We are delighted to confirm the Keynote Speakers for the Australasian Human Development Association Conference 2015.
Professor Antonia Lyons
Antonia Lyons is a Professor in the School of Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand. Her research interests involve issues around gender, health and identity; the experience of illness; the social contexts of health behaviours (e.g. drinking alcohol) and media representations of health and illness and their implications for individual subjectivities and notions of embodiment. She has a particular focus on youth and young adults. Her co-authored textbook (Health Psychology: A Critical Introduction with Kerry Chamberlain) was published in 2006 by Cambridge University Press.
Antonia is currently a co-editor for Qualitative Research in Psychology, an Associate Editor for Health Psychology Review, and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Health Psychology and Psychology and Health. Read Antonia’s Abstract
Professor Richie Poulton
Professor Richie Poulton is Director of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit which conducts the Dunedin longitudinal study, one of the most detailed studies of human health and development ever undertaken.. Richie has published 200+ peer-reviewed scientific papers, and his research interests include: mental health, gene and environment prediction of complex disorders, and psychosocial determinants of chronic physical disease. In 2007, he established and became a Co-Director of the National Centre for Lifecourse Research, a research centre based at the University of Otago in Dunedin where he continues his work on the longitudinal study.
Richie has also been awarded a number of prestigious honours and awards. In 2014, he was named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson-Reuters (one of only four New Zealanders so designated) and was listed in 2014 World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds, Thomson-Reuters, during this year he was also appointed as Chief Science Advisor for the Ministry of Social Development and awarded the Dunedin School of Medicine Dean’s Medal for Research Excellence. In 2010, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and was the joint recipient of the RSNZ Dame Joan Metge Medal for excellence and building relationships in the social science research community. In 2004, he was awarded the New Zealand Association of Scientist’s Research Medal and the Health Research Council of New Zealand’s (inaugural) Liley Medal for Excellence in Health Research. Read Richie’s Abstract
Professor Matthew Sanders
Matthew Sanders is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland. He is also a consulting Professor at The University of Manchester, a visiting Professor at the University of South Carolina, and holds adjunct Professorships at Glasgow Caledonian University and The University of Auckland. As the founder of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program, Professor Sanders is considered a world leader in the development, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of population based approaches to parenting and family interventions. Professor Sanders is recognised as the global leader in the field of evidence-based parenting intervention and one of The University of Queensland’s Innovation champions. Sanders’ Triple P system is currently in use across 25 countries, has 55,000 practitioners trained to deliver it, and some 7 million families are estimated to have benefited from Triple P. Read Matt’s Abstract.
Professor Virginia Slaughter
Virginia Slaughter is Professor and Head of the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland, Australia. She earned a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College (New York) in 1985 and a PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994. She became a lecturer at the University of Queensland in 1996. She is the Founding Director of the Early Cognitive Development Centre within the School of Psychology. Her research focuses on social and cognitive development in infants and young children. She has published 75 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, a book-length monograph for the Society for Research in Child Development, two edited volumes and a first-year Psychology text. She serves as an Associate Editor for Child Development and serve is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Frontiers in Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Development. She is the recipient of several teaching awards, including the University of Queensland Teaching Excellence Award (1999) and an Australian Award for University Teaching (in the category Teaching Large First Year Classes; 2005). Read Virginia’s Abstract.