SARAH DAVIS-ROE is a Social Worker with a Masters of Mental Health (Infant). She is currently working with the Queensland Centre for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health on the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Early Years Project.

Sarah brings with her a passion and commitment to prevention and early intervention in the mental health sector, preferring to be at the top of the cliff rather than in the ambulance at the bottom. She has worked across a range of sectors including mental health, child protection and sexual assault.  Sarah strives to create opportunities to support the development of an integrated, collaborative, and holistic early years’ service system that optimises the mental health and wellbeing of infants and young children along with their family, kin and carers recognising the benefits not only for this generation but future generations to come.

PROFESSOR ROSS HOMEL AO has been Foundation Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University since 1992. Professor Homel is a highly cited social scientist, having published approximately 250 books, edited volumes, peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and high impact government reports. He is a former Commissioner of the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission; Head of the Griffith School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Director of various Griffith research centres and institutes; Vice-President of the Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology; and has recently been appointed as a Queensland Patron for the Justice Reform Initiative, a national movement focused on criminal justice reform.

He has won many awards for his research on the prevention of crime, violence and injuries, and the promotion of positive development and wellbeing for children and young people in socially disadvantaged communities. He won a national road safety award in 1995 for his research on drinking and driving and for his leadership in the early 1980s in developing and successfully advocating for the introduction of a form of mass random breath testing that is still actively enforced in all states and territories of Australia. Other major awards include the Sellin-Glueck Award in 2010 from the American Society of Criminology “for criminological scholarship that considers problems of crime and justice as they are manifested outside the United States.”

In 2008 he was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) “for service to education, particularly in the field of criminology, through research into the causes of crime, early intervention and prevention methods.” In 2008 he was honoured by the Queensland Premier as a ‘Queensland Great’ “for his contribution to Queensland’s reputation for research excellence, the development of social policy and justice reform and helping Queensland’s disadvantaged communities.” In 2018 he received the Distinguished Criminologist Award from the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology “for outstanding, significant and sustained contributions to Australian criminology.”

DR PAUL PRICHARD is based at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. His role there is Manager, Training and Development of Policy Equity and Translation at the Centre for Community Child Health.
For more than 25 years, Paul has been pursuing better lives for the children, youth, adults and families he has worked with. Paul’s career has spanned primary teaching, youth work, residential care, and the coordination, development and management of family support, parenting and volunteer interventions. He has extensive practice experience working with families experiencing complex needs including homeless youth, prisoners and their families, and families under statutory interventions.
Paul’s two passions are:
• promoting the important role fathers play in children’s lives
• improving community engagement and collaboration to enable the voices of disengaged families in the design and implementation of early childhood services.
At the Centre for Community Child Health, Paul manages a dynamic team of training and development professionals who deliver specially tailored training for early childhood practitioners across Australia. This work has included the implementation of a ‘Learning and Development Strategy’ to support the roll out of integrated Child and Family Centres across Tasmania – arguably Australia’s best example of how community co-design processes can improve outcomes for children and families.
Prior to joining CCCH, Paul played a key role in the development of Good Beginnings Australia from its inception in 1997 to 2009 and was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Commonwealth Government for his work during that time.
Paul’s PhD research focused on the critical role parents and community members can perform in helping reconceptualise.

Warren Cann is a clinically trained psychologist, and Chief Executive Officer of the Parenting Research Centre since 2002. His career focus has been on helping governments, organisations and practitioners to effectively support families in their parenting, with a focus on families who are experiencing adversity or raising children with high and complex needs. He has been involved in the development of a number of parenting programs and resources, and is a founding Director of the raisingchildren.net.au, Australia’s national parenting information website. He has also been involved in developing practice frameworks for organisations and designing and implementing systems that support evidence based practice improvement. He is also a Board Director of the Parenting and Family Research Alliance and Honorary Senior Fellow, Social Work, The University of Melbourne.

UPDATE: Unfortunately Dr Mandy Kienhuis is unable to travel.

DR MANDY KIENHUIS has over 15 years’ experience as a psychology researcher, in the areas of clinical psychology, developmental transitions, and parenting, and is passionate about promoting positive adjustment in children and supporting parents and families. Prior to her recent return to the Parenting Research Centre, Mandy has worked in clinical roles and academic settings. The Parenting Research Centre helps children thrive by driving new and better ways to support families in their parenting. As a Research Specialist with the Parenting Research Centre, Mandy is leading the Parenting Today in Victoria survey. The Parenting Today in Victoria survey is the most comprehensive look at the concerns, needs and behaviours of Victorian parents ever conducted. With funding from the Victorian Government, the Parenting Today in Victoria study was established to provide a rigorous and credible snapshot of how Victorians are faring in their parenting roles. Data has been collected in 2016 and 2019 and will be collected again in 2022.