Dr Laura Jana is a pediatrician, social entrepreneur, and award-winning author now on faculty at Penn State’s Prevention Research Center, having previously served as Director of Innovation at the University of Nebraska College of Public Health. She has a degree in Cellular Molecular Biology (University of Michigan) and a medical degree (Case Western Reserve University). Early in her career, Dr Jana collaborated with Dr Benjamin Spock and co-founded one of the first online health/parenting websites. In addition to pediatric practice, she founded her own consulting company, was 10-year owner/operatorof a private educational childcare center, received a 40 Under 40 Business Award, and became internationally recognized as a trusted consultant for parents, news media, academic and government organizations, non-profits, and corporations alike.

Dr Jana is currently a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, head of Mattel’s medical advisory council, consultant to Primrose Schools – a $1BUS-based system of educational childcare centers, member of Ready Nation/Council for a Strong America’s Speakers Bureau, and blogger for US News & World Report. As author of 31 books, her latest,The Toddler Brain: Nurture the Skills Today That Will Shape Your Child’s Tomorrow, focuses on the strategic cultivation of 21st Century skills, the focus of her latest startup and more than 140 talks/keynotes (including 2 TED talks) addressing a wide range of cross-sector audiences – from the World Forum on Early Childhood, Delhi Public Schools, and Early Childhood Australia to the US Chamber of Commerce, the World Bank, and the British Parliament.

Trevor MacKenzie is an experienced teacher, author, keynote speaker and inquiry consultant who has worked in schools throughout Australia, Asia, North America, South Africa and Europe. Trevor’s passion is in supporting schools in implementing inquiry- based learning practices. He is a highly regarded speaker known for his heartfelt storytelling, kind demeanour, and student-first philosophy.

Trevor’s graduate research focused on identifying and removing the barriers to implementing inquiry-based learning in the K-12 setting. He is an inquiry practitioner currently as a teacher with the Greater Victoria School District in Victoria, Canada. He has three publications: Dive into Inquiry; Inquiry Mindset Elementary Edition; Inquiry Mindset Assessment Edition; all published by Elevate Books Edu. He has vastexperience supporting schools across several years in implementation strategies in public schools, international schools, and International Baccalaureate programmes (PYP/MYP/DP). Trevor Mackenzie is an award-winning English teacher who believes that it is a magical time to be an educator. By increasing student agency over learning, weaving in strong pedagogy, transformative tech use, and sharing learningto a public audience, Trevor’s learners are ready to take on important roles in the 21st century.

Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine. As a researcher for over 25 years, Marc has focused on the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in learning, decision-making, creativity, relationships, health, and performance. Marc’s mission is to educate the world about the value of emotions and the skills associated with using them wisely. “I want everyone to become an emotion scientist”, he says. “We need to be curious explorers of our own and others’ emotions so they can help us achieve our goals and improve our lives.”

Marc is the lead developer of RULER, a systemic, evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning that has been adopted by over 4,500 schools reaching over 4M children across the United States and in 27 other countries, including Australia, China, England, Italy, Mexico, and Spain. RULER infuses social and emotion learning into the immune system of schools by enhancing how school administrators lead, educators teach, students learn, and families’ parent. Research shows that RULER boosts academic performance, decreases school problems like bullying, enriches classroom climates, reduces teacher stress and burnout, and enhances teacher instructional practices.

Kath Murdoch is a teacher, former academic, author and globally renowned consultant in inquiry-based learning. She works with schools all over the world to support educators in providing high quality inquiry-based experiences for learners in the early and primary years. Kath is the author of many popular books for educators including ‘The Power of Inquiry’ and ‘From Agency to Zest’.

Lisa is an educator who sees herself as an ‘every-day researcher’, fascinated with childhood and learning. After a several years teaching and leading primary schools in Australia, she consulted in and around New York for ten years. Her highly regarded consultancy business is now based in Adelaide, South Australia.

Lisa’s interests include early childhood education, embedding and contextualizing the principles of the Reggio Emilia educational project within learning environments, play, literacy learning, inquiry learning and strengthening children’s connections to nature. Lisa is the author of “Are You Listening? Fostering Conversations that Help Young Children Learn” and “A Culture of Agency – FosteringEngagement, Empowerment, Identity, and Belonging in the Early Years”. Her favourite work is when she is side-by-side with children and educators in their learning settings.

Dr Brenda Heyworth is a child and family Psychiatrist with decades of clinical experience and enormous empathy for the caring adults who work with children. An entertaining speaker, her enthusiasm is infectious as she brings perspective and practical strategies to issues of mental health and wellbeing. With warmth and respect, she translates the research, experience and complexities of life for adults to understand the story of each child’s emotions and behaviour.

She authored the chapter, Heyworth, B. 2022 ‘The Role of Stories in Design for Change’ in A Rixon, C Lloyd (eds) Facilitating with Stories; Ethics, Reflective Practice and Philosophies. Newcastle Upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pages 153-166

In 2011, she founded the social enterprise ‘It’s a Jungle’, to cultivate a culture of understanding about emotions and behaviour, that productively changes attitudes for now and generations to come. www.itsajungle.com Her first book, ‘It’s a Jungle-A Parent’s Guide to Emotions and Behaviour’, was published in 2012 for parents of school aged children and her next book (a school teacher’s guide) is due for release in 2024.

Dr Heyworth graduated from the University of Newcastle with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1994 and is a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, with further specialist qualification in Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry. In 2021, she earned a Graduate Certificate of Learning Design and Digital Technology from Harvard University then went on to complete the Harvard Medical Faculty course ‘Media and Medicine: How to tell stories that make a difference’ in 2022.

After providing personalized assessment and advice for thousands of families on the Sunshine Coast (Qld), Dr Heyworth closed her clinical practice in 2021, to focus more fully on mental health education across society.

Dr. Dee O’Connor is a Values-Based Leader and Academic with specialist knowledge of child, family and community development, experiential learning, engagement, innovation, and creativity. Dee has previously led several strategic plans from development to achievement and is an expert in working withevidence in the attainment of best practice. In addition, Dee has held senior management roles in NGOs,and within public and private organisations. Dee is an experienced, effective, and empowering universityleader as well as an expert researcher, author of 55 publications, established public-speaker, award winning teacher and collaborative innovator.

Dr Amelia Ruscoe is an experienced educator and leader in early childhood studies in the School of Education at Edith Cowan University. She has worked as an early years educator for 30 years and now uses this practical base to pursue innovative ideas to support, extend and enhance the learning experience of young children, and emerging educators, in the context of 21st century educational priorities. She is a published author and public speaker and currently researches what school affords young children in the first year of compulsory school.

Mikayla is a Kalkadoon and Dutch woman who was born on Whadjuk Country of the Noongar Nation. Her experience in education spans over a decade in various roles including Aboriginal Islander Education Officer, Classroom Teacher, and Deputy Principal and Academic. Currently, Mikayla is lecturing at Edith Cowan University and the University of South Australia whilst completing her PhD. She has been recognised on a local and national level for her impact in the education realm with various awards including, 2019 Early Childhood Australia Early Career Teacher of the Year and 2023 ECU Young Alumni Commendation.

Associate Professor Dr Christine Robinson is the Associate Dean Research for the Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Theology and The University of Notre Dame Australia. Christine has previously held the position of Early Childhood Co-ordinator for the undergraduate and post-graduate programs. Christine specialises in teaching within early childhood across the topics of play, holistic pedagogies, spirituality, religious education as well as family and community partnerships. Christine’s PhD explored educators’ practices for promoting children’s spirituality and she continues to research, speak, and publish in this area.

Dr Karen Murcia (PhD) is a Professor in the School of Education at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia. As a specialist in the field of creativity and STEM in early childhood education, she leads research exploring digital pedagogies for fostering children’s development of creativity and computational thinking. Professor Murcia is the education co-lead of the Australian Research Council funded Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. As a leading Chief Investigator, her research team is investigating the impact of digital technologies on children living and growing in the digital age. Her expertise in STEM education is further recognised and utilized through her ongoing Board position with Scitech), which is Western Australia’s preeminent science discovery centre.

Sam is an early childhood consultant with a focus on child development and pedagogy. Sam has over 25 years of school-based, classroom and leadership experience and 10 years consulting experience working across school and centre based early education and care settings.

Sam is currently a sessional Senior lecturer at Notre Dame University Fremantle and a Phd candidate.Sam is the co-author and editor of the AISWA publication Nature Pedagogy and a contributing author to Learning Through Play: Creating a play-based approach within early childhood contexts with her colleagues at Notre Dame.

Her areas of interest and research are in the cognitive development of young children and the social and cultural construction of knowledge with a focus on pedagogical approaches that are rights based, relational and premised upon play and inquiry as developmentally, neurologically and theoretically aligned to early childhood education and to young children’s learning and development.

Dr Kimberley Beasley has worked in early childhood education for 25 years, including 8 years as a university lecturer. For the last 10 years, Kimberley has been interested in connecting children to nature and teaching science in ECE through Inquiry. She has presented nationally, as well as in Vienna, USA, New Zealand, and Macau on connecting children to nature through their outdoor spaces. Kimberley completed a PhD studying botanical literacies and has developed a framework for teaching Botany whenthe teachers have a low level of plant knowledge themselves.

Dr Jane Merewether (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood and Indigenous/Cultural Studies in the School of Education at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia. Her research and teaching explore children’s common world relations with materials, places, and nonhuman others, and is published in Australian and international journals and books. She has also presented her research both nationally and internationally.

Dr Merewether is particularly interested in generating liveable, sustainable, and ethical pedagogies in the context of climate and ecological change. She works with participatory methodologies and theoretical perspectives that help her to pay attention to entangled human and more-than-human relations and ways of cultivating thinking collectively with the world. Dr Merewether also draws on her many years of experience as an early childhood teacher in Australia, and a long-term engagement the educational project of Reggio Emilia in Italy. 

Ron Bradfield Jr is a saltwater man from Bardi Country, north of Broome, but grew up in Geraldton, Western Australia. He now calls Whadjuk Boodjar (Perth) his home. As the CYO (Chief Yarning Officer) of Yarns R Us; Ron facilitates cultural conversations across all levels of communities, helping Australians to revisit and explore their own personal stories – so as to better consider their own connections to this place – their home!

Learn ideas for introducing Aboriginal Art practices and concepts to students, how to understand the relationship between identity, personal storytelling and mark-making and an insight into contemporary Aboriginal Art practice.

Photo credit: Ron Bradfield wearing his artwork In Plain Sight, 2019. Photography by Sue-Lyn Aldrian-Moyle.