Megan Woodward
Master of ceremonies
Born and bred between the cane fields, cattle properties and coal mines of Mackay in North Queensland, Megan has had a successful career spanning over a decade in radio and television at the ABC.
She’s a well known and trusted face throughout Queensland’s rural sector, with a reputation of a true storyteller and an advocate for the bush.
She has nearly 20 years as a broadcast journalist and PR professional who is passionate about rural and regional Australia.
Dr. Elise Crawford
What is good work design and why do we need it? - Rockhampton and Mackay
Elise lectures within the Safety Sciences discipline of the School of Medical, Health, and Applied Sciences at CQUniversity. Her role includes the coordination of Occupational Health and Safety subjects where a systems approach and good work design principles are emphasised. She is also a Human Factors and Ergonomics teaching specialist, research higher degree supervisor, and OHS placement coordinator, where she liaises with industry to provide students with work integrated learning experiences.
She is a Certified Professional Ergonomist with the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia, a Certified OHS Professional with the Australian Institute of Health and Safety and Senior Fellow with Advance Higher Education, UK.
Elise is passionate about optimising human systems interactions in work design and together with Dr Sara Pazell and Associate Professor Nektarios Karanikas has taken a lead role in developing the position on Good Work Design by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia, its launch and publication.
Dr. Sara Pazell
What is good work design and why do we need it? - Cairns
Sara is a human-centred work design strategist and the managing director for ViVA health at work (work design specialty consultancy), working across all industries (industrial and office work settings). She holds affiliations with five Australian universities, including that as an Industry Fellow with the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland. Sara provides teaching and research support in organisational science, human factors, ergonomics, health and wellness, safety, and allied health.
Sara is part of the international advisory committee for the WELL Movement concept v2 and an expert faculty member for Australia’s only certified Wellness WiseTM Practitioner training program.
Sara was the committee chair for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia’s Good Work Design position paper and supporting resources. Her other passions include instructing yoga and sports and strength conditioning.
Dr. Sarah Cotton
No Time for Health: New ways to support small business owners and their people around mental health and wellbeing
As an organisational psychologist, Dr Sarah Cotton has a PhD in work-stress and more than 20 years of coaching, training and consulting experience with businesses of all shapes and sizes. Committed to reducing the costs of work-life conflict, she co-founded Transitioning Well in 2011 to help individuals and workplaces to navigate life transitions so people can live and work better!
Assoc. Prof. Nektarois Karanikas
What is good work design and why do we need it? - Toowoomba
Nektarios is an Associate Professor in the Health, Safety and Environment discipline of the School of Public Health & Social Work (Faculty of Health) in QUT, where he coordinates the Graduate Diploma of Occupational Health and Safety. Amongst other units, Nektarios coordinates and teaches in the Human Factors and Ergonomics unit and professional course, where work design is a core topic.
Nektarios studied MSc Human Factors and Safety Assessment in Aeronautics at Cranfield University (UK), and he was awarded his doctorate in Safety and Quality Management from Middlesex University (UK). In addition to his academic qualifications, Nektarios holds engineering, human factors, project management, and safety management professional credentials and has been a member of various national and international associations.
Together with Dr Sara Pazell, Nektarios has launched an edited book project on successes and failures of work design across multiple industries and regions. Also, he was a significant contributor to the position taken on Good Work Design by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia.
Liz Kearins
Equip your people with high performance skills, behaviors and attitudes about safety - Toowoomba and Cairns
Liz is an experienced senior executive, board director and consultant, with a strong track record in leading organisation-wide strategy, engagement and culture change to achieve superior performance. As Director Performance Partnerships, Liz leads Actrua's project strategy, design and delivery team, working in partnership with organisations to drive development and transformation.
A passionate advocate of values-based leadership, Liz brings culture and strategy together so people not only love what they do, they understand why they do it and how they contribute to organisational performance.
Tim Keeffe
Equip your people with high performance skills, behaviors and attitudes about safety - Rockhampton and Mackay
With more than 20 years’ experience in public and private sector organisations, Tim has a passion for developing leaders who drive performance cultures. As the CEO of Actrua Performance Cultures, Tim leads a diverse and talented team of strategists, consultants, facilitators and coaches to achieve outstanding business outcomes for partners.
Tim’s practical experience is amplified by diverse and successful academic achievements, including a Bachelor of Arts (Hons), a Master of Engineering (Hons), graduate qualifications in Logistics and Human Resource Management, and other qualifications in Coaching and Public Safety.
Robyn Neilson
Safety advocate – Her life in my hands
Robyn Neilson is a Workplace Health and Safety Queensland Safety Advocate.
Robyn, a trained nurse, was the first responder to her neighbour who suffered horrific injuries after her arms caught in a post-hole digger on a remote cattle property. For two hours, Robyn gave life-saving care to keep her neighbour alive until the Royal Flying Doctor Service arrived. After the incident, Robyn was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Now Robyn visits Queensland businesses as a Safety Advocate to promote the importance of preparing for the worst by having emergency plans and first aid equipment in place. She also talks about why its critical workplaces use well-designed, guarded, and properly maintained equipment.
Robyn shares how exposure to traumatic workplace incidents can psychologically affect workers, first responders, and their families, and the importance of accessing resources if you need support.
David Whittingham
Understanding types of violence: An overview and practical approaches for human services.
David is a practicing forensic psychologist focusing on workplace issues and complex autism spectrum psycho-legal assessment and training. He has experience with complex stakeholder engagement in the resource sector, and threat assessment, having completed training in US school safety programs and countering violent extremism. He currently maintains a clinical focus on autism in civil, family and child safety legal settings in the context of risk assessment. David is currently completing a PhD in workplace bullying and psycho-social risk and provides training in forensic liability, safety and human factors and risk assessment with vulnerable populations.
Greg Tonner
Can you afford not to be using technology to manage work health and safety and injury recovery?
Greg is passionate about people and technology - and how, together, they can produce outcomes that improve both the lives of individuals and their communities.
Greg has a unique insight into well-being from the broad range of environments and cultures he worked in the past 30 years - across sectors in industrial, professional services, technology, communications and elite sports where he was CEO of the NRL Nth Qld Cowboys from 2015-18.
With over 25 years’ experience in Australia and overseas, his expertise lies in identifying opportunities to grow and help people and businesses successfully navigate the change. He does this by implementing strategies that enable both the authentic achievement of ambitions and improved connection between staff, customers and communities.
Jodie Deakes
How effective workplace consultation, representation and participation can improve your health and safety outcomes: A panel conversation with industry speakers
Jodie leads services related to work and electrical safety policy, data and evaluation, coronial and enforceable undertaking services, awareness and engagement, industry strategy programs, regulatory strategy and board/industry sector standing committee services.
Jodie has extensive experience in developing evidence informed work health and safety strategies with a strong focus on risk based regulatory interventions and evaluation. With a passion for effective organisational design and culture, change management and governance, Jodie has led a number of business improvement initiatives including the Future State Work Health and Safety Regulator Program to aid the transition from WorkCover NSW to SafeWork NSW and the design of the NSW WHS Roadmap 2022.
Jodie holds a Bachelor of Business Management and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Peter Gould
How effective workplace consultation, representation and participation can improve your health and safety outcomes: A panel conversation with industry speakers
Pete has more than 25 years of occupational health and safety on-the-job experience working with government agencies, volunteer organisations and mining equipment manufacturers in front line WHS roles.
Professionally, Pete is a registered nurse with postgraduate qualifications in OHS, Disaster and Emergency Management and Psychology.
Pete proudly heads up the Local Government Work Care WHS Support Unit which supports 65 of Queensland local governments who are self-insured for workers’ compensation with LGMS.
He is particularly passionate about his “Head Safety Coach” role in local government and thrives on supporting organisations who support our communities in Queensland.
Pete is a determined optimist and believes that health, safety and wellbeing can be part of a “normal day at work” if people are considered to be an organisation’s best and most valuable assets.
Jeff White
How effective workplace consultation, representation and participation can improve your health and safety outcomes: A panel conversation with industry speakers
Jeff White is the General Manager of Forge Engineering in Mackay. His role is to mentor key leaders in the business and develop and lead priority initiatives that will deliver on the business plan and the 3-5 year strategy. Jeff has been in the role for over two years where he has made significant changes at Forge Engineering in respect to developing effective ways of engaging staff and working towards achieving common goals and targets.
Jeff has built a meaningful career in the engineering game since 1988. Having worked in Brisbane, Mt Isa and Mackay he has helped develop his skills as a leader in a range of challenging workplaces and environments. Jeff is most passionate about building high performing teams, seeing people develop and businesses realising their full potential.
Jacqueline King
How effective workplace consultation, representation and participation can improve your health and safety outcomes: A panel conversation with industry speakers
Jacqueline King is the Assistant General Secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, the peak union body in Queensland representing around 360,000 Queensland workers. Over the past 25 years she has worked for several unions including the Finance Sector Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, as well as with the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
In her current role, Jacqueline is primarily responsible for working with affiliates around work health and safety, gender equity, and legislative reforms to the anti-discrimination and state industrial relations laws. She is passionate about achieving equality and justice for all workers and has been leading the QCU campaign to introduce stronger sexual harassment laws for Queensland workplaces.
Jacqueline holds a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), a Graduate Diploma of Professional Legal Practice, a Diploma of Work Health and Safety and a Diploma of Training Design and Development. She is also a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the People and Safety Committee for Stanwell Corporation.
Julia Bunn
Rehabilitation and return to work plans for psychological injuries
With over 25 years as an Occupational Therapist specialising in the field of vocational rehabilitation, Julia has a passion for assisting workers achieve successful workplace rehabilitation outcomes. This led to her establishing her own rehabilitation company Easec Pty Ltd in 2005 where she works with a team of like-minded allied health professionals who share her vision of enabling better lives by maximising the health and wellbeing of individuals and organisations.
Her diverse range of clinical experience as an Occupational Therapist, and in quality management, has given Julia the opportunity to develop a service to support the most vulnerable in our community through the delivery of complex case management.
She is passionate about the role of work in the health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Julia remains committed to promoting the importance of work as one of the most influential factors on our physical and psychological well-being, and to ensuring that people with injuries, illnesses or other limitations are able to fully realise these health benefits now and into their future. She is equally passionate about the wellbeing of the whole person, the workplace and communities, and spreading the influence of integrated health and wellbeing offering.
Julia is also an active founding member of the Australian Rehabilitation Providers Association (ARPA) and committed to ongoing industry development in the field of Occupational Rehabilitation.
Dr Sharron O'Neill
Measures for mentally healthier work
Dr Sharron O'Neill is Deputy Head of School (Research); Director, UNSW Public Service Research Group (PSRG) and Associate Professor of Accounting in the School of Business at UNSW, Canberra. Sharron teaches Accounting and Financial Management, and Leadership of Safe and Healthy Work in the Master of Business programs. Her research examines the design, measurement and reporting of performance measures for operational decision-making, governance and accountability. Sharron has particular expertise in non-financial indicators of work health and safety (WHS) and engages with government, investors and industry (executives and Boards) on WHS performance measurement and reporting. Her research has contributed to global policy debate and reform on the measurement and reporting of WHS performance. She is also a member of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ), Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS) and the National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA).