Keynote Speakers

WELCOMING ADDRESS

Stefano Scalzo, Executive General Manager, Planning and Development, Victorian Health Building Authority

Stefano is Executive General Manager, Planning and Development Victorian Health Building Authority. He oversees the preparation of Victoria’s enabling health infrastructure pipeline in concert with the Department of Health, Minister of Health, Minister of Mental Health and central Victorian Government agencies. Stefano is an architect with over 20 years executive experience working in public sector projects across Australia with particular expertise in the design of contemporary healthcare environments. He oversees the origination process of all Victorian health infrastructure projects inclusive of all service and capital planning leading into the development of Financial Business Cases. In 2015 Stefano was awarded a prestigious 50th Anniversary Churchill Fellowship to research the design of high amenity mental health facilities developed over multiple levels.

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Michele Barry,  Consultant

Michele is an independent consultant who has worked in the health, aged care and disability sectors for over 20 years. She has led organisations to deliver a range of services including, assistive technology, client centred and supportive care, and education programs across Queensland and Victoria. Michele’s significant career roles include that as CEO of LifeTec Queensland and Better Hearing Australia, other executive roles have been with the Centre for Palliative care at St Vincents’ health care, Vision Australia and the Epilepsy Foundation. During her time as CEO of LifeTec Queensland ( formerly known as the Independent Living Centre), Michele led significant transformational change to extend the reach of AT in her state, during this time she advocated for significant Health and Disability policy change and delivered services to remote indigenous communities, she worked with the AAATE and presented a paper at the San Sebastian conference in 2008. As CEO of Better Hearing Australia, Michele and her team presented a paper at the first UD conference in Sydney. The presentation “Don’t forget about hearing” highlighted the need for acoustic awareness in Universal Design, to better support 20% of the population who experience hearing loss. Michele has a Master of Public Health and Master of Business Administration and has extensive experience in stakeholder engagement, advocacy, change management, marketing and strategy implementation.

Georgia Burn, Communication Access Coordinator, Scope

Georgia Burn coordinates the Communication Access Service, which operates out of Scope (Aust.)’s Communication and Inclusion Resource Centre (CIRC). The service works within a community capacity development framework, to assist businesses, services and organisations to become awarded with the Communication Access Symbol. A speech pathologist by background, Georgia has extensive experience supporting people with complex communication needs to access and be included in everyday society.

Jacob Matthew, Communication Access Coordinator, Scope

Jacob Matthew works at Scope (Aust.) as a communication access mentor and is currently studying his Advanced Diploma in Building Design at Box Hill Institute, as well as Access Consultancy at the Access Institute. As a disability advocate, Jacob advises on disability advisory committees and is an ambassador for the Chrisalis Foundation; a foundation that raises funds to provide resources, support and education to young people living with disabilities in Victoria. Jacob was born with cerebral palsy and as a result, utilises a range of alternative methods of communication. Jacob is passionate about raising the awareness of communication accessible and universally designed environments.

Shelly Dival, Autism Design Specialist Enabling Spaces

Shelly Dival, CF, is an autism design specialist with passion! With over 20 years of building design expertise, her grandson’s diagnosis was the catalyst for her research of our built environment and how individuals with autism relate to it. When awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship in 2017, she took that research internationally across 7 countries. Counted amongst a small number of experts worldwide, Shelly’s membership of the international Leadership Advisory Board (LAB) for “”A Place in the World”” research undertaken by Arizona State University has confirmed her global status, and as Australia’s pre-eminent conversationalist, her expertise is in increasing demand by government, industry and community alike. Shelly has a grand vision, “Imagine a world where people with neuro-diversity thrive at home, work and play. Where our built environment supports this so everyone can reach for their stars and nobody is left behind”.

Emma Goodall, Manager Disability & Complex Needs, Department for Education South Australia

Dr Emma Goodall works both publicly and privately to facilitate the best life outcomes possible for children and young people with complex needs. An adjunct Professor at the University of Wollongong and a member of the Australian Society for Autism Research (ASfAR) Executive Committee, she has just developed an online module on interoception for Torrens University and has been collaborating with the Australian Psychological Society to develop an autism specific course for psychologists. In her work with the Department for Education, Emma developed, trialed and is now rolling out a universal design for learning proactive and positive support for behaviour and well-being. She is writing this up as a thesis via University of Southern Queensland.

Penny Galbraith, Galbraith Scott

Dr Penny Galbraith FAIB, FRICS is a project manager, builder and access consultant with a career-long interest in accessibility and universal design.  Consultancy roles have covered a range of clients and built environment forms.  Recently, Penny assisted the Australian Human Rights Commission build an evidence base in respect of housing policy and standards as well as delivering accessibility and universal design training in Sri Lanka. Penny is an Accredited ACAA Access Consultant, Director of the Centre for Universal Design Australia and Subject Matter Expert on disability for the Australian Building Codes Board.  Strategy, research and futures thinking underpin Penny’s work.

Nicole Healy,  Senior Research Officer, Victorian State Government

Nicole Healy is a Senior Research Officer in the Tourism, Events and Visitor Economy branch of the Victorian State Government. Nicole has more than ten years’ experience in the tourism industry, including with the former Tourism Victoria. The main responsibilities over this time have been providing insights to government, regional boards and industry. Since the release of the Accessibility research in 2018, Nicole has been informing government, industry and students on insights that can help to improve the experience for people travelling with a disability. This research focussed on domestic travellers with accessibility needs, aiming to understand their planning and travel experiences. It investigated drivers of and barriers to travel, who they travel with and the experience delivered. The most effective communication channels to reach this audience were also explored, including the best ways to support businesses to become (more) accessible. The market size and potential were also estimated.

Theresa Harada, Research Fellow, University of Wollongong and Thomas Birtchnell

Dr Theresa Harada is a Research Fellow at The Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She is an experienced ethnographer with expertise in audio and audio-visual research methods, mobile methods and experimental research methods. Her research focus has been around everyday practices of energy use, mobility, and sustainable transport.

Rebecca Jamwal, Research Fellow, Summer Foundation Ltd

Rebecca Jamwal is a Research Fellow at Summer Foundation, and has worked with the Summer Foundation Research Unit since 2013. She leads projects that examine how built design, technology and support can be used to improve the opportunities and quality of life for people with disability and complex needs. The outcomes of her work will help to inform the development of future housing built for people with disability. Rebecca is an occupational therapist with six years of clinical experience working with people with complex care needs as a result of acquired brain injury. In addition to her work at Summer Foundation, Rebecca is the inaugural research lead in the Occupational Therapy department at Austin Health. Rebecca is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Living with Disability Research Centre at La Trobe University.

Ryan Loveday, Director, Fulton Trotter Architects

Established in 1937, for over 80 years the practice has thrived in the delivery of specialised community architecture and social infrastructure projects. Ryan is a working architect, running a small team to deliver a range of education, health, aged care and cultural projects, often in rural and regional Australia. His skills and background are mostly as a technical architect with a reputation for resolving complex institutional projects. But with that experience has developed a sense of the bigger human issues at stake in our communities, leading to a growing conviction as designer, teacher, writer and speaker.

Adam Johnson, Edith Cowan University and APM

Adam completed his PhD in 2019 with a focus on universal design in local government, and the City of Bunbury’s goal to become the Most Accessible Regional City in Australia (MARCIA). Prior to this Adam was CEO of an independent disability advocacy organisation, and previously held employment in state government, local government and non-profit organisations in the areas of disability services and community development. Adam is currently employed with APM in community capacity building, and also delivers training to local governments and design firms around universal public design principles.

Margaret Kay, Consultant

Margaret Kay is a consultant specialising in policy and planning for inclusion. Margaret has developed an online learning course on inclusive tourism and worked with the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse to improve their data collection on accessible features of tourist destinations.  In 2019 Margaret developed a masterclass on inclusive tourism for the Australasian Hotels Association. Recently appointed to the NSW Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing, Margaret has a strong background in policy development at both State and local levels. Working closely with the NSW government, she developed a range of resources to build the capacity of local government.  These included guidelines to assist councils to develop Disability Inclusion Action Plans and an age-friendly planning toolkit. As a Board member of a not-for-profit community care provider, Your Side Australia, an active member of the Centre for Universal Design Australia, and a volunteer with the Linen Service, Margaret recognizes the importance of supporting people to live at home for as long as possible. She has worked in ageing and disability policy for a not-for-profit provider and led the social and community policy team at Local Government NSW, the peak body for councils in NSW. Margaret has qualifications in Town Planning and Economics.

Linda Martin-Chew,  Senior Strategic Policy Planner, City Of Whittlesea

Linda Martin-Chew Linda has worked as an urban, rural and health planner since 2008, both as a consultant and employed in local government.  At City of Whittlesea, Linda was involved in the implementation of the Housing Diversity Strategy including strengthening Council’s planning policy on the delivery of accessible housing.

Tina Merk, Engineer, Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination, UAE

Tina’s primary role in the organisation is to provide consultation services in universal design, particularly relating to the built environment. Her educational background is in architecture and she specialises in accessible design. Tina attained her Masters qualification from Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany in 2009 and has worked exclusively in this field ever since. Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination was established in 2004 and is the government entity charged with the provision of rehabilitation, care and comprehensive support services to people of determination in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The organization also serves as an umbrella organization, overseeing all private rehabilitation centers across the Emirate, while working closely with a wide range of both government and private entities toward comprehensive inclusion of people of determination in all aspects of life. Zayed Higher Organization has 18 centers across the Emirate providing therapeutic, educational and social supports for people of determination.

Jenna Mikus,  PhD Candidate, Queensland University of Technology

Jenna Mikus has an educational background in mechanical engineering, business, and sustainable environmental design and a professional background in digital transformation, change management, and most recently tech-enabled smart building strategy. Over the years, her experience has evolved from generalized consulting in the 2000s to more creative, building-focused strategy work in the 2010s. 18 months ago, she founded a consultancy that leverages her international educational and professional experience to focus on developing a more human-centered design approach to the built environment. She named the company the Eudae Group, referring to Aristotle’s concept of eudaemonia or human flourishing, thus encouraging design that prompts a symbiotic human-to-environment eudaemonia. A year later, she decided to ground her work in academic theory by accepting a scholarship invitation to pursue a PhD in Queensland University of Technology’s Faculty of Creative Industries in Brisbane to study with top Urban Informatics experts who specialize in meaningful design across people, place, and technology. She now focuses both her consulting work and academic research on how best to design for optimal human health and wellness, wellbeing, and experience—thus paralleling the conference’s focus on thriving—for all.

Terri Preece 

Terri Preece has a broad health and aged care industry career that spans more than 25 years, with the past 9 years at Dementia Training Australia (DTA) as a Senior Environments Design consultant. In 2019 Terri joined the Evoke Collective Australasia, an organisation committed to creating enabling environments for older people that support their way of life, and in 2020 was also appointed as a Design Associate with the UK based Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC). Terri has carried out international research on dementia environments and translated design principles into a number of audit tools and guidelines, including the DTA dementia-friendly community environmental assessment tool. As a member of the Australian Network for Universal Housing Design (ANUHD), Terri believes the principles of dementia design are friendly for everyone and champions dementia as a focus in inclusive community design.

Bec Renton, Health and Science Research Student, Deakin University

My name is Bec Renton, I am currently completing my Health Science Honours research project at Deakin University under the supervision of Dr Kevin Murfitt and Dr Kate Anderson, I have worked in the disability sector for over 15 years in various roles and capacities, I have also undertaken community development projects to enhance social participation, and I am a strong advocate for universal design in the built environment and finding ways we can best ensure a universally designed world becomes an actuality.

Janice Rieger, Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology

Dr Janice Rieger is an award-winning researcher, educator, curator and designer with expertise in inclusive design and disability research. She has been advocating for people with disabilities for over twenty years and has been awarded a Mayor’s Access Recognition Award and a state level disability award for her leadership in promoting access and inclusion.  Prior to her academic appointment at QUT in Australia, Dr Rieger spent ten years in Canada, where she taught one of the only Universal Design courses in Canada and was also co-founder of a national certificate program in accessible design, CSAHD. She has also spent time overseas as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Hasselt (Belgium) and as an international member of the European Society for Disability Research and the European Institute for Design & Disability, Design for All.  Dr Rieger is currently a Chief Investigator in the Centre for Justice and Design Lab, QUT.

Emily Steel, Occupational Therapist

Emily is an occupational therapist, manager, and academic. Her research is focused on assistive technology policy and practice, to enable people with disability to lead successful and productive lives. She is also involved in the drafting of new international standards on cognitive accessibility, to make products and systems easier to understand and use.

Michael Walker,  Principal Advisor Universal Design, Victorian Health nd Human Services Building Authority

Michael Walker leads DHHS (Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority) in the introduction of Universal Design principles. He is a strong advocate for embedding the principles of Universal Design in relevant DHHS policy and across projects relating to the environment (physical and programmatic). Michael has provided input into policy and projects ranging from health infrastructure, aquatic centres, play spaces, and multi-sensory environments to significant state and national level projects such as the Melbourne Park Redevelopment, Skilled Stadium and major hospital redevelopments. Michael ensures that method of practice is adopted by VHHSBA and is recognised that the creation of social and economic value by connecting people in the environment is more efficiently and effectively achieved using Universal Design principles. In addition, Michael has gained much knowledge and expertise in overseas trends through his working in different countries (international award winner) and is a member of the Victorian Design Review Panel with the Office of the Victorian Government Architect. He is a triple paralympian in wheelchair basketball.

Margaret Ward, Co-convenor, Australian Network for Universal Housing Design

Originally an architect, Dr Margaret Ward PSM has been an advocate, public servant and service provider in the areas of housing and disability. Margaret has spent much of her career working towards the adoption of housing design which includes everyone regardless of age and ability. Her thesis explored the notions of voluntariness and responsibility in providing inclusive housing within a framework of distributive justice. Margaret Ward co-convenes Australian Network for Universal Housing Design, which seeks regulation of access features in all new housing construction through the National Construction Code. She has followed the machinations of industry, government and human rights advocates on this issue since 2002.

Evan Wilkinson, Manager, Barwon South West, Sport and Recreation Victoria

Evan Wilkinson is based in Geelong and works in partnership with councils across the Barwon and Great South Coast regions. One component of Evan’s role is to work with Councils by providing design advice and support during the development across a range of sport and active recreation projects. Covering a range of facility types including aquatic centres, sporting pavilions, play spaces and skate parks, Evan works closely with council to apply a consistent Universal Design overlay to these projects to ensure that they can cater to a broad range of users and consider innovation.  Evan’s understanding of community sporting facilities and major projects has been enhanced in previous roles working in the Metropolitan Community Infrastructure and State Facilities team, working on projects including the Craigieburn Leisure and Aquatic Centre, Lakeside Stadium redevelopment and the Essendon Football Club’s Tullamarine Training Facility.

Katherine Webber,  Independent Consultant

Katherine Webber is a practitioner in social planning and community development working to address inequality and social injustice. She has worked with a range of government and non-government programs to address social issues and achieve results, including in local and state government social planning and community development in Australia and the Pacific. Katherine has led city wide-planning initiatives and the development and implementation of responsive community plans, programs and activities to improve social inclusion and community safety. She has on-the-ground experience supporting diverse organisations and communities in community research and participatory stakeholder consultation, with a particular commitment to women’s rights and gender equality. Katherine was the recipient of the 2018 Rodney Warmington Churchill Fellowship to increase inclusion and accessibility in public toilets by researching taboos, design, policy and legal barriers. She travelled to USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, The Netherlands and Germany talking toilets.

Nikki Williams, Senior Inclusive Communities Officer, City of Greater Bendigo

Nikki Williams has worked in a range of health promotion roles since 2008, both as a consultant and employed in local government. At the City of Greater Bendigo, Nikki was involved in the development and implementation of the All Ages All Abilities Action Plan which will guide the City’s actions in improving the physical and social environment for all community members, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to fully and actively participate in activities and events across Greater Bendigo. This includes the overseeing the delivery of access and inclusion projects such as Information Linkages and Capacity (ILC) funded initiatives, the Inclusive Towns Project and Champions for Change.

Hugh Bartram,  Manager, Intergovernmental Relations, Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning (VIC)

Hugh Bartram is the Manager, Intergovernmental Relations in the Building Division at the Victorian government Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning. He has been employed at in various roles in the state government of Victoria for the last nine years, working across residential energy efficiency programs, retail consumer energy issues, and cross-jurisdictional building and construction policy.

Prior to his roles in government he has worked for a number of years in the Not for Profit sector supporting consumers experiencing energy cost pressures.