian Property Council Academy. He has recently teamed with the Governance Institute of Australia to develop elearning for Board and Committee members in governance responsibilities.

Between 2001 and 2003, Craig worked on a contract with Westpac Banking Corporation’s Learning and Development team in Sydney. Craig helped develop and deliver training programs in the SAP Employee Self Service and Manager Self Service modules, as well as the COGNOS reporting system. Craig delivered training programs to over 2000 employees and managers during this time.

Craig has been a founding shareholder of two entrepreneurial start-ups, and was the Chief Financial Officer of RealTime Minds Pty Ltd between 2013 and 2015. Craig was previously the HRIS and Occupational Risk Manager for Sydney Water, and has delivered super-user training for SAP and Aurion HRIS products. He has also owned and operated a small business in the hospitality and retail sectors, and was partner in a Point of Sale systems implementation and training business focusing on the retail and hospitality sectors.

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Gaia is the co-founder and MD of Tirian International Consultancy, and an effective organisation and project leader and sought-after consultant, facilitator and communicator. She is a doctoral researcher (PhD cand.) and lecturer in the Discipline of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney Business School, focusing on how to create a culture that supports socially responsible and sustainable innovation through effective innovation leadership. Gaia is also the author and co-author of a number of books and educational resources including the popular books The Innovation Race: How to change a culture to change the game, and Who Killed Creativity?... And how can we get it back?.