AISWA Leaders Conference

Professor with the School of Global and Population Health at the University of Western Australia, and Program Head of Health Promotion and Education Research at the Telethon Kids Institute. Donna is a Chief Investigator and the Western Australian Node Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. She is currently a Chief Investigator on nine longitudinal research projects aiming to prevent bullying, cyberbullying and associated mental health harms among young people; promote healthy technology use, and improve the socio-emotional wellbeing of young children and supporting the social and emotional development of children and adolescents with chronic disease.

Futurist Steve Sammartino is an expert in AI’s profound implications for business and society. Steve goes beyond theory and brings lessons from his own tech ventures. His latest Macro3D, a ground-breaking AI and robotics company – which 3D prints houses. Since co-founding the company his year, he has managed to 3D print a house, and is now embarking on building the world’s first home built entirely by AI. An accomplished author, Steve has written three best-selling books on the subject of technology and its future. Steve's takes the complex and makes it simple, and human. This sentiment is captured in his viral videos, which boast over 100 million views - his drivable Lego Car being a prime example. As a respected media commentator, his views are widely sought after, making him an authoritative voice in the tech industry. 

Co-founded Climate Salad to help build climate-focused startups and help the world get to and beyond net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Climate Salad is Australia's largest network of climate tech entrepreneurs, investors and mentors. Mick has helped build 100's of tech companies with Pollenizer, Startmate, muru-D, Austrade in San Francisco and Stanford's School. In 2022 Mick helped develop the Climate Tech Industry Report, the first-ever in-depth analysis of the Australian and New Zealand climate tech industry, and the Climate Landscape Report which includes global data, taxonomy and top 1,000 climate tech companies Climate Tech Investments. He is actively involved with a number of Climate Tech companies.

The Hon Julie Bishop is Chancellor of the Australian National University, appointed in 2020. Ms Bishop served as Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 until 2018. She was the first female to hold the role as well as the first female Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, serving for 11 years.  As Foreign Minister, Ms Bishop was responsible for strengthening Australia’s key strategic and economic relationships with Ministerial responsibility for more than 5,000 departmental staff, 110 overseas missions, and several government agencies, including the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research. In 2014, she led the international response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine and was awarded the Commander of the Order of Merit of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Under her leadership, the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper was developed, establishing the New Colombo Plan, enabling Australian undergraduates to live, study and work in the Indo-Pacific region. Within five years, more than 40,000 students have participated in the Plan.