Keynote speakers

• Professor Nancy Mather - University of Arizon
• Professor Tim Sharp - The Happiness Institute, Sydney
• Professor Nick Allen - The University of Melbourne

Prof Nancy Mather

University of Arizona

Professor Nancy Mather, Department of Special Education, University of Arizona, a member of the National (US) Association of School Psychologists, is a prolific researcher and author in the area of learning difficulties linking the latest developments in cognitive research with evidence-based interventions. Her most recent publication in 2011 is a comprehensive practical compendium of case reports for psychologists, diagnosticians and special educators. She has also been extensively involved in test construction and translation; not least with the Gf-Gc (Cattell-Horn-Carroll) theory based Woodcock Johnson. She is an experienced teacher, and has served with distinction on various state and national boards and committees as well as been an expert witness concerning individual differences in learning. 

CHC Theory: How the Factors Relate to Accommodations and Interventions

Acknowledged by leaders in the field such as Alan Kaufman as the fourth significant wave forward, what has become known as the CHC theory of abilities represents the culmination and convergence of the work of three giants in the field of Intelligence: R. B Cattell, John Carroll and John Horn. CHC now gives us a table of abilities, an advance as significant as the periodic table of elements which took Chemistry forward from Alchemy. Theory however needs to be translated into application. Dr Mather has developed and published seminal practical work on applying CHC to diagnosing learning difficulties impacting reading, writing, and mathematics, and will review how CHC theory factors relate to accommodations and interventions.

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Professor Tim Sharp

The Happiness Institute, Sydney

Positive Development and Wellbeing: Theory and Application of the Science of Positive Psychology
If you drill down to what most people ultimately want from what they do in life, the majority will refer in some way or other to happiness.  We all want to experience more of it but many don’t enjoy as much as they could at least in part because they don’t understand what it is as well as they could. Myths and misconceptions about happiness abound, which is why many in the field are arguing for the use of alternative, better defined terms such as “wellbeing.”

Wellbeing includes happiness, and other positive emotions, and wellbeing research is helping us understand how it also (crucially) includes engagement in and with life, positive relationships, meaning and purpose, and achievement or accomplishment. It’s the combination of these variables that significantly contribute to real and meaningful happiness rather than just fleeting positive moods or even hedonism.

Prof. Sharp will outline powerful evidence-based, approaches that he and his colleagues utilise at The Happiness Institute working with individuals, in schools, numerous teams, businesses, and organisations. The focus of the keynote will be on applications in the educational context for Educational and Developmental Psychologists working with leaders, teachers, other professionals, and students.
Prof. Timothy Sharp is an academic, clinician and coach.  He runs a clinical psychology general practice, an Executive Coaching consultancy, and he’s the founder of The Happiness Institute, Australia’s first organisation devoted solely to enhancing happiness in individuals, families and organisations (http://www.thehappinessinstitute.com).

He’s taught at all the major universities in NSW and is currently an Adjunct Professor (in Positive Psychology) within the School of Management, Faculty of Business at UTS and also an Adjunct Professor (Positive Psychology) within the School of Health Sciences at RMIT University.  His primary area of interest is enhancing happiness at work but he’s also actively involved in consulting and research projects in the areas of leadership, resilience, recruitment and positive education.  

In 2008 Dr. Sharp’s achievements were recognised by the Australian Davos Connection when he received a Future Leadership Award.  Dr. Sharp is also a bestselling author of, among other things, “The Happiness Handbook”, “100 Ways to Happiness: a guide for busy people” and most recently, “100 Ways to Happy Children: a guide for busy parents.”

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Prof Nick Allen

The University of Melbourne

Nick Allen is a Professor in Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, and a Principal Research Fellow at the ORYGEN Youth Health Research Centre. His research focuses on clinical depression, especially the relationship between adolescent emotional development in family and peer contexts, and how these affect brain development and risk for depression and other mental health problems. He is currently writing a book for the general public on how the science of adolescence can help parents, teachers and other community members to encourage positive adolescent development and prevent mental health problems. He has regularly appeared in the media as a commentator on issues related to depression and adolescence, including a strong involvement with the 2009 ABC documentary series “Whatever! The science of teenagers” and the 2010 SBS documentary “The silent epidemic” on teenagers who self harm.

Towards adolescent mental health benefits and social and emotional learning

Despite the common cultural belief that adolescent adjustment is mainly determined by peer relationships, family environments have been shown to more strongly determine risk for depression in this age group than do peer environments. In this presentation I will describe our recent studies, which have outlined how family interactions are not only affected by adolescent depression, but are also predictive of adolescent mental health problems generally, and the onset of depressive disorders specifically. Furthermore, these studies, which use micro-social observation of family interactions to describe specific patterns of parent and child behaviour, have been able to pinpoint some specific patterns of adolescent-parent interactions that escalate or reinforce negative emotions and depressive symptoms. One important theme that arises from these studies is the distinction between aggressive versus depressed/anxious behaviour, and the importance of how each of these are socialised in the family context. These studies do make specific predictions about the potential utility of innovative approaches to prevention and early intervention, and suggest new direction for research and treatment.

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