Professor O’Connor is an internationally recognised expert in making and researching applied theatre and drama education. He has made theatre in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, earthquake zones and with the homeless. He is the Academic Director of the Creative Thinking Project,a multi and cross disciplinary research programme that investigates the nature and application of creativity in everyday life. His work in Christchurch schools following the series of earthquakes lead to UNESCO funded research and programme development and the development of the Teaspoon of Light Theatre Company. In 2012 he was named the Griffith University School of Education and Professional Studies Alumnus of the Year. Peter’s most recent research includes multi and interdisciplinary studies on the creative pedagogies and the arts, the nature of embodied learning and the pedagogy of surprise. In 2019 the play he directed with the Hobson Street Theatre Company, New Zealand’s only theatre company for people who are or have been homeless, won the Arts Access Creative New Zealand Community Arts Award. He has continued his theatre making with the homeless at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in conjunction with the Skid Row Housing Trust.

Peter supervises Doctoral and Masters students using arts based methodologies with a social justice focus. He is an experienced supervisor of the PhD with creative component.

Professor Michael Anderson is Professor in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney and Co-Director of the CREATE Centre. He is an internationally recognised educational leader in school transformation processes. He has taught, researched and published in education and transformation for over 20 years including 17 books and 55 book chapters and journal articles. His international research and practice focus on how the 4Cs can be integrated using coherent frameworks to support leaders as they work towards transformation in their contexts. Michael is co-founder of 4C Transformative Learning that partners with over 50 schools to make transformation a reality.

Kelly’s research interests draw on methodological innovation and theory development in the area of applied drama for social justice – focusing on intersections between drama, social justice, education, and qualitative research methods.
Kelly is a qualified secondary drama and English teacher, with experience teaching in Australia, the UK, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Kelly coordinates core pedagogy units in The Combined Degrees in education, with a focus on creative and critical pedagogy, school-community relationships, and pedagogies of hope.

Paul is an active educational researcher, and has worked independently and in collaboration with both Australian and international colleagues on a wide variety of educational research projects.

Paul uses numerous research methodologies (for example, experimental and survey-based research) and analytic methods, including general linear models, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, structural modelling and meta-analysis. His research has two broad foci:

• How the university student experience might be improved through institutionally-aligned, student-focused teaching evaluation systems.
• Applying the principles of cognitive science to instructional design.

In his research into the university experience, Paul has sought to understand the systemic relations between university students’ approaches to and engagement in learning; the quality of the learning environment; and student learning outcomes, with the ultimate goal of improving all parts of this teaching and learning system. His success in this field led him to be commissioned to write for the national project, “Rewarding and recognising quality teaching and learning in higher education”, funded by the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (now the Australian Learning and Teaching Council).

The second focus of Paul’s draws on theories of the human cognitive architecture – consisting of a limited working memory that can be circumvented for learning and problem-solving by the long-term memory store – to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of learning by managing the cognitive load. In this field, Paul has published both original research and meta-analytic reviews of specific instructional design effects.

Christa is a research assistant in the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation. Her role includes liaising with schools in completing the CSI process. Christa has degrees in the Visual Arts and Art History, post-graduate qualifications in teaching, and is currently undertaking a Masters of Social and Community Leadership. Christa has provided visual arts professional development support for teachers for over ten years.

Tahnee is the Centre Manager for Centre for Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) at the University of Auckland. She opens the line of communication between stakeholders to get projects done.  Alongside Professor Peter O’Connor and the team at CAST Tahnee manages a variety of research projects and alliances for the Centre, which focus on the importance of the arts and creativity for social transformation.

Tahnee moved to New Zealand in 2011 and is very proud to call Auckland her second home.