Speakers

MC / Facilitator – Ms Ellen Fanning

In her 20 years as a journalist, Ellen Fanning has reported from locations as diverse as the North Pole, the White House, an airline refuelling fighter jets over Bosnia and a Collins Class submarine deep in the Indian Ocean. Currently a reporter on 60 Minutes, she was the last presenter of the Nine Network's Sunday program and a columnist in legendary The Bulletin magazine.

Ellen spent the first ten years of her career at the ABC until 1992, when she was appointed the presenter of the PM program, becoming the youngest person and the first woman to host a national current affairs program for ABC Radio.

In 1998, Ellen served as the ABC's Washington correspondent and later in 2004, as a freelance documentary maker she completed a six part series Fine Line, which dealt with the ethical dilemmas of journalism. Broadcast on SBS Television, the program is now used by media students at secondary schools and is required viewing for journalism students around the country.

Ellen has hosted award ceremonies for government, business groups and industry organisations over many years, including the BRW / ANZ Private Business Awards 2009, Australian Council of Local Government - Commendation and Category Awards and Dinner, 2009 and Australian Investor Relationship Awards 2008.

Keynote Speaker - Mr David Istance

David Istance is a senior member of the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), and heads the Innovative Learning Environments project and before that the Schooling for Tomorrow project. In the decade up to the early 1990s, he was in the OECD’s Education and Training Policy Division working on teachers, quality, and equity. Between these spells at the OECD, he was at the Universities of Cardiff and Swansea and he remains an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff. During that time in the 1990s, he published a series of analyses and policy papers on Wales, often written with Teresa Rees or Gareth Rees, covering lifelong learning, women in education and training, the young excluded, and higher education.

He has been the author and/or editor, alone or with others, of many reports and articles. A number of his recent OECD publications have been on learning and innovation: The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice (2010), Innovating to Learn, Learning to Innovate (2008), Think Scenarios, Rethink Education (2006), Demand-Sensitive Schooling? Evidence and Issues (2006), What Schools for the Future? (2001). His wide-ranging interest across different fields of education is reflected in other of his publications: Education Today: the OECD Perspective (2010 & 2009); Trends Shaping Education (2010 & 2008); Education and Equity in OECD Countries (1997); The Teacher Today (1990); Schools and Quality: An International Report (1989); and the background reports for two earlier international meetings of ministers (High Quality Education and Training for All, 1992 and Education in Modern Society, 1985). He was also author and co-editor of the Open University Press reader, International Perspectives on Lifelong Learning: from Recurrent Education to the Knowledge Society (2002).

Lunch Time Address - Dr Peter Ellyard

Dr Peter Ellyard is a futurist, strategist and a leading international conference speaker. He is a graduate of Sydney University (BSc.Agr) and of Cornell University (MS , Ph.D).

He is currently Chairman of the Preferred Futures Institute and the Preferred Futures Group, which he founded in 1991. He also Chairs the Sustainable Prosperity Foundation.

Dr Ellyard is a highly experienced executive. He is the former Executive Director for the Australian Commission for the Future. He held CEO positions in a number of public sector organisations over 15 years including two associated with Environment and Planning, and one with Industry and Technology. He was also Chief of Staff to the Minister for the Environment in Canberra for 3 years.

He is Adjunct Professor of Intergenerational Strategies at the University of Queensland and a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators, the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand, and the Australian Institute of Management. He is an elected Member of the International Union of Associations, based in Brussels, which has 45,000 international NGO members. He is also a Director of Green Cross Australia.

He has been a Senior Adviser to the United Nations system for more than 30 years including to the 1992 Earth Summit where he was a senior advisor on both the climate change and the biodiversity conventions. In this he was the only Australian and one of only 20 globally. At other times he has been a senior consultant to the UNEP, UNDP and UNESCO.

Dr Ellyard is the author of the best selling book Ideas for the New Millennium (1998, 2001) and Designing 2050: Pathways to Sustainable Prosperity on Spaceship Earth (2008). He is an enlightening, challenging, thought-provoking and inspirational speaker.

Media enquiries

For all media enquiries please contact:
DEEWR Media Team
(02) 6240 7300
Email: media@deewr.gov.au