Speaker Series

14th October 2024, 5.30pm AEDT

The Australian Climate Change Education Summit and Action Plan project team invite you to join valuable conversations through our Speaker Series.

In this Speaker Series event we are in conversation with Bronwyn Gresham, CEO with Psychology for a Safe Climate, an organisation founded in 2010 in Melbourne, Australia, to foster emotional engagement with climate change and in response to the lack of individual and community commitment to address the climate emergency. Bronwyn is part of a team of professionals using their knowledge and skills to increase understanding and engagement with the psychological impact of climate change.

With experience spanning across the health, university and environmental sectors. She is passionate about strengthening holistic, collaborative and collective approaches to emotional, psychological and social health and wellbeing as we live in and respond to the climate crisis. Bronwyn has volunteered in various roles including campaigning, podcasting, health promotion, resource development and facilitation with Climactic, The Climate and Health Alliance, Climate for Change, the Australian Psychological Society, Environment Victoria and Australian Conservation Foundation. She has completed the Al Gore Climate Reality Leadership Training, and more recently, the facilitation training with Good Grief Network.

This conversation with Bronwyn will provide insights into their work with Psychology for a Safe Climate, reflect on what drives their work and how it connects with climate change education and climate justice.  

9th October 2024, 6.30pm AEDT

The Australian Climate Change Education Summit and Action Plan project team invite you to join valuable conversations through our Speaker Series.

In this Speaker Series event we are in conversation with Bella Poll, Youth Board President of Millennium Kids. Bella leads a dedicated team of young leaders driving the Agents of Climate Change project—a youth-led initiative designed to empower young people to take meaningful action against climate change.

Recognising that climate change is among the top concerns for youth—yet many feel powerless to effect significant change—Bella is dedicated to bridging this gap. The Agents of Climate Change project provides young people with a voice, a platform, and the resources to influence climate policy and drive tangible action. Having already made a significant impact in Western Australia and Indonesia, Bella and her team are working tirelessly to expand the program’s reach globally. Their mission is to empower young people everywhere, giving them a platform, an audience, and the resources to create positive change. 

In this conversation Bella will provide insights into her work with Millennium Kids Agents of Climate Change program and what drivers her desire to actively work for climate justice as a young leader.

7th October 2024, 5.30pm AEDT

In Speaker Series event #14 we are in conversation with Laura Billings and Geoff Holt who will discuss their roles in national organisations involving parents, teachers and climate change.

Laura is the Development Director for Parents for Climate which, as an organisation, engages with over 22,000 supporters and 25 nationwide groups. She is committed to ensuring parents have a voice in shaping policy in order to safeguard children from the worst impacts of climate change.

Geoff is an award-winning teacher, and coordinator of Education for Sustainable Development at Busselton Senior High School in Western Australia. He works closely with students in relation to agency and eco-anxiety and his work has been featured in the 2024 UN SDSN Global School Case Study Guide.

We look forward to engaging with the work of these two speakers and to critically discuss how parents and teachers step up, take action, and address climate change education.

2nd October 2024, 5.30pm AEST

In Speaker Series event #13 we are in conversation with Dr Billymo Rist, Head of Programs, Services and Evaluation, and Chair of the Sustainability Committee at the AFL Players Association.

Billymo is an adjunct lecturer in sports and exercise science at Latrobe University, and in his role as the AFLPA has been responsible for leading programs in relation to carbon offset, environmental and social governance, and steered the AFLPA towards signing up to the United Nations’ Sports for Climate Action Initiative.

In this conversation we look forward to discussing how a major sporting organisations engage with climate action and climate change education.

30th September 2024, 5pm AEST

We are in conversation with Marcia McKenzie, Professor in Global Studies and International Education, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia.  

Professor McKenzie works at the intersections of comparative and international education, global education policy research, and climate and sustainability education, including in relation to policy mobility, place and land, affect, and other areas of social and geographic study. She is Director of the Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education (MECCE) Project and the Sustainability and Education Policy Network (SEPN) and is an inducted member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. 

Marcia’s work with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has culminated in three international reports; ‘Country progress on climate change education: A review of national submissions to the UNFCCC,’ and ‘ESD and GCED up close: Cognitive, social and emotional and behavioral learning in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship Education from pre-primary to secondary education,’ and ‘Learn for our planet: A global review of how environmental issues are integrated in education.’  

This will be an internationally focussed conversation, one that draws connections between policy and practice in relation to climate change education and climate justice. 

26th September 2024, 5.30pm AEST

Professor Yin Paradies is an Aboriginal animist anarchist actionist, who is committed to understanding and interrupting the devastating impacts of modern societies. He seeks mutuality of becoming and embodied kinship with all life through transformed ways of knowing, being, doing, perceiving and relating. Yin is a Wakaya man and Chair in Race Relations at Deakin University where he conducts research on topics such as racism, anti-racism, cultural competence, Indigenous knowledges and decolonisation.

Join us for what will be a stimulating discussion. 

17th September 2024, 5:30pm AEST

Australian Climate Change Education Summit & Action Plan 2024 – Speaker Series #10 – Joey Thompson from School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) 

The Australian Climate Change Education Summit and Action Plan project team invite you to join valuable conversations through our Speaker Series.

In this Speaker Series event we are in conversation with Joey Thompson from School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C), the largest youth-led climate organisation in Australia. As an organisation they represent school students of all ages, races, genders, backgrounds and sexualities from every part of Australia. SS4C is student-led, grassroots, non-partisan, non-violent, mission-focused, inclusive and creative. Striking from school is a way to demand that politicians take young people’s future seriously and treat climate change for what it is: a crisis.

In this conversation with Joey from SS4C we engage provide insights into the work the organisation does in relation to climate action and climate justice and share their aspirations for society moving forward.

4th September 2024, 5:30pm AEST

In this Speaker Series event we are in conversation with Craig Reucassel, writer, comedian, director, and documentary maker.

Craig and a group of university mates founded The Chaser newspaper, which led to a number of ABC TV Chaser programs including The Election Chaser, CNNNN, The Chaser’s War on Everything, Yes We Canberra, The Hamster Wheel and the satirical consumer affairs show The Checkout.

In 2017, 2018 and 2023 he presented the multi-award winning ABC TV series War on Waste. In this series Craig took a critical look at household and retail waste and asked what has led us to become among the most wasteful nations in the developed world? In 2020, Craig presented the ABC TV climate documentary series Fight for Planet A (which has also been published as a book), and Big Weather (and how to survive it). In this last series Craig drew on unique access to Australia’s emergency services, first responders and local communities to create a gripping series filmed over one intense summer.

Craig’s work in film, television, as a writer, as a director, and as a comedian draws attention to how we can make change, what change governments need to make, and the role of education.

Arrangements were made through Celebrity Speakers www.celebrityspeakers.com.au

14th August, 5pm AEST

Dr Alessandra Sutti is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, where she leads a team focused in polymer and textiles research. At IFM, Ale leads a team whose mission is to bring greater “circularity” in the world of materials manufacturing, especially textiles. The team is also investigating aspects such as the marine degradability of textile materials, to inform their design of new materials and processes towards a more sustainable future. 

Ale’s “spare time” is spent in supporting efforts in environmental education world-wide, through The GLOBE Program, a US Global environmental education Program sponsored by NASA. Ale leads a world-wide microplastics monitoring protocol trial, collaboration with GLOBE Italy. The trial has so far involved over 10,000 students and 500 teachers in 20 countries, with many students, teachers and communities involved. 

Dr Lavenia Ratnarajah is a marine biogeochemist, currently investigating the mechanisms that drive carbon export in the Southern Ocean, through the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership. Lavy has worked on projects and with research organisations in Europe, the Americas and across the Asia-Pacific, including conducting fieldwork in Antarctica.

In 2023, Lavy launched Project E.V.E – Empowerment Via Education – with the aim of engaging school students with contemporary research and related problem solving. 

Join us in this conversation where we explore both important citizen science projects and consider their role in climate change education.

31st July 2024, 5.30pm AEST

Damon Gameau is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), appearing in the Australian films Balibo, Thunderstruck, and Razzle Dazzle, and a range of television series including Raw, Wentworth and Underbelly. Damon wrote and produced “THAT SUGAR FILM”, documenting the impacts of a high sugar diet on his body which became a phenomenal success. Damon is the co-founder of Regen Studios. In this role, he creates documentaries including “2040”, a visual letter to his then 4 year old daughter and the film, “REGENERATE AUSTRALIA 2030”, exploring what Australia would look like in the year 2030 if we just listened to its people. His latest documentary is “FUTURE COUNCIL”, screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2024.

Join us in this conversation where we ask what drives Damon in his work and discuss how his work intersects with climate change education and climate justice. 

17th July 2024, 5pm AEST

Dr Tanja Beer is a Senior Lecturer at the Queensland College of Art and Design and the Co-director of the Performance + Ecology Research Lab (P⁺ERL) at Griffith University. She is an award winning community artist, ecological designer and creative researcher.  Since 2011, Tanja has been focused on the development of ecological arts practices across theatre, performance design and community arts. Her most significant work is The Living Stage: https://ecoscenography.com/the-living-stage/ combining stage design, horticulture and community engagement to create recyclable, biodegradable, edible and biodiverse performance spaces. The Living Stage enables people to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of the living world, and bring a regenerative focus to cultural practices that creates opportunities for thrive-ability across more than human systems.

Join us for this webinar where Dr Beer will discuss her research and practical work in the arts, specifically focussing on eco-conscious performance design ‘eco-scenography’, and how such work considers climate change education and climate justice.