Chief Executive, Grattan Institute, Grattan Institute Dr Aruna Sathanapally joined Grattan Institute as CEO in February 2024. She heads a team of leading policy thinkers, researching and advocating policy to improve the lives of Australians. A former NSW barrister and senior public servant, Aruna has worked on the design of public institutions, economic policy, and evidence-based public policy and regulation for close to twenty years. Before joining Grattan, Aruna worked for the NSW Treasury for over five years, where she headed up analysis and advice across the macroeconomy division, state-owned corporations, state and commonwealth revenue, and health and justice reform. She led the 2021 NSW Intergenerational Report and led the economic analysis for the 2022 Women’s Economic Opportunities Review. Aruna previously practised as a senior lawyer in the Civil Regulation group at the Australian Government Solicitor and then as a barrister at 12 Wentworth Selborne Chambers, specialising in cases involving complex economic evidence. Prior to returning to Australia 11 years ago, Aruna worked at McKinsey & Company’s London office with a range of private and public sector clients. She holds arts (economics and politics) and law degrees from UNSW, where she graduated with the University Medal in Law, and two masters degrees in law and a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Menzies Scholar and John Monash Scholar. She has published internationally in the field of constitutional design and human rights and was appointed in 2015 as external legal adviser to the Parliamentary Joint Committee of Human Rights.
Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Virginia Commonwealth University Andrene J. Castro, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and research faculty at the Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation at Virginia Commonwealth University. Castro’s research explores the cultural politics of race in education policy. Her current work focuses on two areas: 1) teacher recruitment and retention policy with a particular focus on teachers of color; and 2) the impact of educational policies on school-community dynamics.
Professor of education, American University Andrea Guiden Pittman is a professor in the School of Education at American University where she teaches courses on social justice, urban education, and the role of schools in society. Her research considers how race, class, and gender affect education policymaking and school reform efforts.
Lecturer and Co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human Rights Law, Policy and Practice, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau I have recently completed a PhD (awaiting formal conferral) at the University of Cambridge on issues concerning the law of evidence, human rights, civil procedure and criminal procedure. I currently teach Trade Marks and Related Rights, the Law of Evidence and Legal Foundations at the University of Auckland and am enrolled barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand (not currently practising).
Senior Research Scientist in Marine Biogeochemistry, University of Tasmania Research interests: Chemical oceanography, marine biogeochemistry, trace elements and isotopes, analytical chemistry, ocean iron fertilisation, atmospheric dust deposition My research has advanced our understanding of marine trace metal biogeochemistry, particularly by focussing on Southern Ocean and Antarctic sea-ice environments. I adopt an Earth system approach and have a broad my understanding of land–atmosphere– ocean interactions and the coupling of terrestrial and marine ecosystems. My current projects address key research questions on atmospheric dust deposition and solubilities, ocean iron fertilisation, physico-chemical speciation of trace elements and their isotopes, and the role of ocean dynamics on chemical and biological marine processes. I have applied my discoveries to important research outcomes related to climate change, ocean carbon sequestration, marine ecosystems dynamics, and geochemistry.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Management and Marketing, The University of Melbourne Ai Ming Chow is a Melbourne Early Career Academic Fellow at the University of Melbourne, where she teaches and researches in the field of marketing. Her research focuses on examining the reflexive approach to Indigenous-settler relations to explore potential sites of transformation within and beyond the markets. She specialises in interpretive research methods including in-depth interviews, fieldwork, netnography and ethnography. She also studies influencer marketing, consumption and consumer culture.
