Senior Lecturer in Law, Monash University Dr Renata Alexander has been a permanent senior lecturer with the law faculty since 2000 teaching the Family Law and Practice as well as the Ethics and Negotiation components of the PDLP course. Prior to that she taught undergraduate family law on a sessional basis. Renata has always been a legal practitioner since admission to the Supreme Court in April 1979. She worked as an in-house family lawyer/solicitor with Victoria Legal Aid from before working as the Deputy Registrar for the Family Court of Australia. Renata then went to the Victorian Bar in November 2002 where she practices on a part-time basis given her teaching and academic commitments. In 2003, Renata received a Centenary Medal from the Prime Minister for her work in voluntary legal services as she has been a voluntary lawyer with community legal centres since 1975. Furthermore, Renata has also won a PILCH award for similar services.
Research Lecturer in Music Perception and Cognition, Western Sydney University Dr MacRitchie joined the Music Cognition and Action research program at MARCS Institute in 2014. With a background in both electrical engineering and music, her research focuses on the acquisition and development of motor skills in piano performance. Studies range from looking at movements of novices to experts, from those who have studied music from a young age to those who are rediscovering music in retirement. Jennifer serves as Associate Editor of Frontiers in Psychology, Performance Science, and is on the editorial board of Musicae Scientiae. She has conducted research in a variety of environments, completing her doctoral work in University of Glasgow's Science and Music Research group, and a postdoctoral position at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. Jennifer is also an experienced pianist, having performed concertos by Grieg, Shostakovich and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with amateur orchestras in Glasgow, UK, as well as regular performances with chamber groups in the UK, Switzerland and Australia.
Emeritus Consultant, St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst Dr Alex Wodak AM was Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney (1982-2012) but is now an Emeritus Consultant. Dr. Wodak is President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, and a Director of Australia21 and was President of the International Harm Reduction Association (1996-2004). He helped establish the first needle syringe programme and the first medically supervised injecting centre in Australia (when both were pre-legal) and often works in developing countries on HIV control among injecting drug users.
University Associate, School of Economics and Finance, University of Tasmania Graeme Wells teaches and publishes in a variety of areas in macroeconomics and economic policy. He has also held teaching and research positions at ANU and universities in Wellington, Oslo, Santa Barbara and Guelph. In addition to his academic work, Dr Wells has been a consultant to a variety of policy-making agencies such as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, The New Zealand Treasury, The Australian Treasury and EPAC. For a number of years was Co Editor of the journal 'Agenda', which provides a forum for debate on current policy issues in Australia and New Zealand.
Andrew Roberts Fellow and Director Real Estate Research and Teaching Centre for Applied Economic Research, UNSW Australia Nigel has a PhD in Economics from UNSW and a Bachelor of Economics with Honours from the University of Adelaide. He started his career in Canberra 1976-86, where he worked in the Commonwealth Treasury. He then worked at the Westpac Banking Corporation 1986-2003 where he was Chief Economist from 1993. Nigel has been at UNSW Business School since 2003 where he completed a PhD on the long-run history of house prices in Australia (1880-2006). At the UNSW Business School, he was Associate Head of School 2008-13 and is now the Andrew Roberts Fellow in Real Estate in the Centre for Applied Economic Research (CAER). He established and now coordinates the real estate teaching program at the Business School and teaches the Real Estate Economics and Public Policy course for both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Nigel is a regular commentator in the media on macro-economics and housing.
Adjunct Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University David Alpher, PhD, has spent the past fourteen years applying conflict resolution theory and methodology to practical international development work in fragile and unstable areas. He has twice led field programs in Anbar Province, Iraq; first working to reduce the involvement of youth in the insurgency in 2007 and 08, and then working to peacefully reintegrate Internally Displaced People in the Ramadi district in 2010. In addition he has worked with track two dialogues between conflicting parties in Israel/Palestine, conducted conflict and development assessments in Nepal and Ethiopia, and helped facilitate inter-religious dialogues in the US. Dr. Alpher completed his PhD from the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in 2011. In addition to continuing field work, Dr. Alpher teaches courses on development and conflict, global conflict issues and terrorism at George Mason University. His dissertation, entitled "Developmental Politics: The Minnow and the Leviathan," examined the nature of democratization as an alternative to poverty alleviation as the driving force behind success in international development work. His focus of research is on issues relating to policy and action reform within the development field, development implementation in areas of ongoing conflict, civil-military coordination and complex operations, and on ethnic and religious conflict. He has published scholarly work on the nature of mass violence, as well as writing articles in OpenDemocracy, Politico and Bitterlemons International, among others, on the nature of policy reform within development work, and political stability in Iraq and Israel/Palestine, and has been quoted both domestically and internationally about domestic right-wing extremism in the United States. Dr. Alpher has briefed Congress, non-governmental organizations and a range of offices of the US Government on development and security policy in the Middle East, and speaks frequently at area universities. Dr. Alpher also earned his MS degree from the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, focusing on ethnic and religious conflict, and is a BA alumnus of Brandeis University's history department.
