Brad Haseman has worked as a teacher and researcher for over fifty years pursuing his fascination with the aesthetics, forms and finances of contemporary performance and learning for young people. He completed a distinguished career spanning thirty years with the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) where he was Professor in Drama Education.  Before retiring in 2016 Brad held a range of senior leadership posts, at that time as Assistant Dean (Academic); a post responsible for maintaining and managing the learning system for over 4,500 students and 200 staff in the creative arts and cultural industries. He is been a pioneer of arts education, and is known internationally as a teacher and workshop leader (Process Drama), arts researcher (Performative Research) and community engagement practitioner (Applied Theatre and Teaching-Artistry). He holds the title of Professor Emeritus with QUT.

Since January 2018 Brad has been  have been Executive Vice President of Kadenze, Inc. overseeing arts-led pedagogies for their global online catalogue of courses. Kadenze, dealing solely with the Creative Arts, Design and creative technologies, is committed to building high quality online learning, at global scale, and as affordably as possible.

Brad is currently a member of the Leadership Committee of the International Teaching Artist Collaborative and a Council Member of St. Paul’s School, Bald Hills, Brisbane.

Dominic Crisci began his career in theatre, studying Drama at QUT. After graduating, he began working in his chosen field as an assistant director on feature films, music videos, commercials and TV in Australia, the United Kingdom and South Korea. In 2010, Dominic moved back to Australia and was fortunate enough to partner with Chris Sun on the Sunshine Coast, produced 3 award-winning feature films, and eventually directed the award-winning Thicker than Water. Simultaneously, Dominic’s passion for game design and development saw him create his first game for android in 2012. Currently, Dominic works in the Josephmark Group at Breeder Studios creating world-renowned interactive experiences and motion graphics while finishing his Masters of Teaching at QUT.

Dr Alison Grove O’Grady is Chair of Initial Teacher Education and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney, School of Education and Social Work. Her research focuses on pedagogies of empathy, as performed and action-oriented methods, to develop teachers’ understanding of self, multiple identities and voices. Alison’s research prepares teachers for the challenges within diverse classroom ecologies, where diversity and difference in culture, ethnicity and faith are critical considerations. Alison’s praxis contributes to the continuous guidance, support, and development of teachers. Alison’s recent book O’Grady, A.G. Pedagogy, Empathy and Praxis: Using Theatrical Traditions to Teach. Springer Nature., captures much of her work in this field. She is a passionate teacher and lifelong learner.

Avril’s extensive career as a contemporary dance artist and teaching artist spans the last 30 years.Her diverse dance career comprises performing, producing, establishing, and curating independent performance venues, tour management, rehearsal directing and teaching. Avril is a qualified level 2 STOTT Pilates instructor and Feldenkrais Practitioner. She has taught dance technique, creative movement, Pilates and the Feldenkrais Method for community groups, amateur dance groups, private dance schools and professional dance organisations. Avril has taught dance across the three tiers of the Australian education system, writing, and implementing curriculum, creating, and delivering workshops for dance students, and designing and leading dance teacher in-services and professional development opportunities. Her approach to dance pedagogy and curriculum incorporates her extensive theoretical and embodied knowledge with her professional dance experience. 

Avril has been a peer on the Australia Council for the Arts Dance Assessment Panel and an editor for Dance journals. She was a recipient of a 2009 Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning and has authored several successful large Arts Queensland grants. Avril’s research focus has centred on the performers experience within all aspects of dance: creation, instruction, education, and performance. Recent and current research topics include training for transition into university dance programs; pre-service dance teacher training and final year transition programs involving mentoring programs with industry and service-learning models; approaches to Dietetics, Exercise Physiology and Dance Teaching; teacher-artist training; and somatics and contemporary dance training.

Sanjay is a seasoned leader with extensive experience in driving growth, transformation, and operational excellence across global organisations. Currently working as Regional Director (ANZ) for GEDU Education Group, he has led strategic initiatives, expanded into new markets, and built strong international partnerships across education, technology, and industry. He is deeply committed to fostering high-quality student outcomes and creating opportunities that positively transform lives through education.

Over the course of his career, Sanjay has held senior leadership roles in education, government, manufacturing, and technology sectors across Australia, the Middle East, and Asia. His expertise includes leading diverse teams, shaping growth strategies, and implementing initiatives that strengthen organisational performance and deliver meaningful outcomes for stakeholders.

Sanjay holds a Master of Business Administration in Information Systems and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering. He brings together a strong technical foundation, collaborative leadership, and a global outlook, with a passion for driving sustainable business growth. Above all, he is dedicated to making a positive impact on students and communities through education and opportunity.

Associate Professor Madonna Stinson is an internationally recognised researcher, author and educator in the fields of drama education, arts curriculum, and creativity. In 2020 she retired from Griffith University where she remains an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Griffith Institute for Educational Research and the School for Education and Professional studies. Across her career she has worked as an actor, director, playwright, artistic director, a primary and early years teacher, a secondary Head of Performing Arts, and an arts curriculum developer. At Griffith University she served in a range of leadership roles, including: Deputy Head of School (Academic); Program Director of both the PhD and Masters Programs; and Director of the Bachelor of Education (Secondary). For Griffith, Madonna chaired the ground-breaking 2018 Creativity Summit.

She studied at UQ, QUT and Griffith University in Brisbane, and at Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Madonna’s research and teaching concentrates on creative approaches to curriculum and pedagogies, in particular with regard to drama and language. This work has a focus on social justice and considers innovations and connections within drama/arts teaching and learning, creative pedagogies and curriculums with the potential for learner and teacher agency. In Australia, Madonna was a Chief Investigator on the ARC TheatreSpace project (2009-2013), Age-Appropriate Pedagogies for the Department of Education and Training, Queensland (2015-2017), the Y-Connect teaching-artist project (2016-2019) and, most recently, a project focusing on developing teachers as creative writers (Horizon Grant, Education Queensland, 2019-2020). She has provided publishing leadership though her positions as editor of NJ (The Drama Australia Journal), guest editor of two special editions of Research in Drama Education, and as an advisory board member on AJTE, and Pedagogies. In 2014 Madonna was awarded Life Membership of Drama Queensland in recognition for her contribution to the field of drama.

Commencing her career as a primary teacher she quickly became a lead member of a Queensland Education Theatre in Education team. This led to studies at Central School of Speech and Drama (London) after which she returned to take up the position of artistic director at a children’s art centre in Brisbane. Following ten years as HOD (Performing Arts) she moved into curriculum development and became a lead project officer for the formation of the P-10 Arts curriculum in Queensland. In 2002, she joined the National Institute of Education in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore where she worked for seven years, and was the founding director of the UNESCO-NIE Centre for Arts Research in Education. She has been an invited visiting scholar at Reading University (UK), Cambridge University (UK) and the University of Stockholm (Sweden). During her research career she has been awarded nearly $3.5M in research funding, for both individual and collaborative projects. Her publications include 4 books, over 40 scholarly book chapters and refereed journal articles, and other significant professional publications in the fields of drama education, language learning, curriculum and pedagogy. Madonna remains actively engaged in performing arts education, and is a popular and frequent keynote speaker and masterclass facilitator. She is currently researching the long-term outcomes of drama learning in secondary school.