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Keynote Speakers

Introducing your 2019 Summit Keynote Speakers and Topics!

Stelarc
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TOPIC: 
Fractal Flesh / Flickering Phantoms: Indifferent, Anxious and Ambivalent Bodies
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Stelarc is an Australian Performance Art. His projects and performances
explore alternate anatomical architectures, interrogating issues of
embodiment, agency, identity and the post-human.
In 1996 he was made an Honorary Professor of Art and Robotics at Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh and in 2002 was awarded an Honorary
Doctorate of Laws by Monash University, Melbourne. In 2010 he was
awarded the Ars Electronica Hybrid Arts Prize. In 2015 he received the
Australia Council’s Emerging and Experimental Arts Award. In 2016 he was
awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Ionian University, Corfu. From 2013-
2018, Stelarc was a Distinguished Research Fellow, Curtin University, Perth.
His artwork is represented by Scott Livesey Galleries, Melbourne.
www.stelarc.org

The body and the human are unstable constructs. The dead, the near-dead,
the brain dead, the yet to be born, the partially living and synthetic life all now
share a material and proximal existence, with other living bodies, operational
machines and executable and viral code. Chimeras proliferate of meat, metal
and code. Bodies now become end-effectors of extended operational
systems, of replicating Fractal Flesh. Heads are electronically amputated and
reconnected, excess limbs become accessible as remote manipulators, and
our senses are out-sourced online. We see and hear with other eyes and
other ears from other places. Bodies become hosts for multiple and remote
agents. Phantom Flesh proliferates generating alternate anatomical
architectures. Phantoms now become increasingly physical. These Phantoms
are not phantasmic, but rather they become phantom limbs. The body is
neither all-here nor all-there, but appearing and disappearing all-at-once,
everywhere else – scaled-up, speeded-up, performing cinematically, editing
and perceiving itself by pausing, rewinding and looping incessantly,
incestuously. In the liminal spaces of proliferating Prosthetic Bodies, Partial
Life and Artificial Life, the body has become a floating signifier.
What artists best do is to generate contestable futures – possibilities that can
be experienced, interrogated, evaluated, sometimes appropriated but most
likely discarded. The presentation discusses ideas generated by these
projects and performances as well as recent research in prosthetics, robotics
and artificial life, using text, images and video documentation.

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TOPIC: 
No one is right - living in the grey! 
Damian Ward
Partner, Mills Oakley

Damian’s job title is commercial litigation lawyer, but in reality he is in the business of problem- solving. He has spent 25 years dealing with disputes and finding fixes for them. Over this time he has seen a kaleidoscope of issues, personalities and solutions to almost always complex and challenging problems. Damian lives and works in Sydney and is an alumnus of the University of Sydney.

We all crave certainty. In making decisions and deciding the principles by which we live we all like to think we have the best information possible. That process leads us to a conclusion that both decisions in the values on which they are founded are rock-solid. To the contrary, we all live in a fractal world of
perspectives. What you think you know is in many ways ultimately simply what you believe. Damian Ward will address how understanding your own perspective and the subjective context from which it comes will help you in getting through life and understanding others.

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TOPIC: 
Gold Medal Excellence - The Mindset of a Champion
Kerri Pottharst

Olympic Gold Medallist Kerri Pottharst is Australia's most decorated Indoor and Beach Volleyball player, having represented her country for an incredible 20 years. Renowned for being one of the fiercest competitors in the world of Volleyball, Kerri is now well known as an inspirational speaker and presenter, entrepreneur and published author.  
 

When Kerri took up volleyball at the age of 15, she hadn't yet dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion. In 1992 a sickening knee injury should have ended her career, but in her typical no-nonsense style, Kerri recovered late in 1993, changed her goals to Beach Volleyball and then went on to compete in 3 Olympic Games and win two Olympic medals - Bronze at Atlanta and then the Gold against Brazil during the Sydney 2000 Games. As testament to Kerri's abilities, from 1994 until her retirement from international level competition, was never been out of the top 10 and rarely out of the top six in International Beach Volleyball events.

Join Kerri in an inspirational session where she details her
extraordinary journey to Sydney Olympic Gold, and just what it
takes to become an Olympic Champion.

Justin R Hartley
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Justin R Hartley is an international leadership and communication coach. He is creator of Happiness Leadership, the art and science of empowering people through personal leadership strategies to help realize their potential, happiness and fulfillment in life.


As Founder and CEO of Hartley Communication Justin provides world-leading communication skills, regularly regarded by leaders as the key to success. He has helped train hundreds of individuals globally including Prime Ministers, US Councillors, US Congressmen and Presidential Candidates and is sought after around the world to deliver his training based on his unique qualifications,
experiences and skills. His professional international experience has spanned four continents and covered the private, public and not-for-profit sectors where he has worked in or travelled to more than 65 countries.


Having originally graduated from the University of Queensland (UQ), Justin was then educated and trained at Harvard where he attended as a prestigious Fulbright Scholar. The Harvard Kennedy School also made Justin an esteemed John F Kennedy Fellow.  He graduated top 1% and gave a public speech on ‘The Making of a Politician’ that received the highest grade in Harvard course history. He is published and worked at Harvard as both a research fellow and teaching fellow in Authentic Leadership alongside a Harvard Professor and eminent US General (Rtd).


He has always cherished higher education and has a long association with Golden Key that now spans more than 25 years. In 1993, Justin was one of the first 10 students to be inducted as a Golden Key member in Australia, at the University of Queensland (UQ) where he was subsequently elected Chapter President before being appointed inaugural Asia-Pacific Representative at the first Australian Regional Conference held in Sydney in 1995. Whilst a student, Justin represented Australia and lead member workshops at two international conferences, and has since received two Golden Key international awards for outstanding leadership and service.


Justin believes that Golden Key offers students outstanding development opportunities and credits his own success, in part, to his Golden Key experiences and connection.

TOPIC: 
The BIG Question Real Leaders Ask 

In this fast paced world, we are inundated with more information and data than ever before. We are seemingly more time poor, under higher stress and have less time to think. The pressure to adapt to
change is intense.


Real leaders face these challenges too. Yet they somehow find an ability to rise above the ‘noise’, assess the ‘lay of the land’ and importantly, cut through vast swathes of facts and figures to make the correct diagnosis and right decisions.


In exercising this leadership, there is one BIG question - above all others - that real leaders are not afraid to ask and which helps define their ability to stand up, stand out and challenge current thinking.

PROFESSOR JESSICA VANDERLELIE
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Jessica is the inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor Student Success at La Trobe University leading the university to develop and implement a sustainable, and integrated strategy to improve the La Trobe student experience. A key focus of this work is to facilitate the successful student transition across the student
lifecycle and prepare graduates ready for the changing world of
work.


Previously, Jessica was the inaugural Innovative Research Universities Vice Chancellors’ Fellow, where she led a collaborative approach to research, design, innovate and disseminate scalable, practices to improve student outcomes across all demographics. Jessica is a passionate academic that has demonstrated sustained leadership in learning and teaching in Australian Higher Education with a key focus on supporting student and graduate success.


At Griffith University Jessica was responsible for the embedding of authentic employability-based curriculum across the Faculty of Health. Jessica’s achievements in the development and implementation of practice-based curriculum have been recognised nationally through a series of prestigious awards, including the Australian Award for Excellence in Teaching (early career) in 2012 and an OLT citation for her work in innovative assessment design in Biochemistry. Jessica is a current Australian Office of Learning and Teaching Fellow and leads a national program entitled ‘Engaging alumni for graduate success’. 

TOPIC: 
Champions of Change: Student leaders and the evolving nature of Student partnerships in Higher
Education

Students are the life blood of every university and are a key source of expertise about the lived student experience. Student leaders have played a major role in providing advice and feedback to universities through Student Associations, Guilds and Unions for decades. Despite the significant value placed on
formal student representation in Higher Education to date, there is a ground swell of support for reimagining the role and value of students in shaping and enriching the learning environment.


The concept of Student Partnership is gaining momentum across Australian universities. The emphasis in this approach, is on partnership and a more sophisticated understanding of the process for, and benefits of working with students, and the value proposition for students to want to work more closely with their university. The students as partners philosophy allows universities to extend the notion of student feedback in decision making - where decisions are made in advance and student feedback is invited.

The philosophy flips this model so that we reach out to students from the start, and then truly and authentically engaging them every step of the way in the design, planning and implementation of programs and activities that support their experience. The possibilities for student partnership are unlimited and every aspect of university governance and operations can benefit from this approach. Meanwhile participating students benefit in a myriad of ways including being able to identify the outcomes that will best enhance the student experience, and tailor the process to achieve those outcomes.


An opportunity exists for the outstanding student leaders of the Golden Key Society to engage with their universities and play a role in the transformation of the student experience and the quality of learning and teaching.

Head to our Workshop speakers page and Panel Speakers page for the presenters and further information.

Bookmark this Program Page as we add and update VIP and specialist speakers for Chapter Adviser Workshops, Panels and more over the summer!

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