Nairn Walker
Nairn has now worked across Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK with over one hundred thousand professionals to
– identify potential,
– highlight capacity and
– increase outcomes for individuals, organisations, schools and communities.
Committed to raising awareness, understanding and outcomes through sharing strategies that make a difference, her audiences include community and government practitioners, police and justice workers, doctors and dentists, nurses, allied health, housing, welfare, social service, youth and family support professionals, educators, employment agencies, churches, local, state and federal politicians, employers, businesses and corporations.
She first brought her mentor, internationally awarded Cheryl Watkins, to Australia 25 years ago and introduced MESH (Mental, Emotional, Social and Spiritual Health) Support Group Facilitation Program, to the nation: a powerful experiential model that continues to have a most positive and profound effect on participants of all ages through-out our country in business, schools and community agencies, and one of her very favourite workshops to conduct.
This led to her introducing another of her personal teachers, Dr Ruby Payne, to Australia back in 2000 for a series of training events which Nairn then continued to conduct for the next twenty years, sharing insights into the issues presented by economic diversity in every level of our communities, schools and businesses.
Her focus now is on Celebrating Capacity: distilling all that she has learned from Cheryl, Ruby, Bernard and many other thought leaders and change agents to optimise outcomes for individuals and organisations in schools, workplaces, families and communities.
She has an exceptional ability to support people to recognise, harness, increase and celebrate all that people have to offer and apply these learnings in a practical way, and continues to conduct MESH trainings along with Workplace Wellbeing Workshops and tailor-made sessions to suit people’s needs.
Nairn Walker – Keynote Speaker and Coach
Nairn’s vocational background is in education and administration where she enjoyed a number of roles including Program and Campus Manager for disadvantaged and challenging youth and their families in Northern Tasmania, and time spent on the regional Behaviour Support Team. She also spent several years representing Australian Scholarships Group to deliver YCDI! Education to schools.
Nairn has a strong interest and over thirty years’ experience in community development and a passionate commitment to social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. To this end, she co-founded and chaired the Mt Arthur Centre in Tasmania for five years, dedicated to individual and community well-being and has held a number of other Directorial positions on community boards with organisations such as HeadSpace and Rotary.
She taught Equity and Social Justice at the University of Tasmania (School of Education) for several years, and (usually!) revels in being mother to teenagers Marley, Daisy and Hamish.
Nairn loves her role as a trainer and consultant with Social Solutions and is truly committed to their mission – Educating for a positive now.
Dr Lila Landowski
Dr Lila Landowski is a multi-award winning neuroscientist and senior lecturer at the university of Tasmania, Vice President of Science and Technology Australia, a keynote speaker, as well as a regular guest expert science communicator for the ABC. She is a Fides health ambassador for the World Health Organisation. As a thought leader in STEM and STEM advocacy, her honorary titles include being a “Superstar of STEM,” a Patron of Science, a Public Education ambassador for the Department of Education, and one of the Chief Scientist of Australia’s “Science Superheroes”. Lila has a strong personal focus on community health and wellbeing, making the wonderful world of science more accessible to the community through talks and the media. The TEDx speaker has received accolades including the Premier’s Young Achiever of the Year, as well as being a finalist for an Australian Museum Eureka Award and Young Australian of the Year. Lila was named as one of Australia’s top 20 Scientists by the Herald Sun.
As a neuroscientist, Lila’s research expertise is in axon guidance, neural repair mechanisms and therapeutic development for nerve damage. In 2014, after completing her PhD at the Menzies Research Institute Tasmania, Lila trained at the Peripheral Nerve lab at the Mayo Clinic to cement her status as an emerging leader in the field of peripheral nerve injury. She was recruited to teach and coordinate neuroscience units at the Wicking Dementia Centre at the same time. In recent years, her research focus has shifted from peripheral neuropathy to stroke and fatigue. Recruited as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Professor David Howells at the University of Tasmania in 2016, Lila spent time as a visiting scholar at the Florey Institute’s Melbourne Brain Centre (Austin Hospital, Melbourne), developing surgical skills and a novel model of stroke. With the support of a $450,000 investment from the Royal Hobart Hospital Research Foundation, her foremost research goal was to transform the success of pre-clinical stroke research.
Lila has taught into courses at the University of Tasmania for 15 years, working across various subjects for Medicine, Medical Research, Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Science, Nursing, Dementia Care and Paramedicine She has been awarded two of the university’s highest honours; a Vice Chancellors citation for early career teaching, and a Vice Chancellors citation for community engagement.
Lila has a strong personal focus on the importance of science communication, public outreach, and community health and well-being.
Paul Muller
Paul Muller is the principal of QQ Research and author of the State of Volunteering Report series, first issued in 2014. With over 50 reports published in Australia and New Zealand, his work focuses on the economic and social value of public goods, including volunteering, sport and the creative industries.
Paul has worked collaboratively with academics, industry and government to pioneer innovative approaches to measuring value and regularly shares his insights as a keynote speaker. He is particularly interested in challenging institutional assumptions and improving executive decision-making, and is passionate about mentoring the next generation of creative and critical thinkers.
The volunteering sector’s role in a disrupted world
The buzz around AI is what it can do for me, but the more important question is – what it means for all of us.
If AI is rapidly transforming and disrupting society, what does that mean for volunteering, a sector fundamentally important to how we live, work and play?
As the world of work shifts beneath our feet, the ripple effects won’t stop at the office door.
Drawing on national and state volunteering research, Paul weaves together the conference’s three themes to explore what’s coming and why volunteering has a vital (and, as usual, overlooked) role to play in the AI revolution:
- innovation and adaptability in how we respond
- empowerment and capacity building in what we offer, and
- inclusive leadership to ensure no community is left behind.
The organisations already expert in giving people purpose may, in fact, be more essential than ever.