PhD candidate in cultural leadership, Deakin University Samuel Cairnduff is an experienced arts and cultural management professional, a researcher in the field of leadership and an advocate for the transformational capacity of cultural institutions through ethical and empathetic engagement. He is in the final stages of completing a PhD examining the concept of cultural leadership in Australian symphony orchestras; the outcome will be a new model of leadership for performing arts organisations. His research interests include art and cultural leadership, ethical leadership, stakeholder engagement and leading through change. He teaches in the fields of arts and cultural management, media and communications at Melbourne University, creative and cultural industries management at Monash University and is a lecturer in Deakin’s Arts and Cultural Management program.
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Economics, University of Oxford Dr Sugandha Srivastav is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer in Environmental Economics at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. Her research focuses on designing effective climate policy in low and middle-income countries. She also explores incentives for clean innovation & finance, and the political economy of energy transitions. Sugandha is an affiliate of the Economics Department, an Early Career Research Fellow at Saïd Business School and a researcher for the Climate Compatible Growth Programme, where she leads the workstream on Economic Policy in low- and middle-income countries. Sugandha was awarded the Distinguished CESifo affiliate award for her work on bringing early-stage green technologies to market. Sugandha has worked as an environmental and energy economist at Vivid Economics and ICRIER advising governments, private firms, and international organisations on a broad range of issues related to climate, energy, innovation, and natural resource management. She holds a DPhil in Environmental Economics from Oxford, and an MSc in Economics from LSE. Sugandha’s research interests include the: economics of clean innovation environmental & energy economics public economics political economy of energy transitions
PhD Candidate, UNSW Sydney Samara is a Worimi/Biripi woman born on Awabakal Country in New South Wales, Australia. She is completing her PhD in Law at the University of New South Wales, focusing on Indigenous Peoples' right to education within the context of histories of assimilatory schooling. She is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Manitoba and is also a co-founder of the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition, a youth-led organisation in Australia dedicated to backing the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to reclaim their rights in education.
Disability Program Director, Grattan Institute Dr Sam Bennett joined the Grattan Institute as its inaugural Disability Program Director in September 2023. Sam has worked on disability, aged care, and health reforms at a national level for over fifteen years. In his previous role, he led the Policy, Advice and Research Division of the National Disability Insurance Agency, where he shaped and delivered national policy, and implemented the Agency’s Research Strategy. Sam was also responsible for supporting the work of the NDIS Independent Advisory Council. In the UK he led transformation programs in the National Health Service (NHS) integrating social care and health services. He was responsible for the UK Government’s program to extend personal health budgets for people with complex disability and chronic health conditions until 2018.
