Ajay Royyuru heads the Computational Biology Center at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center (NY), where he leads 35 researchers in a wide range of projects that include bioinformatics, structural biology, life sciences research on Blue Gene supercomputer, functional genomics, systems biology, computational neuroscience, and medical informatics.

He is also the lead scientist for IBM on The Genographic Project, working closely with Dr. Spencer Wells, National Geographic and the distinguished team of field researchers assembled to conduct DNA testing on indigenous populations of the world.

Ajay’s passion for science began in his youth when he first took science courses. Biology was of particular fascination to him. He received his bachelor’s degree in human biology, and his master’s degree in biophysics, from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in New Delhi, India, and obtained his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, in Mumbai (Bombay). Ajay then performed post-doctoral study in structural biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, in New York City, one of the world’s leading research and clinical cancer facilities. While there, Ajay and colleagues identified a new structural protein-RNA complex in BIV (bovine immunodeficiency virus), which offered the first breakthrough animal model for a key molecular structure in HIV. He calls his three years there “the most scientifically productive and rewarding period of my life.”

Currently, his work focuses on collaborative research at the interface of information technology and biology. Working with biologists and institutions around the world, he is engaged in research and development of computer and software systems that will advance personalized, information-based medicine. Ajay has authored and co-authored more numerous research publications in structural and computational biology. He is an active member of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB).

Alan Saunders was born and educated in London. He studied philosophy at the University of Leicester where he was also president of the students' union, and Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics. He came to Australia in 1981 to pursue research in the History of Ideas Unit at the Australian National University and was subsequently awarded a PhD.

Having joined the Science Unit of ABC Radio National in 1987, Alan Saunders founded The Food Program which was broadcast weekly until 1991 and then from 1992 to 1997. During 1991 he was co-presenter of Screen, a weekly programme about film and television. Since 1997 he has been presenter of The Comfort Zone, a weekly review of architecture and design, gardens and food.

Alan has written about food and other topics for various publications including the ABC's Delicious magazine. He is the author of A is for Apple (Random House) and he had his first novel, Alanna, published by Penguin in 2002.

In 1992 Alan Saunders was awarded the Pascall Prize for critical writing and broadcasting.

Elevated from the 'colts' to the senior side of the VFL's North Melbourne whilst still a schoolboy at 17, an uncommon achievement in the 1950s, saw the start of what was to become a much heralded and successful playing career. His deceptive pace, great ball control and greater than average strength quickly established him as a North champion and, most say, one of the game's greatest rovers.

After a second serious injury to his arm, Allen's playing career was cut short to protect his professional life as a Dental Surgeon. Only a year after finishing his playing career, Allen continued his quest of bringing the VFL Premiership Cup to Arden Street for the first time and joined the Board of the North Melbourne FC and was elected President in 1971 - the youngest to hold such a position in football history.

Under Allen, North were the pioneers - introducing initiatives such as paid sponsorships, corporate entertainment and other marketing bonanzas such as the Grand Final Breakfast that still exist 30 years later - setting the standard for all other clubs to follow.

In 1977, Allen, 42 years of age, was then elected by his peers at rival clubs to head the Victorian Football League. In his eight years as VFL President, Allen lead a team that transformed the game and lay the foundations for what we now know as the Australian Football League.

Allen has received many honours during those years, most notably that of an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for service to sport. And more awards since - inducted as an inaugural member of the AFL's Hall of Fame, member of the Kangaroo's Team of the Century, Australian Centenary Medal, Australian Sports Medal recipient and more recently Allen was inducted into Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

Allen is a practising Dental Surgeon, Chairman of the Carbine Club International Congress and member of the World President's Organisation.

After 15 years of sitting on the interchange bench, Allen moved back into the spotlight in 2001 to once again, as Chairman, lead his beloved Kangaroos into a new and challenging era of football.

Allen retired from this position in February 2007.

Amanda Sinclair is Foundation Professor Management Diversity & Change at the Melbourne School of Business. Amanda Sinclair is an academic, consultant and researcher with particular expertise in the areas of leadership and ethics, organisational culture and change, gender and diversity. Amanda's work has been widely published and her sometimes controversial conclusions have generated significant popular as well as academic debate. Her books, Trials at the Top and Doing Leadership Differently, argued that gender, sexuality and power have shaped and limited leadership in business. . Her latest book, Leadership for the Disillusioned: Beyond Myths and Heroes to Leading that Liberates suggests leadership should be directed towards new purposes of promoting freedom and well-being.

Andreas Ruby is an architectural theorist and curator. He studied History of Art at the University of Cologne in Germany before undertaking post-graduate studies on the Theory and History of Architecture at the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture Paris with Paul Virilio and at Columbia University in New York with Bernard Tschumi.

From 1999 to 2001 he was editor of the architecture magazine Daidalos. Since 2001 he leads together with his partner Ilka Ruby an office for architectural communication called textbild.

Andreas Ruby has taught architectural theory and design at Universität Kassel, Cornell University Ithaca/NY, Ecole Polytechnique Féderale Lausanne and the Metropolis Master Program Barcelona. He was member of the scientific committee of Archilab Orléans from 1999 to 2001. He is member of the board of the German Architecture Museum, and member of the Jury of the Hans-Schäfer-Award for Architecture

Ann Shaw Rungie operates a private consulting practice facilitating solutions to social and environmental aspects of complex and controversial policy issues, particularly in sustainability, natural resources and the water industry. She has over 30 years experience working with multiple stakeholders in governments, community and business in both urban and rural environments to help them develop a clear focus and achieve their objectives through innovative approaches to facilitation and engagement.

Ann is passionate about promoting debate and understanding of the bigger picture in relation to the way we use water, energy and resource. She is optimistic about the fact that as we face the prospect of much less rainfall and runoff we can develop and test possible and desirable futures, and make well informed choices.

Ann is interested in encouraging futures thinking, better decision making processes and identifying the drivers for real cultural change. She approaches sustainability from a social science perspective dealing principally with human / environment interactions. Ann has been a key player in the rationalisation processes involving the water industry throughout Australia as part of the COAG and National Water Initiative water reform process.

Much of her work involves identifying the social and environmental impacts of change and ensuring that they are taken into account and appropriate trade offs negotiated to allow people to move forward.

Past appointments include Board member of the South Australian Environment Protection Authority, Chair, SA Water Resources Council, Member of the Community Advisory Committee to the Murray Darling Basin Commission and current Director of the Healthy Rivers Fund and International Councillor for Slow Food.

Austin Williams is author and illustrator of ‘Shortcuts: Essential guides for building designers’ and editor of NBS TV. An architect and project manager by profession, he is the founder of ManTowNHuman (Manifesto: Towards a New Humanism in Architecture); director of the Future Cities Project; visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art and; a regular transport columnist with the Daily Telegraph, London. Previously, he was architecture critic with BBC London’s Robert Elms’ Show. He is author of ‘The Enemies of Progress’ (May 2008) and co-editor of ‘The Future of Community: Reports of a Death Greatly Exaggerated’ (Sept 2008).

Previously employed as the Technical Editor of the Architects' Journal, he has also written for a range of publications, including: The Times Literary Supplement, Times Higher Educational Supplement; Top Gear, New Humanist, Blueprint, Building Design, The Tablet, spiked-online, and MJ. He devised and chairs the Bookshop Barnies.

He was the coordinator of the "Future of Community festival" at Central St Martins College of Art & Design in 2006. In 2005, he convened the "Future of London festival" at the Museum of London; and the "Future Cities: Future Visions" conference at the LSE in 2003.

Barbara J Sahakian is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine and Honorary Consultant Clinic Psychologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Best known for her research work on cognition and depression, cognitive enhancement using pharmacological treatments, neuroethics and early detection of Alzheimer’s disease, she has over 200 publications covering these topics in scientific journals, including Science, Nature Neuroscience, The Lancet, British Medical Journal, Archives of General Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, the Journal of Neuroscience, Brain, Psychopharmacology and Psychological Medicine.

Her current Program of research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council, investigates the neurochemical modulation of impulsive and compulsive behaviour in neuropsychiatric disorders, such as unipolar and bipolar depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In recognition of her contribution to cognitive neuroscience, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004 and in 2005 she was awarded the Donders Chair in Psychopharmacology at Utrecht University (The Netherlands). In 2006 she began her appointment on the Medical Research Council Neurosciences and Mental Health Board. She is a Fellow of Clare Hall and Bye-Fellow of Christ’s College.

Dr Brian Walker is a Research Fellow with CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and is also Program Director and Chair of the Board of the Resilience Alliance, an international research group working on sustainability of social-ecological systems.

A focus of his work is the significance of resilience (the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and to undergo change while still retaining essentially the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks) in the sustainability of ecosystems and social-ecological systems.

Dr Walker co-authored the 2006 book Resilience thinking: Sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world and has published over 160 scientific papers and edited and co-edited nine books. Dr Walker has served on numerous Australian and international Boards and Committees.

Dr Dissanayake is the Director of the newly established Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre at La Trobe University, which is the first research facility in Australia dedicated to autism. She is also a Senior Lecturer in developmental psychology at the School of Psychological Science at La Trobe.
To date she has published 26 refereed journal papers and seven book chapters, with the majority focused on the topic of autism. As well as her observational studies, she has investigated the physiological correlates of behaviour by studying the cardiac responses of children with autism to social and emotional stimuli, as well as undertaking a longitudinal study of growth in infants who later developed autism

Dr. Dissanayake is a member of the Autism Professional Panel, the International Society for Autism Research, SRCD, Australasian Human Development Association, the American Association for Psychological Science, the Australian Psychological Society, and she is a fully Registered Psychologist in Victoria.

Cheryl Saunders is a laureate professor at the University of Melbourne, Director of the Law School .s Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies and a course director of the Melbourne JD. She works in the areas of constitution-making and design, federalism, intergovernmental relations and comparative constitutional law. From 1991-2000 she was deputy chair of the Australian Constitutional Centenary Foundation, established to assist broad public understanding of the Australian constitutional system and encourage public involvement in constitutional debate. More recently she was a participant in the 2020 summit, as a member of the governance stream. She has been President of the International Association of Constitutional Law and is currently President of the International Association of Centres for Federal Studies. In 1994 she was appointed an officer in the Order of Australia, for services to the law and to public administration.

Chris Turner is the author of the national bestseller The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need (Random House Canada, 2007), which was named one of The Globe & Mail's Best Books of 2007. He writes a monthly feature on sustainability for The Globe & Mail, Canada's premiere national newspaper.
His magazine writing – mostly for the late, great Shift Magazine – has earned him four Canadian National Magazine Awards and six honourable mentions, including the 2001 President's Medal for General Excellence (the highest honour in Canadian magazine writing). His writing and reporting on culture, technology and the environment have also appeared in The Independent (UK), Time Magazine, Maclean's, Canadian Geographic, The Walrus, Azure, Good Weekend and Utne Reader. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife, the photographer Ashley Bristowe, and their daughter, Sloane.

David Pledger works as a director, producer, film-maker, designer, writer, choreographer, actor and dramaturg in theatre, dance, opera, television and media arts.

David has gained wide acclaim for building new artworks that combine physical languages, video, sound and special effects into an organic system. He has been particularly interested in merging various genres with “media” to elevate media from the existing role as a simple form of enjoyment to a stimulant that is integrated into the structure and theme of the artwork.

David has an abiding interest in Asia and has drawn many influences from, in particular, Japan and Korea where he has researched, worked on and presented a number of projects with organisations and companies including Japan’s Suzuki Company of Toga (1990,1991), the Korean National University of Arts (Agamemnon 1994) the Japanese contemporary dance company Gekidan Kaitaisha for the Journey To Confusion Series (1999-2002) and the Dolgoogi Theatre/Seoul Performing Arts Festival for the bi-lingual co-production of K (2005). In 2007, he delivered a series of public lectures on the theme, How To Make Art in the 2stC at the invitation of the Australian High Commission in Malaysia. In 2008 he will take up a residency at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre In China.

He is the founding artistic director and producer of not yet it’s difficult (nyid). Formed in 1995, nyid is one of Australia’s leading interdisciplinary arts companies producing original performance works, public space projects, play productions, installations, experimental video and arts-based television documentaries.

Dominic Brine is the Breakfast Presenter/Regional Program Manager of ABC Ballarat

Dominic was born in 1960 in Canberra and has tried his hand at many jobs. He has worked as a deckhand, Bank Clerk, Nurse and Gardener but life changed when he joined a Canberra Amateur Theatre Group. It was here that he discovered he had a good ear for sound, which led him to the big smoke.

In Sydney he studied at the Australian Film Television and radio School to become a Sound Recordist for Film and TV. After working at Channel 9 in Perth in the mid 1980's he returned to Sydney and worked as a freelance recordist on TV Drama including Soap Operas like Home and Away..."inspirational stuff."

In 1992 he decided to work in radio initially at SBS and then with the ABC's Rural Department in Sydney. It was here where he realised that radio offered him the chance to make programs rather than just record them. When the chance came to produce a morning program at the ABC in Broken Hill came in 1996, he grabbed it with both hands.

After two years in the Outback Dominic headed west to Geraldton in WA to present the drive show for ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt. Here he enjoyed a rich lifestyle living next to the beach, being part of a rich theatre scene and getting to venture into the wilderness of inland WA. Despite loving Geraldton and becoming a ratepayer, Dominic missed his family in the eastern states and returned in January 2002 to present the afternoon show for ABC Illawarra from Nowra in NSW where he enjoyed the relaxed pace of an afternoon timeslot.

Working in several ABC stations across Australia and developing strong links in diverse communities stands Dominic in good stead to start up a new radio service in Ballarat. He believes this is a once in a lifetime opportunity; loving his new hometown of Ballarat and getting on with the job of presenting the breakfast program and running one of the newest radio stations in the ABC network.

Associate Professor David Wright-Neville is Deputy Director of the Global Terrorism Research Centre at Monash University where his research focuses on the political psychology of violence in multicultural societies, focusing in particular on Southeast and South Asia. Before returning to academia in 2002 he served as a senior analyst for Southeast Asia and terrorism in the Australian intelligence community. A regular commentator in the Australian and international media, Dr. Wright-Neville is still consulted regularly by various Australian and overseas government agencies, but also by international organisations and civil society groups including the United Nations’ International Peace Academy and human rights organisations. In 2007 he completed a period as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford.

Don Henry has been executive director of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia’s leading national, not for profit environment organisation since 1998. Previously based in Washington DC, he served with The World Wildlife Fund as director of the Global Forest program (1996-98), and as director of the WWF Asia-Pacific and South Pacific programs. In Australia, Don Henry has held the post of director at both WWF- Australia the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. His honorary positions have included commissioner with the Australian Heritage Commission and president of both the Australian Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Moreton Island Protection Committee. He holds a Global 500 Environment Award from the United Nations Environment Program for his services to conservation.

Dr Esther Charlesworth is Tenure Track Fellow ( Urban and Community) at RMIT's School of Architecture and Design. She is also the founding director of Architects without Frontiers (Australia). She was recently Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the American University of Beirut. She has practiced architecture and urban design in Melbourne, Sydney and New York since 1983, before completing her Masters of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard University in 1995.

Between 1995 and 1999 she was Senior Urban Designer with the City of Melbourne and is still the director of the CityEdge International Urban Design Series. Esther is the recipient of five major international research awards to further her research into the role of architects in post-war reconstruction and is currently completing a project and book on divided cities (Beirut, Belfast, Jerusalem, Nicosia and Mostar), with colleague Jon Calame. She completed her Doctorate of Philosophy at the University of York (UK) in 2003.

Evan Thornley was elected in 2006 to the Legislative Council in the Victorian Government.

He currently serves as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier, with Innovation and the National Reform Agenda his main responsibilities.

Evan has been active in business, education, the community sector and public policy.

He is National Secretary of the Australian Fabian Society and was, until his election, a council member of The University of Melbourne, and a founding director of www.getup.com.au

He is a board member at the Brotherhood of St Laurence, founding board member of Per Capita think tank and with his wife Tracey Ellery, the proprietor of Pluto Press.

Sir Gustav Nossal is an Australian Medical Scientist whose research is in fundamental immunology, and he has written eight books and 540 scientific articles in this and related fields. The Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne was named in honour of Sir Gustav.

In 1948, he entered Sydney University’s Medical School, graduating with first class honours. He came to Melbourne to work with Sir Macfarlane Burnet in medical research (immunology). Nossal gained his doctorate of Philosophy in 1960. In 1965, at the age of 34, Nossal became director of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, a position that he kept until 1996. In parallel, he was Professor of Medical Biology at The University of Melbourne.

He has been President (1986-1989) of the 30,000-member world body of immunology, the International Union of Immunological Societies; President of the Australian Academy of Science (1994-1998); a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (1989 to 1998); Chairman of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (1987-1996); Chairman of the Committee overseeing the World Health Organization’s Vaccines and Biologicals Program (1993-2002) and Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Council of the Bill and Melinda Gates Children’s Vaccine Program (1998-2003).

In 1977 he was knighted for his groundbreaking work in immunology and in 1989 was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. He was named Australian of the Year in 2000, and holds numerous international scientific awards and honorary doctorates. He was Deputy Chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation from 1998 to 2000. He is Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Global Foundation.

Hugh is the founder of the Oaktree Foundation, Australia's first youth run aid and development organisation.

At 25 years old, Hugh has been formally recognised for his achievements with the titles Young Victorian of the Year (2003), Young Australian of the Year (2004) and Junior Chamber International Young Person of the World (2005).

In addition to Oaktree, Hugh Evans sits on the steering committee of the Make Poverty History campaign and helped coordinate the Make Poverty History Concert in Nov 2006. He was formally recognised for his efforts when he received MTV's Free Your Mind Humanitarian Award, an award previous received by U2's Bono, Burmese Activist Aung San Suu Kyi and Bob Geldoff.

Hugh is a key note speaker for businesses around Australia, including Medibank Private, IBM, Shell, Macquarie Bank, the Myer family, NAB Private Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Just Group and JB Were Goldman Sachs.

Hugh is currently working on a major project called Change the World. A TV series that gives twelve Australian's the opportunity to put world changing projects into action.

Jack Fuller is a young astronaut-aspirant turned sustainability champion with a background in neuroscience and amateur theatre; he has a passion for science, world trends, and for visioning for the future. Currently he's working with Melbourne City Council facilitating a pioneering creative group based around participatory democracy: "YGen on Future Melbourne," editing and modifying the Future Melbourne plan with new perspectives. As the Global Program Director at the Centre for Sustainability Leadership Jack is driving the development of the Global Future Sustainability Leaders program, to be rolled out on five continents by 2012 in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program. Jack also directs the “1,000-Year Governance Project,” an innovative Melbourne-based think tank looking at methods of long-term governance for long-term challenges. In future he wants to lead the development of new institutions for global environmental governance by taking a leadership role at the United Nations Environment Program. Jack believes the mark of a thriving society should be to ensure that life grows continually richer for people as they get older.”

Dr Jane Dixon is a cultural sociologist working at the Australian National University. Her books The Changing Chicken: chooks, cooks and culinary culture and The Seven Deadly Sins of Obesity: how the modern world is making us fat consider how eating habits and leisure pursuits have changed over the last 50 years. Recent interviews by Jane and colleagues with over 100 older Melburnians, who are participants in the Weight of Modernity study, have highlighted how an enduring passion for a footy team has contributed to their resilience and well-being. As a member of both the Slow Food Movement and the North Melbourne Football Club, Jane will consider her latest research and personal experiences of food and footy within the resilience framework developed by Brian Walker. She is a director of Australia 21, a research organisation that examines the future freely and imaginatively.

Jane Sloane is Executive Director, International Women’s Development Agency. Among her work roles Jane has been General Manager, Sydney Olympic Media Centre for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, CEO of the Social Entrepreneurs Network for Australia New Zealand, head of Strategic Marketing for Austrade while also operating as a NSW Council Member for Oxfam, thus engaging in the free trade/fair trade dialogue. In 2004 Jane took up the role of State Manager for World Vision for South Australia and Northern Territory, introducing a range of initiatives including a Business Advisory Board, a Women of Vision program and an International Alert series as well as overseeing the local tsunami response.

Jane is a recipient of a Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Fellowship and is a past Queens Trust recipient. In 2005 Jane was awarded a Woman of Distinction Award by the Asia Pacific Business Women’s Council for her humanitarian work and also a 2005 Churchill Fellowship to develop a model for a Humanitarian Emergency Response Team for Australia and the region.

In October 2006 Jane was selected as one of 75 Australians to be trained by Al Gore in order to become one of his advocates for climate change action. Jane was also awarded an Australian Government Endeavour Professional Award to pilot a project in 2007 to support Pacific women’s participation in nominating for Parliament in their country. In 2008 Jane was one of four NGO representatives on the Australian Government Delegation to the 52nd Session of the United Nations Commission for the Status of Women Convention in New York.

Born in Melbourne in 1944, Jeffrey Shaw has been a leading figure in new media art since its emergence from the performance, expanded cinema and installation paradigms of the 1960s to its present day technology-informed and virtualized forms. His works have been exhibited worldwide at major museums and festivals.

Shaw was co-founder of the Eventstructure Research Group in Amsterdam (1969-1979), and founding director (1991-2002) of the ZKM Institute for Visual Media Karlsruhe. In 2001 he co-curated the FUTURE CINEMA exhibition at the ZKM Karlsruhe, ICC Tokyo and KIASMA Helsinki, the catalogue of which has been published by MIT Press.

In 2003 he was awarded an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship and returned to Australia to set up and direct the iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where world leading aesthetic and technical research into immersive interactive post-narrative systems is being undertaken.

John Armstrong was born in Glasgow and educated at Oxford and London. John has been an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne since 2003; last year he was the university's Inaugural Knowledge Transfer Fellow and is currently Philosopher in Residence at the Melbourne Business School. He is the author of several internationally acclaimed books - including Conditions of Love; the Secret Power of Beauty and Love Life Goethe; his next book The Promise of Civilisation, will be published in 2009. Alongside his books, he is also a regular expert commentator on radio and contributor to major international newspapers and journals, and has conducted globally recognised lectures at forums as diverse as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, London’s National Gallery and Writers’ Festivals in Melbourne and Sydney.

Joshua Cowan was DUX of Wangaratta High School (2007) and awarded the Premier’s Award for Physics and the Premier’s VCE high achiever award. He was awarded the PSA medical scholarship (awarded to rural students from a disadvantaged socio-economic background seeking to study medicine at The University of Melbourne), and the Rural Australian Medical Undergraduate Scholarship.

He is a Member of OUTLOOK, The University of Melbourne’s Rural, Indigenous and International Health Club and a member of SWOT 2008, a program run by medical students seeking to provide revision lectures to Year 12 students from under represented schools.

Justin Kemp has been the Exercise Physiologist at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne for 11 years. This position was undertaken after completing a Masters of Science at Queens University, Canada. In conjunction with this position, he is currently in his final year as a Ph.D. Scholar at the Muscle Cell Biochemistry Laboratory, Victoria University. In the fields of physical activity and exercise science, he has several research publications in scholarly journals, regularly presents at international scientific conferences, and has gained research funding from a variety of sources, including the Australian Research Council.

As part of his research endeavours, a major focus is to take the knowledge garnered in the laboratory and use it as a base for increasing scientific awareness and understanding within the general public. To do so, Justin has hosted a weekly sports and exercise science radio program on 3RRR-FM (Melbourne) for the last 10 years called Run Like You Stole Something. Alongside this, he has co-authored more than 130 sports science articles in The Australian Financial Review and The Age newspapers. In recent years, he has also co-authored three commercial books (Run Like You Stole Something; Why Dick Fosbury Flopped; It’s True: Sport Stinks – Allen & Unwin publishing) aimed at exposing and popularizing exercise science within the populace, with these books having sold 10,000 copies to date in Australia.

He is a founding member of rock band Push Button Auto, having released three full-length albums to date. He was the originator and Associate Producer for the documentary film, Grandpa's Games, having had several screenings nationally on SBS-TV since November 2003. He has composed/produced music and sound design for several projects, including BODY fashion parade at 2002 Melbourne Fashion Week, My Idiot Brother (Melbourne International Film Festival) and The Flea (55-min radio play).

Kate Archdeacon graduated from RMIT in 2007 with first class honours in Industrial Design. She now works for the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab as a design assistant, and also facilitates brainstorming sessions for design consultancies.

She became involved with Mick Douglas' Pedal-Powered Vehicle Workshop in 2006, and continues to be part of the Ride-On Dinner crew. (The Ride-On Dinners are moveable, cycle-driven feasts serving vegan seasonal three-course meals in inner-city Melbourne parks and pathways.)

As a result of her involvement with these projects, she presented at the 2007 Thinking on Two Wheels conference in Adelaide, discussing the impact of the Pedal-Powered Vehicle Workshop on the development of networks and communities that have continued to flourish well beyond the initial project.

With a strong interest in sustainability, urban development, community storytelling and incremental change in complex systems, the projects she is involved with tend to include elements of food, networks, creative and complex-problem solving and capacity-building within communities.

Kelly Donati is the President of Slow Food Victoria and a research in urban food systems. She is a graduate of the Master’s program in Gastronomy at University of Adelaide, which marked the start of her passion for the slow philosophy and its eco-gastronomic approach to food and agriculture.

She began her career in human resources and in local government, but has since shifted her professional focus to research and event management. As a researcher in the Globalism Institute RMIT working on projects in Hamilton, Victoria and Papua New Guinea, she deepened her understanding of the complexities of community sustainability and resilience in the face of global change. Her more recent research has looked at the benefits and challenges of community and school gardens in Melbourne.

Kelly is currently undertaking a doctorate at the University of Melbourne in the Faculty of Land and Food Resources. Her current research on the politics of conviviality and pleasure in urban food gardens and restaurant kitchens is a natural progression from her previous research and interest in Slow Food’s ethics of taste.

Larissa Brown is the founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Sustainability Leadership. Larissa is also the co-founder of an environmental show on youth radio, the award-winning 'Hour of Eco Power'. Larissa has worked as a research scientist at the Australian National University, studying the extinction event of Australia's megafauna, helped save a forest by creating an ecotourism lodge in Costa Rica, rehabilitated endangered primates and big cats in Bolivia, taught snowboarding in the USA and spent a year as a high school student in Japan. She is the recipient of the 2006 British Council award for Communicating Climate Change. She has been studying a Bachelor of Science (ecology) at Melbourne University and a bachelor of Law at Monash University. For further information access the article: Leading the Way, Issue 40, The Source available from www.melbournewater.com.au/thesource Larissa's fellowship allowed her to learn from outstanding environmental achievers around the world and the world's best leadership programs during 6-month study tour.

Dr Leela Gandhi teaches English and Cultural Theory and is Professor of English at the University of Chicago. Her publications include Postcolonial Theory (1998), Measures of Home (2000), the co-authored, England Through Colonial Eyes (2001), and Affective Communities (2006). She is a founding co-editor of the journal Postcolonial Studies. She has offered analysis that Mahatma Gandhi's philosophies and policies were influenced by transnational rather than strictly indigenous sources. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Delhi and her doctorate was obtained from Oxford University.

A pioneer of new media, video and performance art in Australia, Lyndal Jones has produced a massive body of work since the early 1980s, and is known for creating long-term projects which initially focused on performance then video installation.

Lyndal Jones’ Darwin with Tears, showing at ACCA between 28 May and 20 July, is part of ACCA’s annual series of exhibitions by influential Australian artists, and will be launched alongside a Catalogue Raisonne of Jones’ work.

Works in this major survey exhibition include The Darwin Translations, created from 1994-99, will be seen together for the first time in this exhibition. Using naturalist Charles Darwin’s ground breaking thesis, ‘Origin of the Species’ as a base, Jones creates playful, provocative and sensual works about human and animal sexuality, gender difference and sexual selection. Images of giant tortoises on the Galapagos Islands, fields of bright red poppies and an avery of finches sit alongside a video work exploring teenage mating rituals in Scotland and references to Sigmund Frued’s consulting room.

A new work commissioned especially for this exhibition, the words ‘Tears for what has been done’ will light up the exterior wall of ACCA, reflected in pools of gathered water below.

Her works have been shown extensively in Australia and internationally , most notably representing Australia at the 2001 Venice Biennale . She is Associate Professor of Multimedia and Director of Research in the School of Creative Media at RMIT.

Mary O'Kane is a company director and Executive Chairman of Mary O'Kane & Associates Pty Ltd, a company that advises governments, universities and the private sector on innovation, research, education and development.

Professor O'Kane was Vice-Chancellor and President of Adelaide University from 1996-2001 and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) from 1994-96. Before that, she was Dean of the Faculty of Information Sciences and Engineering at the University of Canberra. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia.

She serves on several boards and committees in the public and private sectors. She specialises in high technology commercialisation, national research strategies and higher education policy. She is Vice-Chair of the Development Gateway Chair Foundation. She is a director of QPSX Ltd and several private companies. She is a member of the Australian Aid Advisory Council, the Tax Concession Committee and is Senior Advisor to the Australian Government on the Virtual Colombo Plan. She was Chair of Sienna Capital Ltd, a director of FH Faulding & Co Ltd and a member of the Australian Research Council, the Cooperative Research Centres Committee and the CSIRO Board.

Mick Douglas is an artist who makes public interventions with modes of transport. Founder of arts group Tramtactic, Mick conducted the hybrid Karachi-Melbourne “W-11 Tram” art project during the 2006 Commonwealth Games. His recent books include “Tramjatra: imagining Melbourne & Kolkata by tramways” and “Invention-Intervention” (RMIT University Press).

He has recently been undertaking pedal-powered art projects, teaches at RMIT University and is researching relationships between transportation, public culture and an art of mobility.

Dr Murat Yücel is currently appointed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne. He currently heads Neuroimaging & Cognitive Neuroscience Research in Drug Addiction, ORYGEN Research Centre and Impulsive, Compulsive & Addictive Behaviour Research, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre. His research into the pathophysiology of behavioural control deficits in drug addiction and mental illness has received international recognition, in additional to local, national, and international media attention. This is reflected in his increasing national and international profile, as well as achievements to date.

Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award winning science broadcaster and journalist with ABC Radio National, where she is the presenter of 'All in the Mind', a weekly program she initiated in 2002 (http://abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind). She regularly hosts public events and forums around Australia, and her writing appears in various newspapers and magazines.

Natasha has received international recognition for her reportage on challenging topics in science and health, including 4 Gold World Medals at the New York Radio Festivals, and a prestigious MIT Knight Science Journalism fellowship to spend 2005/6 at MIT and Harvard. In 2004 Natasha presented and co-produced the four part series, Parched Lands, a joint production with the BBC World Service. The series reported from desert lands in China, India, the USA and Australia's Red Centre.

Natasha was the recipient of the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Broadcast Media Award in 2004, 2002 and 2001; a winner and runner-up in the 2000 Public Health Association of Australia Media Awards; a finalist in the 2007 Human Rights Awards and the 2002 Eureka Science Journalism Awards; and was awarded an MBF NSW Health and Well-Being Award in 1997.

Natasha has a first class honours degree in Engineering from Monash University, and a postgraduate diploma in Science Communication from the Australian National University. She worked in a range of scientific labs before joining the ABC in 1997, and has since worked as a reporter and presenter across radio, TV and online. She s now doing what she really loves - chatting to people about the wonders and idiosyncrasies of the human condition on All in the Mind, and pursuing her passionate interest in the critical engagement between science, art, technology and culture.

Dr Norman Lewis is the Chief Strategy Officer, Wireless Grids Corporation, USA where he is responsible for business strategy and building key-industry partnerships to bring this revolutionary technology to market. Before joining WGC, he was the Director of Technology Research, Orange UK plc, (formerly the Home Division, France Telecom). In this role and prior to that as the founder and Director of Globalisation and Power in the Twenty First Century (1997) he has been a strategic pioneer in crafting innovation frameworks for the future application of information and communication technologies in society.

He is currently the Chairman of the ITU's TELECOM Program Committee and has acted as a consultant to the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Until recently was an Executive Board Member of the Communications Futures Program at MIT, Cambridge Mass, USA.

He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Sussex (UK) and has lectured at UK Universities including Sussex, the University of Kent, Canterbury and Oxford.

He is publishing a study in June 2008, which he co-authored with leading UK sociologist, Professor Frank Furedi on the subject of digital children and their encounter with innovation in a risk-averse culture.

Paul Carter is a writer and artist whose books include Parrot (2006), Mythform: The Making of Nearamnew at Federation Square (2005), Material Thinking, The Theory and Practice of Creative Research (2004), Repressed Spaces, The Poetics of Agoraphobia (2002), Lost Subjects (1999), The Lie of the Land (1996), Living In A New Country (1992), The Sound In-Between (1992) and The Road to Botany Bay (1987). Amongst his public space interventions are sound installations including The Calling to Come and Lost Subjects (both Museum of Sydney), multi-media performances (Light, Incognita, Jadi Jadian) and public artworks (Relay, Homebush Bay, Sydney Olympics, 1999 with Ruark Lewis; Nearamnew, Federation Square, Melbourne, 2003 with Lab architecture studio and Golden Grove, University of Sydney (2007-8) with Taylor, Cullity, Lethlean). A CD (2006) featuring selections from 14 radiophonic compositions (1986-2006) was part of the December 2006 issue of the literary magazine Southerly dedicated to his work.

Born in 1951, Paul was brought up in Berkshire, England; educated at Oxford, subsequently living and working in Italy and Spain. He moved to Australia c.1980, where he freelanced for a decade and a half before taking up a research position at the University of Melbourne. He is currently professorial research fellow in the Architecture, Building & Planning Faculty, University of Melbourne. As creative director of the place-making studio Material Thinking, his clients include RiverConnect (Shepparton), the Alice Springs CBD Revitalisation project and the Point Nepean Community Trust . see www.materialthinking.com.au for further information. His article .Against Masterplanning: the Place of the Future; is published in June 2008 in Lettre Internationale (Berlin). His new book Dark Writing: geography, performance, design will be released by University of Hawai .ii Press in September.

Paul James is Director of the Global Cities Institute (RMIT) and Director of the UN Global Compact Cities Program. He is also Professor of Globalization in the Globalism Institute (RMIT) and on the
Council of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies. He is an editor of Arena Journal, as well as an editor/board-member of eight other international journals, including Globalizations and Global Governance.

He has delivered invited addresses in over twenty countries and is author or editor of nineteen books including most importantly, Nation Formation (1996) and Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism (2006). He has been an advisor to a number of agencies and governments including the
Helsinki Process, the Canadian Prime Minister’s G20 Forum (2004), the National Economic Advisory Council of Malaysia, and the Commission on Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor. His work for the Papua New Guinea Minister for Community Development became the basis for their Integrated Community Development Policy (2004–08).

Assoc. Professor Peter Currie received his BSc (Hons) in 1987 from the University of Melbourne and PhD in 1993 from Syracuse University (USA) studying aspects gene regulation. Peter's interest in muscle biology initiated in London at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund where he studied the molecular genetics of muscledevelopment. His particular interest is in the study of the genetics of muscle formation in the embryo and how this processes is perturbed in human diseases such as dystrophies and myopathies and how cells can regenerate.

He is an expert in the application of zebrafish genetics to the study of muscle biology and specialises in the use of sophisticated imaging techniques to study muscle formation within the intact organism.

Professor Currie is currently laboratory head of the Developmental Biology Program at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney. In December he will move to a professorial appointment at Monash University to become Deputy Director and Head of the Regenerative Biology Unit at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute.

Peter Mares has been a journalist and broadcaster with the ABC since 1987. He became presenter of The National Interest in January 2006, following the retirement of long-time host Terry Lane. Prior to that Peter worked for three years as the program's producer.

Before joining The National Interest, Peter presented Asia Pacific on ABC Radio National and Radio Australia. He reported for ABC news and current affairs as a foreign correspondent based in Hanoi from 1995-1997 and hosted the weekly regional affairs program Indian Pacific on ABC Radio National from 1987- 1995. Peter has won numerous awards as a journalist, including the 1995 NSW Law Society Golden Quill Award for excellence in legal reporting, the 2001 Austcare Media Award and the 2001 United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Prize.

Peter is the author of the book Borderline: Australia's response to refugees and asylum seekers in the wake of the Tampa (UNSW Press 2002). Borderline won prizes in the 2001 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the 2002 NSW Premier's Literary Awards and the 2001 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Human Rights Awards. It also received the 2001 Centre for Australian Cultural Studies Prize for an outstanding contribution to Australian cultural life. Peter has written numerous articles for magazines and newspapers and contributed chapters to several books. His writings have twice been included in the annual collection of Australia's Best Essays published by Black Inc.

In addition to his position at ABC Radio National, Peter is an adjunct research fellow at the Institute of Social Research at Swinburne University of Technology, where he continues to pursue his interest in issues of migration, borders and human movement. He is a member of the advisory committee of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, and has been a judge Victorian Premier's Literary Awards (2004, 2007) and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Human Rights Awards (2003, 2005, 2006).

Pip Shea is a media artist and designer. She creates works for public spaces – both physical and virtual. Her work is influenced by networked culture and online participation. She explores ‘broadcast yourself’ and remix culture, the shifting media space and the movement towards an ‘open source’ culture. Her practice focuses on peer production models that generate ideas and foster art making.

Dr Hill has more than 25 years research experience in mineralogy and crystallography. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 1997, and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Mineralogical Society of America, and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He has spent extended research periods overseas in the USA (NSF Fellowship) and Germany (Leichhardt Fellowship). He has a strong personal interest in the development and maintenance of a culture of creativity, innovation and service delivery in the research context.

In November 2007 Dr Hill took up the position of Pro Vice Chancellor, Industry Engagement and Commercialisation, at Monash University. In this newly-created role he has oversight of the University’s business development, technology transfer, intellectual property management and commercialisation activities. The position includes a central “expert core” to support the activities of a team of Business Development Managers in the Faculties, and provides oversight of the development and implementation of strategies for the storage and processing of the IP and other “commercialisable” outputs from the University.

Rachel Harch is undertaking fourth year studies in a Double Degree: B.E. (Aerospace) / B.Sc (Physics. She chairs the student branch of the American Institute of Aeronautic and Astrophysics. In Fall 2007, she participated in a university exchange to Purdue University in the USA, a leading university in Aerospace Engineering. Whilst in the USA she was able to see a shuttle launch, visit several of the world’s best Aerospace museums, and hear speeches from people as various as Neil Armstrong to the Dalai Lama. . In July 2007 she participated in an international Space Station Design Workshop run by Universität Stuttgart, Germany.

Roger Brownsword is Professor of Law at King's College London and Director of the Centre for Technology, Ethics, Law and Society (TELOS). He is also Honorary Professor in Law at the University of Sheffield. His research interests include legal theory, common law, bioethics, and the regulation of technology.

He is the co-author, with Professor Deryck Beyleveld, of Law as a Moral Judgment (1986), Mice Morality and Patents (1993), Human Dignity in Bioethics and Biolaw (2001), and Consent in the Law (2007). He co-edited (with Cornish and Llewelyn) Law and Human Genetics (1998). His latest book, Rights, Regulation, and the Technological Revolution, was published in March 2008 and his edited collection (with Karen Yeung), Regulating Technologies, is due for publication shortly.

He has acted as a specialist adviser to the HLSC on Stems Cells and to the HCSTC on hybrid embryos; and, since 2004, he has been a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

Rupert Myer lives in Melbourne with his wife Annabel and their six children. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School. He studied Commerce at Melbourne University, before continuing on to Cambridge University, majoring in social and political sciences.

He serves as Chairman of the Myer Family Company Pty Ltd and as a Director of AMCIL Limited, DUI Limited, and the department store business, Myer Pty Ltd.

He is Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia and as a Board Member of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation. He also serves as Chairman of Kaldor Public Art Projects, as a Board Member of The Felton Bequests’ Committee and as a Director of The Myer Foundation and of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships.

He became a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2005 for service to the arts, for support to museums and galleries, and to the community through a range of philanthropic and service organisations.

His previous community activities have been as Chairman of the NGV Foundation, International Social Service, WorkPlacement and Mission Australia’s Youth Strategy and Advocacy Group, and as a board member of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and a trustee of The National Gallery of Victoria.

He chaired the Commonwealth Government’s Inquiry into the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft Sector which completed its report in 2002 and was a participant in the Commonwealth Government’s 2020 Summit in April 2008.

Samah Hadid is an assistant researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, she is currently studying politics and international relations at the University of Sydney. Samah is on various local and national youth advisory committees and also works with culturally and linguistically diverse communities in NSW.

Sana Nakata is a twenty-four year old postgraduate research student at The University Melbourne. A Torres Strait Islander, she began at the University in 2001 as one of two inaugural recipients of the Melbourne National Scholarship for Indigenous students. She was also the inaugural recipient of the Oodgeroo Scholarship at Trinity College, where she was a resident for four years. She has since completed an Arts/Law degree, with first-class Honours in Political Science. During her university studies she has worked at Victoria Legal Aid, the United States House of Representatives and Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria. She is now undertaking Ph.D research in children’s rights and political philosophy.

Scott Rankin is the Creative Director of Big hART - a national, not-for-profit arts and media organization which has been working with outsider culture, in rural regional and isolated areas for sixteen years. His Big hART projects have won many awards including an AFI and seven Coalition Of Australiafn Governments Awards.

He is also an acclaimed writer and director, winning a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Drama; the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Drama; a Human Rights Award for Art; three Green Room Awards; the Australia Council’s Ros Bower Award; and he is a fellow of the Australia Council. His works include Ngapartji Ngapartji, Box The Pony, Stickybricks, Certified Male and many others that regularly tour nationally and internationally.

Mr Bracks at 52 retired as Premier of Victoria on 27 July 2007, after almost eight years as Premier, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Subsequent to his retirement, Mr Bracks now holds three major honorary positions, as an Adviser to the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmao, as an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and as an Ambassador for the Victorian Opera company. He is also a Director of Jardine Lloyd Thomson Australia Board, a Senior Adviser to KPMG and Vice-Chairman of the AIMS Financial Group Advisory Board. Additionally during 2008 Mr Bracks was commissioned by the Federal Government to head a major review of the Australian Automotive Industry.

After a 13-year career in State politics, Mr Fischer went into Federal politics in 1984 when he won the federal seat of Farrer for the National Party. He became Leader of the party in 1990. Tim Fischer was Deputy Prime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 1999. In July 1999 he announced his resignation as National Party Leader, Trade Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He retired in 2001 to spend more time with his family.

Since leaving Federal Politics he has taken on a wide range of roles and responsibilities. Most recently, in November 2007, he was appointed National Chairman of the Flying Doctor Service.

In 2004 the South Australian government appointed him Special Envoy for the Adelaide to Darwin railway, and he was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2005. In June 2007 Mr Fischer completed a three-year term as Chairman of Tourism Australia. The former Deputy Prime Minister has just chaired the Victorian Rail Freight Network Review and delivered its unanimous report.

Tim is a member of the Yuin nation, an Aboriginal nation that occupies the south east coast of NSW. He has just graduated with Bachelors Degrees in Arts and Law with Honours from the Australian National University in 2007.

Tim was a member of the National Youth Roundtable in 2000; a member of the International Youth Parliament in 2000; and a member of the National Indigenous Youth Leadership Group from 2001-2002. Also in 2002, Tim was chosen as one of five young people to ask a question at the Inspire Foundation .s Audience with the Dalai Lama, and he was one of two youth members of the Australian Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly .s Special Session on Children in New York.

Tim was a participant in the Foundation for Young Australians . Indigenous Leadership Intensive in 2003 and returned as a member of the Indigenous Reference Group, and a facilitator for the Indigenous rights action area, for the International Youth Parliament 2004.

Tim is currently an Indigenous Education Ambassador for the Department of Education, Science and Training. In 2004 Tim was also an Ambassador for the Australian Republican Movement.

Tim is currently the Deputy Chair of the National Indigenous Youth Movement of Australia (NIYMA), and serves on the Movement .s Circle and Executive. NIYMA aims to create healthy, strong and free indigenous communities by working with young indigenous people and providing safe spaces for young people to share, learn and be proud of their identity.

Dr Tobias D. Merson graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts (French) and Bachelor of Science with first class Honours (Biochemistry). He undertook his doctoral studies at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne demonstrating the critical regulatory role of the gene querkopf on the capacity of adult neural stem cells to generate new brain cells. He was awarded an NH&MRC/MSRA Betty Cuthbert Fellowship in 2007 to undertake research at the Howard Florey Institute targeted towards manipulating adult neural stem cells to repair the damage associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). His research aims to develop new therapies for MS that promote repair by utilising the body’s own supply of adult neural stem cells to repair the damaged central nervous system. In 2007 he participated in Science Meets Parliament at the invitation of the NH&MRC.

Warren is the Defence Science & Technology Organisation’s Director Strategic Projects; responsible for the implementation of major new DSTO initiatives. Warren joined DSTO in 1990 as a Business Development Officer; in 1995 he was appointed Manager of DSTO’s Melbourne Business Office and then in 2004 the inaugural Executive Director for the corporate DSTO Business & Commercialisation Office; during this period he was instrumental in many of DSTO’s technology transfer and commercialisation successes.

In 2006 Warren was seconded to DSTO’s Weapons Systems Division to lead the team responsible for establishing a joint US/Australian collaboration in hypersonics; including the creation of DSTO’s research capability in this emerging field of aerospace. In June 2007; having concluded the negotiation of the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program, a $70m collaboration with the US Air Force Research Laboratory, Warren moved into his current role.

In addition to his professional interests, Warren has had a lifelong passion for aviation and is a keen pilot and builder of experimental aircraft. Warren also shares his wife Barbara’s passion for equestrian breeding and competition.