Speakers

Holly Ransom is the CEO of Emergent, a company specialising in disruptive strategy and building the capacity of leaders to execute change. Emergent, has worked with the likes of Microsoft, Virgin, INPEX, Europcar, KPMG, & the AIS, as well as local, state and federal government departments globally.

Prior to Emergent, Holly’s corporate career has involved working as Chief of Staff to NAB Wealth CEO Andrew Hagger and for Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh. Holly holds a Law degree and BA (Economics). In 2012, she was the youngest person to be named in Australia’s ‘100 Most Influential Women’, and also became the world’s youngest-ever Rotary President. Her work with Rotary has played a key role in the global efforts to lift youth participation in the organization.  

Holly is an experienced non-executive director across the private, government and non-profit sectors. In 2016, Holly was appointed to Co-Chair the United Nations Coalition of Young Women Entrepreneurs and in 2014, the Australian Prime Minister appointed Holly to Chair the G20 Youth Summit, resulting in the first summit to secure its policy demands from G20 leaders. Holly is the youngest ever woman appointed to the board of an AFL football club (with her appointment as a Director of Port Adelaide) and is also on the advisory Board for the launch of the AFL Women’s League.

An accomplished global keynote speaker, Holly has presented across 6 continents, including delivering a Peace Charter to the Dalai Lama. She has featured on ABC’s ‘Q&A’, Channel 7 News & Channel 10’s ‘The Project’, and is renowned for her commentary on intergenerational economic and social issues. A top-ten age group finisher in her most recent Ironman Endurance Triathlon, in 2016 Holly was listed by Sir Richard Branson as one of his dream dinner guests, and in 2017 was Sir Richard’s nominee for Wired Magazine’s ‘Smart List’ of future game changers to watch.

http://emergent.global/

Dr Fiona Bull is Programme Manager in the Department of Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) at the World Health Organization based in Geneva, Switzerland and leads the global work on physical inactivity, healthy eating and the prevention of obesity. Dr Bull joined WHO in 2017 after 25 years in applied research in Australia, the US and USA. Across her career Fiona has focussed on developing scientific evidence and understanding on healthy lifestyles to inform public policy and implementation in practical programs in community settings. She has co-authored over 180 scientific publications and is actively involved in civil society as the immediate Past President of the International Society of Physical Activity. In 2014 Dr Bull was awarded a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to public health. She is a keen skier, swimmer, sailor and dog walker.

www.who.int/

Louise Eyres is a global marketing executive with a career spanning 25 years in transformative marketing roles across manufacturing, mining, financial services, and now sport and health.

Louise is leading the establishment of the marketing function and capability at Sport Australia and the transformational strategy to shift Australians’ connection with sport and activity.

Prior to Sport Australia, Louise most recently was Group General Manager Marketing at ANZ having spent the past decade leading marketing in the Australian and Group Divisions.

Louise was responsible for delivering the transformative group-wide marketing program to drive the ANZ Asia Pacific expansion and more recently the move to a digitally focused business.

Prior to ANZ, Louise held numerous global sales and marketing leadership roles with BHP Billiton including the development of the BHP Billiton global brand following the integration of BHP and Billiton plc.

Louise is a board member of the Advertising Standards Board; the Williamstown Football Club – the only independent VFL club; and has recently been appointed to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Board.

https://www.ausport.gov.au/

Will joined Channel 9 in 2004, after beginning his TV career as a Video journalist in Port Lincoln and Port Pirie.

https://www.nine.com.au/

Andrew Larratt joined Sport Australia as General Manager, Sport Business, on 6 March 2018.

He brings with him more than 20 years’ experience in the sport industry, most recently as Rugby Australia’s General Manager, Community Rugby and Strategy, where he and his team launched the VIVA7s non-contact rugby format which attracted 11,000 new participants. Mr Larratt was a member of World Rugby’s Tier 1 Development Directors and chaired the research arm for growing global participation.

He lectured post-graduate students in the Master of Sport Business program at Victoria University and worked at Cricket Australia from 2005–2013 where he became known as one of the sport’s great strategic thinkers.

This was evident through leading the Australian Cricket Conference which was the catalyst for governance reform, bringing forward the launch of the Big Bash League and nationalising cricket participation. Mr Larratt reinvigorated entry level participation through a refreshed MILO in2CRICKET programme and launching a fun, fast and dynamic programme MILO T20 Blast.

Mr Larratt understands and values the power of diverse thinking and wants to leave a legacy of a great Australia.

https://www.sportaus.gov.au/

Professor Mark Tremblay has a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Sports Administration and a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education degree from Laurentian University. His graduate training was from the University of Toronto where he obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Community Health with a specialty in Exercise Science. Dr. Tremblay is the Director of Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research (HALO) at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute and Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Chair of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, Chair of the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines Committee, and Founder of the Sedentary Behaviour Research Network. Dr. Tremblay has published more than 350 scientific papers and book chapters in the areas of childhood obesity, physical activity measurement, exercise physiology, sedentary physiology and health surveillance. His h-index is 56 and his published research has been cited >14,000 times according to Scopus. He has delivered over 700 scholarly conference presentations, including more than 150 invited and keynote addresses, in 20 different countries. Dr. Tremblay received an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Lawson Foundation 60th Anniversary Award and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology Honour Award for his leadership contributions to healthy active living in Canada. Dr. Tremblay’s most productive work has resulted from his 29-year marriage to his wife Helen, yielding four wonderful children.

www.activehealthykids.org

I am a neuroscientist who specialises in acute brain injury research. After completing my BSc (Hons) and PhD at Griffith University in Brisbane (Aust), I was awarded a Sandoz Postdoctoral Neuroscience Fellowship in the Neurology Department at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where at the end of that fellowship I was appointed as an Assistant Research Professor. I was then fortunate to be awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship (Aust) which allowed me to return to Australia and undertake research at James Cook University in Townsville, North Queensland, focusing on magnetic resonance studies of traumatic brain injury. At the conclusion of my fellowship, I was appointed as an academic staff member and over time became an Associate Professor and Head of Department of Physiology and Pharmacology. A period of sabbatical research as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC, inspired me to move to the University of Adelaide in 2001 where I again focused on research in the Department of Pathology. I was subsequently appointed to be the NRF Chair of Neurosurgical Research and the Head of the School of Medical Sciences. In 2014, I took the opportunity to join the University of South Australia as the Pro Vice- Chancellor of Health Sciences.

My research has always focused on identifying secondary injury factors following CNS injury, and the associated development of novel pharmacotherapies that improve functional outcome. During my early career, most of my time was spent characterising the role of magnesium in traumatic brain injury. In the second half of my career, my research time was spent characterising neurogenic inflammation in acute and chronic brain injury, particularly its role in brain oedema, the development of elevated intracranial pressure and in repeated concussion / chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). A couple of patents in this area have been licensed to pharmaceutical industry and are happily progressing through clinical development (phase I trials have been completed).

Along the way, there have been a few honours and awards including being the invited Japanese Society for Neurotraumatology Visiting Professor in 2001, and presenting the Jamieson Memorial Lecture and receiving the associated medal at the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia annual meeting in 2009. In 2012, the University of Adelaide awarded me a DSc for my international contributions to neurotrauma research. The Australasian Neuroscience Society and the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia gave me the honour of presenting the Eccles Lecture at their annual meetings in 2015, where the Australasian Neuroscience Society also awarded me their Society medal. Later that year, I was inducted as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In 2018 I was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

In terms of service to organisations, I am currently the Secretary of the International Neurotrauma Society and a regular member of the scientific committee of the International Society for Development of Research on Magnesium. Locally, I am the President of the Neurosurgical Research Foundation which is a registered charity supporting brain research.

www.unisa.edu.au

Tim OLDS is a professor of behavioural epidemiology at the University of South Australia. After completing a PhD in French Studies at the University of Sydney, Tim went on to study exercise science, and was awarded a second PhD in 1997. He has taught French at the University of Sydney, and exercise physiology, statistics and epidemiology at UNSW and UniSA.

His research interests have been in mathematical modelling of cycling performance, anthropometry, historical trends in the sleep, fitness, fatness, physical activity and food intake of children, and the relationship between health and use of time. He is the author of the Multimedia Activity Recall for Children and Adults (MARCA), use-of-time software which has been used on over 50,000 occasions in Australia, NZ, Canada, the US and Korea.

Tim has 305 peer-reviewed publications and $27 m in grants and consultancies, including 7 NHMRC and 6 ARC grants. Tim has supervised, or is currently supervising, 26 PhD, 3 Masters and 41 Honours students. He is interested in interwar European fiction, cycling and design.

He is not exactly married, with two children and two dogs.

www.unisa.edu.au

Professor Stuart Smith has a PhD (Psychology) from Macquarie University (2000), an MSc (Psychology, 1995) and BSc (Hons: Psychology,1992) from the University of Sydney. Following his PhD Prof Smith was selected from an internationally competitive field for a postdoctoral research fellowship at NASA’s Ames Research Centre (2000-2002). Between 2002-2007 he held academic teaching posts in Psychology at Trinity College and University College Dublin, Ireland. In 2008 he was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Award-Industry, the first administered by the University of New South Wales. Following roles as Director of the University of Tasmania’s HEALTHY Research Centre (2013-2015) and Professor of Disruptive Technologies at the University of the Sunshine Coast (2015-2016), Professor Smith joined Southern Cross University in 2016. He is currently the Business Development Manager in the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor-Research where he has carriage over translation of research, development of new revenue streams and international research collaborations.

Professor Smith is a national advocate for development of an Australian Serious Games industry and sits on the Foundation Editorial Board of the international, peer-reviewed journal, Games for Health. Professor Smith’s research focuses on identifying the cognitive, emotional, social and physical dimensions of health and wellbeing and identifying technologies to measure, and monitor such dimensions in clinical and non-clinical populations. Together with colleagues in research and industry, Professor Smith is exploring scalable and sustainable approaches to unobtrusively deploy such technologies to disrupt health service delivery. His current research activities include exploration of immersive reality technologies to address psychological health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder, the application of artificial intelligence technologies to health service delivery, evaluation of health sensing technologies (FitBit, Apple Watch) and evaluation of the physical and mental health of professional eSports players.

He has published numerous scientific and trade articles including 63 peer-reviewed articles, 44 journal papers, 6 book chapters and 17 conference proceedings. He regularly writes for industry and trade journals and participates in newsprint, radio and television interviews. His research publications have been cited in the scientific literature 1670 times (1 May 2018) and he has a H-index of 20. Since 2006 he has been awarded 16 grants as a Chief Investigator totalling about AUD$29 million. Professor Smith takes an industry and translation-focussed approach to his research and development activities.

Tessa is a proactive landscape architect, urbanist and strategic thinker with a keen eye for details and passion for good design. Improving liveability, designing public realm, making places for people of all ages and abilities, planning for and integrating public transport are Tessa's main priorities.

Being involved in shaping Australia's ever-changing, growing cities is exciting for Tessa. Her 12 years working in the built environment see her collaborating with innovative people on projects that foster liveable and healthy urban environments. She brings a strategic approach that compliments technical knowledge to help generate holistic and practical project outcomes. Her biggest passion is being part of the process to build vibrant and sustainable places for this generation and the next. She is focused on helping clients and stakeholders understand their opportunity to influence and lead positive change within place design and planning.

www.arup.com

Amy Wilson is a Senior Research Associate and PhD candidate at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, University of South Australia. She has an Honours degree in Psychology, a research Masters in Marketing. Her research focuses on the use of marketing (including nudging, advertising and other strategies) to understand and influence health behaviours, with a particular focus on diet and physical activity. Amy has been involved in various academic and industry research projects across both health and marketing and, as a result, has several cross-disciplinary journal publications and has presented at various international conferences. She co-developed and coordinates a cross-disciplinary undergraduate course "Marketing for Health and Wellbeing", which teaches students from health and marketing backgrounds how marketing concepts can be used to encourage engagement in behaviours that promote health and wellbeing. Amy is a co-author of a Social Marketing chapter in “Marketing, Theory Evidence and Practice” (2nd ed.), as well as a chapter on Behavioural Economics in an upcoming book “Eat Your Greens.”

www.unisa.edu.au

Anthony (Tony) Okely is a Senior Professor and Director of Research at Early Start at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He has been awarded over $11 Million in competitive funding, and published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles that have been cited around 11,000 times.

Tony’s research focuses on physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and motor development in children.

Tony led the research team that developed and recently updated the Australian Physical Activity Recommendations for Children 0-5 years, and the Australian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Children and Young People. He is also part of the Guideline Development Group for the upcoming WHO guidelines on physical activity, sedentary and sleep behaviours in children under 5 years of age.

He is current leading an international surveillance study of 24-hour movement behaviours in the early years (called SUNRISE) which will involve around 25 countries, more than half of which are either low- or middle-income according to the UN Human Development Index.

www.uow.edu.au

Lindsey has extensive experience in applied research and evaluation, specialising in Physical Activity, Sport and Public Health. Within her current role as Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney’s Prevention Research Collaboration, she is the Director of the SPRINTER (Sport and Active Recreation Intervention & Epidemiology Research) group - an innovative research partnership with the Office of Sport, NSW government.

Before taking up her Senior Fellowship at Sydney, Lindsey based herself in the UK, managing a broad range of research and evaluation initiatives for with Public Health England and Sport England to implement their national physical activity and sport strategies. Her portfolio included strategic program management of a city-wide physical activity pathway for people affected by cancer (Active Everyday); Child and Adolescent Obesity research leader for regional public health program; Joint evaluation leader for a GBP £10 million whole systems approach to obesity control (Sheffield Let’s change 4 life) and national evaluation leader for a physical activity programme aimed at integrating physical activity within clinical care pathways (Keep Active Keep Well, British Lung foundation).

A capable strategist and confident thought leader, Lindsey is happiest and at her best when managing numerous projects across a portfolio of highly complex, multi-sector programmes. Lindsey is also the Academic lead for parkrun au, and is an active member of the Global Research board for parkrun.

https://sport.nsw.gov.au/sectordevelopment/sprinter-group

Since being awarded her Doctorate in 2013 Dr Schranz co-founded Active Healthy Kids Australia (AHKA), a national collaboration of physical activity researchers, and led the production of Australia’s first national Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Young People. Working as the AHKA Co-Chair and Research Fellow at the University of South Australia she has led the development and launch of subsequent Report Cards in 2015 and 2016 while also building partnerships and networks with vested stakeholder, industry and end-user groups to forge a sustainable trajectory for AHKA. In addition to this Dr Schranz has played an integral part of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance as a member of the Executive Committee representing Oceania and in 2017 established the AHKA Youth Advisory Council. She has published 14 peer-reviewed journal articles; given 5 invited presentations; had 12 peer-reviewed conference abstracts accepted; was funded for four years (2015-2018) as a Research Fellow by the University of South Australia Vice Chancellor Development Fund; has been invited to be a part of a number of panels and expert groups to inform children’s physical activity policy, initiatives, programs and surveillance methods; and has been the primary spokesperson for both UniSA and AHKA promoting the Report Card and its key messages via extensive national television, radio and print media and delivering presentations to key stakeholder and end-user groups. Recently Dr Schranz has also taken on the role of Research Translation Manager within the Cardiovascular Health Team at the Heart Foundation SA. In this role she collaboratively works with cardiovascular researchers within South Australia, showcasing the work being done by Heart Foundation supported researchers and translating significant findings to key stakeholder groups and the wider population.

www.unisa.edu.au

Rayoni Nelson is the Manager, Physical Activity, Sport and Healthy Eating at VicHealth, where she is responsible for initiatives focused on encouraging regular physical activity and healthy choices, including though sport. Her sport experience particularly includes women and children’s participation at a community level.

Her career has covered a broad range of areas including sport, physical activity, active transport, road safety, customer service and communications.

Rayoni has a Bachelor of Management and a Masters in Sport Management. She has also represented Australia in badminton at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

www.vichealth.vic.gov.au

Fraser Keegan is a career health promoter, with experience in recreation, sport, health and education sectors at both State and Local Government level. As the previous State Manager of both  be active and the Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle (OPAL) Program, Fraser brings unique insight into the breadth of activity required to promote and enable physical activity, with a back-catalogue of success that includes work in high-level policy and local grassroots contexts. A keen eye for detail and a capacity to negotiate complex landscapes, he is ideally placed to recognise the agencies, industries and individuals that need to operate in unison to bring about sustainable change when it comes to physical activity

www.education.sa.gov.au

Chris Lonsdale is a Professor and Program Leader for the Motivation and Behaviour Research Program at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University. His research examines the motivational underpinnings of behaviour in a variety of contexts, including education, healthcare, and physical activity. His most recent and important contributions have centred on the application of motivational theory to promote health behaviours that enhance well-being. His recent and current work includes six large-scale randomised controlled trials of theory-based interventions. These interventions provide rigorous experimental tests of theoretical tenets and seek to translate this knowledge into feasible and scalable interventions that can have benefits for society.

www.acu.edu.au

Carl Jones CEO Rugby Union South Australia.

Carl is a sports administrator with a comprehensive background in programming and training athletes.

Having worked in the British Royal Navy as a Physical Training Instructor for 16 years where he was instrumental in the development of compulsory fitness testing for functional roles carried out by Men and Women in the Royal Navy.

Carl started with Rugby Union South Australia in 2003 as the Development Manager, running a team of Development Officers who would work with schools and form links to clubs.

Carl now sits on a National panel with Rugby Australia which is responsible for the development of the community game in Australia.

Carl stepped away from rugby for three years to take on a role with Variety – The Children’s Charity as Events Manager.

Carl returned to rugby in 2016 in the position of General Manager and have recently been promoted to CEO.

www.sarugby.com.au

Professor Paddy Phillips PSM is Chief Medical Officer and Chief Public Health Officer, as well as State Emergency Controller (Health) for South Australia.

Professor Phillips has responsibility for  clinical advice to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing and the offices of public health services, communicable diseases control, emergency management, research, epidemiology and medical education and training.

Professor Phillips oversees the public presentation of medical advice, resolution of technical medical issues and the development of a medical profession within South Australia. He is the main media spokesperson for SA Health on public health and clinical issues.

Previously, Professor Phillips was Professor and Head of Medicine, Flinders University, Flinders Medical Centre and Repatriation General Hospital in Adelaide. He has also held senior clinical academic posts at the University of Melbourne followed by Oxford University and is Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Duke University, USA.

He has chaired or been a member of a number of national committees and remains clinically active in Acute General Medicine.

His aim is to build a better health system through leadership, innovation, collaboration and governance.

Respected by colleagues, government, the media and South Australian community, in 2016 Professor Phillips was awarded a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service in the area of health services.

Taru is a PhD Candidate in the School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Ottawa, Canada. He is based at the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute. Taru completed an MSc in Community Health Sciences, at the University of Manitoba, Canada. He is a licensed Physiotherapist, whose PhD thesis examines the relationships among lifestyle behaviours (physical activity, sedentary behaviours, sleep, diet) and weight-status of primary school children in Mozambique. Taru is a member the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance as co-leader of the Zimbabwe Report Card Working Group.

www.haloresearch.ca

Riaz completed his Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from Bangladesh. Currently, he is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. His PhD research looks at physical activity and sedentary behaviour, and their associations with wellbeing among university-based young adults in Bangladesh. Riaz holds an academic position at the Department of Pharmacy, Stamford University Bangladesh. He is interested in health-related behaviours, behavioural epidemiology, and research in low- and middle-income countries with a specific focus on adolescents and young adults. Riaz is a co-leader of the 2018 Bangladesh Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.

www.ahkbd.org

Erin-Grace Spavin is a Mum. She juggles a 7, 5 and 3 year old around her working life. She sometimes uses a cleaner and sometimes orders meal kits- because #mumlife.

She wears active wear to the playground so she can engage with her kids, she tries to be intentional about screen time, she has almost eliminated plastic from lunch boxes and she feeds her kids chia seeds. When she saw on Facebook that other Mums manage to mop their floors, she deactivated her account.

Erin-Grace refused to collect Coles mini's, and that made her feel powerful.

She only feels guilty about her parenting 50% of the time.

Erin-Grace is an authentic, genuine and humorous communicator and brings a real perspective to the complex narrative of negotiating physical activity in an increasingly sedentary culture.

Salomé is a PhD candidate in Population Health at the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is based at the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute.

She holds an MSc in Physical Activity and Health Sciences, and three BScs (Movement Performance Ergonomics; Training and Sport Sciences; and Adapted Physical Activity for Specific Population) completed at the University of Rennes II, France.

As the research coordinator of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, she has supported the development of the Global Matrix 3.0 on Physical Activity for Children and youth that involves research teams from 49 countries. Her thesis focuses on the process, results, impact and evaluation of the Global Matrix Initiative. She is also a member of the French Report Card working group.

On her free time, she is a climber, a trail runner, and an artist.

www.haloresearch.ca

Silvia González is a PhD student in Epidemiology at University of Ottawa in Canada and a Research Associate of the Group of Epidemiology at the School of Medicine at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. She holds a Nutrition Degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and an M.P.H. from the School of Government and the School of Medicine at the Universidad de los Andes. Her research interests include physical activity, nutrition and built environment among the populations of children and adults in Latin America. As the representative of South America for the Executive Committee of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, she has coordinated the development of the Report Card of Physical Activity among children and youth in Colombia, and she has served as mentor for other countries in the region.

www.activehealthykids.org

Dennis Yarrington is President of the Australian Primary Principals Association. He was previously the founding Principal of Harrison School, a new and large Preschool to Year 10 School in Canberra, Australia. He has been involved in education for over 30 years, including the positions of teacher, executive teacher, consultant and Principal of a small country school, a large regional school, Special School and establishing a large metropolitan P-10 school. Dennis has worked in catholic and government schools in NSW, NT and ACT. Dennis was co-president of the ACT Principal Association and Vice-President of the Australian Government Primary Principals Association. He has experience in leading schools in the integration of technology, 21 century learning tools and structures and an inclusive school community. This includes teaching and learning communities and a coaching culture to improve teacher performance.

Dennis Yarrington DipT., B.Ed., M.Sp.Ed., M.EdL.,GAICD.

www.appa.asn.au

PhD in Movement Science (Exercise Physiology) from Florida State University in Florida, USA. Currently a lecturer at the University of Botswana in the Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation. Teaches a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses in exercise science to physical education students. Research interests include: use of exercise interventions in the prevention and alleviation of NCDs, Epidemiology of NCDs, particularly the metabolic syndrome; Effects of long term HIV/AIDS treatment on cognition, nutrition and physical fitness among adolescents in Botswana; Children and Adolescents overall physical activity, physical fitness, obesity, nutrition and sedentary behaviors. Effects of Built Environments on Physical Activity Patterns, Interventional Physical Activity Techniques to Improve Health Markers in Communities, General Health Promotion in the general population; communities, industry, & corporate, Physical Task Performances and Policy Formulation and Physiology of High performance in Sports.

Dr. Mandic’s research focuses on multidisciplinary and multi-sector approach to physical activity and health with the links to transportation, built environment and sustainability. Her academic training and professional experiences span Europe, Canada, United States and New Zealand. She is the academic leader of the Active Living Laboratory and the principal investigator on the Built Environment and Active Transport to School: BEATS Study.

www.otago.ac.nz

Sjaan is a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at The University of Queensland. Her research expertise is in physical activity, sedentary behaviour and health, with particular interests in measurement methods, time use approaches to understanding health behaviours, and behaviour change strategies that specifically target maintenance of health behaviours. Sjaan has a Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Hons) and PhD from the University of South Australia and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Centre for Research on Exercise, Physical Activity and Health at the University of Queensland (UQ), before joining Physiotherapy and the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at UQ in 2016. She has been a member of the Active Healthy Kids Australia Research Working Group since it’s inception in 2013.

www.uq.edu.au

Adj Prof Trevor Shilton is National Director of Active Living with the Heart Foundation in Australia. The Heart Foundation’s initiatives in physical activity include a network of free walking groups across Australia, the award winning urban design and health program Healthy Active by Design, the Australian Physical Activity Network (AusPAnet) and Jump Rope for Heart. Trevor’s passion is physical activity advocacy and he aims to contribute to addressing the imbalance between the compelling evidence for physical activity and the lack of policy priority afforded to it. Throughout his career in public health Trevor has extensive experience in translating evidence into robust initiatives such as leading social marketing campaigns and large-scale community-wide programs. Trevor is also actively involved in global professional societies heading up the advocacy work for the International Society of Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) and leading the partnership work for the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). In his spare time Trevor has co-authored over 70 scientific publications and four book chapters. Trevor enjoys being active by cycling, swimming and walking with his wife and his dog Barney.

www.heartfoundation.org.au

Grant Tomkinson has a Bachelor of Sports Science (Exercise Science) degree from the University of New South Wales, and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Honours) degree and a Doctorate (PhD) in Human Movement from the University of South Australia (UniSA). He is a Professor of Kinesiology and Public Health Education at the University of North Dakota, and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Health Sciences at UniSA. He is the Associate Editor for the Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, and co-founder and executive committee member of Active Healthy Kids Australia.

His research interests include temporal trends in the physical fitness, physical activity and adiposity of young people. He has 70 refereed publications, has delivered 15 invited/keynote scientific conference presentations in 10 countries, and has won over AU$5 million in research funding. Using historical data on over 75 million young people from 50 countries, his research was the first to conclusively show that young people’s aerobic fitness has in fact declined worldwide since about 1975 and has plateaued (high income countries) since 2000. His research has informed policy at an international level, with contributions to policy in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, and to the International Olympic Committee’s consensus statement on Fitness and Health of Young People through Sport and Physical Activity. He is a Young Tall Poppy Science Award winner.

https://und.edu/

Associate Professor Kylie Hesketh from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition holds an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. She leads a program of research on physical activity, sedentary behaviours and obesity prevention in children and youth, with a focus on the early childhood period. Her research aims to understand the drivers and outcomes of physical activity and sedentary behaviours in children, and on the development and evaluation of public health prevention strategies to improve the lives and opportunities of children by providing them with a healthy start to life. Kylie has published more than 130 research papers and has contributed to the development of international, national and state health policy.

Kylie is also on the Executive of Active Healthy Kids Australia.

www.deakin.edu.au

Dr. Eun-Young Lee is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University, Canada. Dr. Lee’s overarching research agenda encompasses physical activity and population health in cross-cultural and global contexts. Her specific research interests include the correlates and determinants of movement behaviours, and how these impact on health and well-being among young people (0-17 years). The vision of Dr. Lee’s research program is to create a world where all children, regardless of age, sex/gender, race/ethnicity, or income status, are afforded the equal opportunity to be physically active and happy.

www.queensu.ca

Asad Khan is an Associate Professor in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Queensland, Australia. His current research focuses on epidemiology of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and their inter-relationships with health and wellbeing, with a focus on children and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries. His research also aims to understand health behaviours and chronic health conditions of immigrants. He has published more than 125 research papers in various areas of public health and has contributed towards better understanding of evaluating data to advance scientific research. Asad is the founder chair of the Active Health Kids Bangladesh (AHKBD) and is a co-leader of the 2018 Bangladesh Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.

www.ahkbd.org
www.uq.edu.au

Dr Claudia Strugnell is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Global Obesity Centre (GLOBE) at Deakin University, a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention. Dr Strugnell is currently Co-Stream Leader of the Obesity and Risk Factor Monitoring stream and Director of Monitoring within the Global Obesity Centre, Centre for Population Health Research and Deakin University’s Human Research Ethics Committee member (since 2015).

Claudia comes from a Physical Education and Science teaching background and was previously a secondary school, before deciding to pursue a full-time research career. She graduated in 2005 from RMIT University with Distinction in the Bachelor of Applied Science (Physical Education) degree and went on to complete her honours degree [Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement) (Honours)] in 2006. Throughout her doctoral studies, Claudia was also an active member of Deakin University. Claudia’s research focusses on the establishment of low-cost, high participatory (opt-out consent) and measured school-based childhood obesity and behavioural monitoring systems to inform the implementation and evaluation of whole-of-community systems interventions. Dr Strugnell has spent time at the University of Oxford and Public Health England to further her research expertise.

www.deakin.edu.au

Mr. Nicholas Crooks (BHSc, BHSc (Hons)) is an early career researcher at the Global Obesity Centre (GLOBE) who has extensive experience is school-based childhood obesity research. Mr. Crooks is the project coordinator and data manager within the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University for two, rigorous and high participatory childhood obesity monitoring studies across Victoria, namely the Healthy Together Victoria and Childhood Obesity Study (2013 -2018) and the Great South Coast childhood obesity monitoring system (2015-2021). In his current role he has help pilot and evolve Australia’s first ever sustainable and low-cost childhood obesity monitoring system in within the South-West region of Victoria and led many advancements in the process of data collection and reporting. This work has led to the successful NHMRC Partnership Project titled ‘Whole of System Trial of Prevention Strategies for childhood obesity: WHO STOPS childhood obesity’ which he is the appointed Data Manager and Analyst. Mr. Crooks is also a CI on a recently appointed grant for a project titled “Evaluation of the amended Victorian Achievement Program for schools – Pilot study of outcomes for teachers” and a philanthropic grant to pilot new sustainable methods of data collection in child populations titled “Childhood Advocacy Monitoring Project”.

www.deakin.edu.au

Dr Erica Randle is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Sport and Social Impact at La Trobe University with extensive research and project management experience in the area of sport and physical activity participation, sport based policy, and organisational capacity. She has a focus on supporting government and sport organisations to engage the disengaged into physical activity with particular interest in the less active youth and female markets. This research has focused on how to design and deliver programs, settings and upskill deliverers to attract, engage and retain these less traditional participants.

Working with Sport Australia on the Youth Participation Project, Erica collaborated with 8 National Sport Organisations and 120 schools across Australia to design sport programs for the secondary school environment. Through this project she had the valuable experience of visiting schools to talk to over 550 secondary school students who were disengaged with sport about how programs could best be delivered to better engage them in physical activity. Providing these students with a voice was a rewarding experience that has shaped Erica’s future work in this space.

Erica’s current project is leading the Sport Australia Physical Literacy Pilot Program working with over 30 organisations from the sport, health and education sectors on how to implement the recently released Sport Australia Physical Literacy Standard. Other interests include measuring the social value of sport and recreation (with AFL Victoria, RecLink and Rumbalara Football Netball Club), the design and evaluation of modified social sport products (with VicHealth, Hockey Victoria, Football Federation Victoria) and building the capacity of sport organisations.

Profile of Dr Erica Randle
www.latrobe.edu.au/cssi

Laurent Schmutz has worked at the Sport Australia since June 2013. His diverse portfolio has seen him develop various research projects, and educate the sector about critical insights, including the Future of Australian Sport, the Market Segmentations for Sport Participation, and most recently Sport Australia’s national participation survey, AusPlay. His prior professional background includes 15 years in Marketing research, through consultancy or client-side at Nestle.

Married to an Australian, Laurent moved to Australia in December 2011, from Switzerland. He is doing his best to contribute to physical literacy and participation rates among Australian children, with two children active in sport through organised swimming, triathlon, Australian football, running, cycling and basketball. Laurent is also active himself, and has previously held various administrator and volunteer roles in sports and sport clubs.

www.ausport.gov.au

Tim is the Founder and CEO of parkrun Australia. Since establishing parkrun on the Gold Coast in April 2011, the organisation has grown to be the largest provider of free physical activity opportunities in the country, with 40,000 people completing a 5KM run or walk at over 300 locations every Saturday morning, supported by over 3,000 volunteers.

www.parkrun.com.au

Dr Danielle Einstein is an Honorary Associate with Macquarie University and the University of Sydney. Danielle has collaborated on the development of four secondary school prevention programs (Keep Composed, Chilled@School, The Insights program, and the Emotional Intelligence in Schools program), two internet treatment programs (ChilledPlus for comorbid anxiety and depression, and the Climate Social Phobia program), and developed a therapist-led treatment for superstition-dominated OCD. Danielle's research program focuses on changing community responses to both uncertainty and envy. Danielle leads secondary school programs that promote balanced use of phones and social media, healthy body image, and responding to expectations. Danielle’s research is at the forefront of psychological thinking around management of uncertainty. She works closely with secondary school teachers and university academics across Australia to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of social and emotional learning programs.

mq.edu.au

Rick is the current Australian Council for Health Physical Education and Recreation (SA) (ACHPER) Branch Professional Learning Coordinator and works at Flinders University as a casual staff member of the teaching staff in HPE. He is also Chair of the Tennis SA Ken McGregor Fund and is Secretary of the Australian Professional Teachers Association. Rick is a past Director on the Board of Tennis SA, immediate past President of the Council of Educational Associations South Australia (Educators SA) and Chair of the Enventive Board.

After a distinguished career as a primary PE and class teacher and then Department of Education Health & Physical Education (HPE) Curriculum and Policy Officer, Policy and Program Officer, Physical Activity in the South Australian Education Department Rick has also managed a primary school healthy weight project from 2009-2013.

Rick has also led a small team in the development of a Physical Education curriculum in the Arabian Gulf State of Qatar in 2008. He has also worked at the University of SA commercialising research.

He has co-authored and authored a number of publications including the Sport It fundamental sport skill resource, the ACHPER PEP Fitness resource and the Tennis Australia Secondary Schools Tennis resource, the Tennis Australia Primary Schools program. He is a regular presenter both inter-nationally and nationally on various aspects of HPE and sport.

Rick is also the current editor of the ACHPER Active and Healthy Journal and a Life Member of ACHPER.

https://www.achper.org.au/

Dr. Tuija Tammelin works as a Research Director at LIKES Research Centre for Physical Activity and Health, in Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research focuses on the significance of physical activity and sedentary behaviour on health, well-being and learning outcomes during the life-course, and she has published more than 100 peer reviewed articles. Dr. Tammelin is responsible for the follow-up research related to the national ‘Finnish Schools on the Move’ programme, aiming to make school days more active and pleasant, and she is leading Finland’s 2018 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth,

www.likes.fi/en

Reginald Ocansey became Professor Emeritus after three decades of active service as teacher educator and physical activity and sport researcher. Retired in 2007 from The College at Brockport, Sate University of New York, USA, Reggie has worked as Rector (University College of Entreprenuership, Accra), Director (Narh-Bita College, School of Exercise Medicine, Sports and Wellness), and now Heads the Department of Physical Education and Sport Studies at the University of Ghana.

He is a member of the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE), a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), USA, founder of the Ghana Physical Education and Sport Thinktank (GPEStt™) and Active Healthy Kids-Ghana (AHK-GH), the Director of Active Living and Wellness Alliance Group in Ghana (ALWAG™).

He is Ghana’s representative to several international research groups including; (i) Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance (AHKGA), (ii) Global Observatory for Physical Activity (GoPA!), (iii) NEWS-Africa, Ghana, and (iv) the Alliance for African Partnerships Youth Enterprenuership Research. Under his leadership, several peer-reviewed publications have emerged and influenced policy and program development in physical education, physical activity and sports in Ghana. For example, his research has informed the development of the Ghana Education Service: Physical Education and Sport Policy Implimentation Guidelines, National Physical Education, Sport, Music and Dance Curriculum for the Bachelor of Eduation (Basic Education) in Ghana Universities- just to mention a few.

www.ug.edu.gh

At V4SPORT we specialize in designing human behaviors, with the aim to get more people more active every day. Our organization has a very specific focus on kids. In order to achieve this, we develop and deliver complex programs that are based on cross sectoral partnerships, where private, public and non-governmental organizations work together to develop new ways of combating inactivity. Over the past 9 years, we have implemented a large number of national and international initiatives, with partners from more than 30 countries, for example MoveWeek project, which is an integral part of the NowWeMOVE campaign. Some of these initiatives involved creation of the new infrastructure (we have built over 60 healthy trails around Poland), but most of them use storytelling (based on stories we have created), involve gamification, new technologies and sometimes during the design thinking process, we change the meaning of things – in a way for example, that physical fitness test becomes a fun activity for kids.

Jakub has also co-founded the first Active Healthy Kids Report Card in Poland. He serves on the Executive Committees of two global organizations: Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance and International Sport and Culture Association and he is the member of the Rural Sport Commission of the Polish Olympic Committee. Jakub is a graduate of International Relations at the Social Studies Department in Wroclaw, Poland. He studied in Poland, France, US and UK. He has over 12 years of experience in developing and leading sport and active healthy lifestyle projects, both on national and international level. He is an experienced coach and trainer. Jakub’s portfolio includes over 2000 hours of training in areas such as: strategic development, project management, fundraising based on Cause-Related Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility.

www.v4sport.eu

Deputy Director for Communications and CSR at Benefit Systems, responsible for internal communication, building engagement and projects in the field of CSR and sustainability, including gaining B Corp status by the company. In his professional career he managed the projects in internal and sales communications and corporate translations. Interpreter, translator and foreign language teacher by trade, he was always fascinated by the influence of language on the behavior of its users. A graduate of the CSR program of SIMP Northern Europe, Strategic Leadership Academy Management Program by ICAN Institute at Harvard Business Review Poland, a member of the management board of a charitable foundation. At home, he is a husband and father of two children, whom he tries to infect with the idea of helping others.

https://www.benefitsystems.pl/en/

Formerly Deputy Mayor at Moreland City Council, Alice is a seasoned campaigner and advocate. Having made a career in local and political campaigns, Alice is now the Campaigns' Manager at Parents' Voice. Alice is passionate about supporting parents to create positive change and reverse our obesogenic environments.

https://parentsvoice.org.au/

Lisa Weir is a health promoter and social marketer with an interest in how changing environments and behaviour can improve health for populations. Lisa has worked both in the government and not for profit sector over many years both in Australia and overseas.

For nine years Lisa was Social Marketing Manager for OPAL (Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle) where, together with a dynamic team, the notion of what was required to inspire communities to live healthier lives was challenged.

Lisa has worked on a number of high-profile campaigns ranging from cancer prevention and men’s health to preventing harm from alcohol and other drugs. She has a particular interest in physical activity and nutrition and understands the challenges of changing behaviours in this realm.

Lisa has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Exercise and Sports Science) and a Graduate Diploma in Public Health (Adelaide).

Having received her PhD in Health Promotion from the University of Western Ontario in 2016, Dr. Vanderloo’s area of research focuses on the objective measurement of young children’s physical activity levels and sedentary time. Her research interests also extend to the impact of the outdoor environment on young children’s activity behaviours. Dr. Vanderloo has published some of the first national and international papers examining the variability in young children’s activity levels across various early learning environments as well as exploring approaches for improving objective measurement in this population. Currently, Dr. Vanderloo is working as the Knowledge Translation Manager at ParticipACTION and is also a Research Fellow at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, where her research examines the association between physical activity and sedentary time with cardiometabolic risk in young children.

Email: lvanderloo@participACTION.com
Twitter username - https://twitter.com/lmvanderloo
ParticipACTION Twitter - https://twitter.com/ParticipACTION
ParticipACTION FB - https://www.facebook.com/ParticipACTION

www.participACTION.com

Dr. Tarun Katapally is a population health policy researcher with a specific interest in active living policy. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Regina, Canada, and an Adjunct Professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He is the leader of the India Report Cards on the Physical Activity of Children and Youth. He co-founded Active Healthy Kids India for catalyzing active living research in India to address existing evidence gaps in the second-most populous country in the world.

Dr. Katapally brings a global perspective to active living research by combining his clinical experience with interdisciplinary epidemiological methods. Dr. Katapally’s expertise is in linking advanced mixed-methods and complex analytical techniques with community-based participatory research. His work aims to understand the impact of policy and policy-driven contexts and systems on health and wellbeing of populations, with specific emphasis on active living among children and youth. Increasingly, his focus is on combining citizen science with digital epidemiological tools in informing active living policies through integrated knowledge translation. 

www.uregina.ca

Dr Michalis Stylianou is a lecturer in Health, Sport and Physical Education in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at The University of Queensland. In his current role, Michalis teaches physical education and physical activity courses to both generalist preservice teachers and preservice teachers specialising in Health and Physical Education. His research interests centre around the development of active and healthy schools.

https://www.uq.edu.au/

A playground consultant and fun maker, working with councils, developers and architects to transform public open spaces. Assisting clients to engage the community in healthy environments for all ages and abilities.

EXPERIENCE
Playground Industry 21yrs
Retail industry 15yrs
Banking industry 3yrs

https://www.playgroundcentre.com/

Jodie Evans is the Strategic Engagement and Participation Officer for the Commissioner for Children and Young people. In this role she designs, coordinates and co-facilitates the face-to-face consultations with children and young people. She has a knack for making difficult conversations interesting and engaging.

For more than 20 years Jodie has worked with vulnerable and at risk children and young people. She has worked in a diverse range of roles, including, advocate, case manager and youth worker.

Jodie is passionate about keeping things real, being brave and doing it any way and keeping the spotlight on all things social justice.

Jodie is a perpetual student who is currently undertaking Post-Graduate studies in Counselling & Psychotherapy. When she is running a session or creating an activity you will find her engaging in her most favourite past time, travel.

www.ccyp.com.au

Kate Dermody is the Head of Sponsorship at Medibank. Kate is leading the Medibank Free + Active program which is committed to helping 1.5 million Australians be more active by 2022.

https://www.medibank.com.au/

Bachelor in physical activity and sport sciences and PhD in Physiology at the University of Extremadura (Spain). MSc in high performance training at the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain). The previous background at the university was built in Spain along nine years and currently since 2017 lecturer at the Universidad de la República in Uruguay.

He is leading a new research group based on the analysis of human performance, training a group of young students interested in research, which has a big challenge in Uruguay due to the lack of publications.

Report card leader in Uruguay, developing the first grades on physical activity in children and youth.

The interest topics related to physiology and physical condition testing because of the previous background in this research field. He would like to integrate all the knowledge to improve the population's health.

www.universidad.edu.uy

Simon Eckermann is Senior Professor of Health Economics at the Australian Health Services Research Institute and the University of Wollongong.

His original research has established optimal decision making method across research, reimbursement and regulation in practice and are extensively published in the highest impact health economics clinical and policy journals.

Related principles and methods have been taught by Professor Eckermann to more than 500 students from a wide range of clinical, research, policy and health technology assessment backgrounds since 2000, with the 'Health Economics from Theory to Practice' course he established with Professor Willan in 2005 consistently rated by participants as the best course of its type internationally.

He is a CI on successful competitive research grants totalling more than A$26 million since 2005 and actively sits on and undertakes guideline revision and health economics educational activities for National and International decision making bodies. These bodies have included the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee Economic Sub-Committee, National Palliative Care Trials Scientific Committee, Prostheses List Advisory Committee, Victorian Cancer Agency, Food Standards ANZ, the Medical Decision Making editorial board as well as various NHMRC grant review committees.

Active Healthy Kids Australia believe that if we want to commit to driving conversations and actions which empower children to shape their own physical activity evolution, it is important that we first take the conversation to the kids themselves – which is what we have done by establishing the AHKA Youth Advisory Council (YAC).

The YAC, which commenced in August 2017, comprises 12 children and young people aged 8-16 years from around the country who are committed to playing an active role in helping to create a healthier Australia. They believe that one important way to achieve this is to keep physical activity fun!

Every month the YAC meets to discuss a range of topics and questions about physical activity and being physically active as a child or young person in Australia today. These meetings have been providing a wealth of valuable insight into the ideas, motivations and perceptions that kids have about physical activity that are helping to drive AHKA’s priority research areas and engagement actions.