Keynote speakers
The program will feature both internationally and locally acclaimed keynote speakers, including:
Professor Lea Pulkkinen PhD
Professor of Psychology
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Dr Lea Pulkkinen is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, where she has studied and worked since 1958. Her major research project, the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, has lasted almost 40 years and is conducted within the framework of emotional and behavioral regulation. She has also collaborated in a Finnish longitudinal twin study since 1991, and conducted an intervention study in Finnish schools (2002-2005) for the application of longitudinal research findings to the promotion of socio-emotional development in children.
Dr Pulkkinen has served as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Head of the Department of Psychology, Director of Family Research Center, and on a number of national committees, e.g., the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland (2002-2005) chaired by the Prime Minister. She was President of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD) in 1991-1996, and Director of the National Centre of Excellence for Research at Jyväskylä in 1997-2005. She received the Finnish Science Prize from the Ministry of Education in 2001, the Aristotle Prize from the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations in 2003, the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Child Development Award from the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) in 2005, and from the ISSBD in 2006, and several national awards. Dr Pulkkinen has over 400 publications. She is also a member of the Academia Europaea and a member of the Board of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters in 2002-2008.
Professor David Uzzell PhD, FBPsS, FRSA
Professor of Environmental Psychology
University of Surrey, United Kingdom
David Uzzell was appointed as the first Professor of Environmental Psychology in the UK. His research interests are in the area of sustainable development with a particular focus on social psychological approaches to encouraging behaviour change particularly in relation to waste, transport and energy. He is one of the project leaders on a three year ESRC-funded interdisciplinary project called RESOLVE, which is examining the links between lifestyle, societal values and energy consumption. He has recently started research examining the ways in which trade unions in the “North” and the “South” respond to the dual challenge of a globalising work division and globalising environmental degradation. He was recently a consultant to the EU-funded seven country ChangeLAB Project (Changing Lifestyles, Attitudes and Behaviour) which has sought to devise practical proposals for promoting sustainable patterns of consumption at the local/regional level. Other research interests focus on risk, crime and the environment, architecture and the role of heritage on identity formation.
He is the British Psychological Society Representative on the Science Council’s Science and Sustainability Group; Past President of the International Association of People-Environment Studies (IAPS), the principal international body of environment-behaviour researchers; and founder and convenor of EPUK (Environmental Psychology UK). He has recently held Visiting Chairs at the Universities of Paris-Descartes (Psychology) and Strathclyde (Architecture), and is currently Visiting Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Sociology at the University of Umeå.
Back to TopProfessor Kim Halford PhD
Professor of Clinical Psychology
Chief Investigator Couple CARE program
Griffith Psychological Health Research Centre (GPHRC)
Queensland, Australia
Kim Halford is Professor of Clinical Psychology at Griffith University. He completed his PhD at Latrobe University in 1978, and has worked for the last 28 years in a number of clinical, academic and management positions. Kim was Head of the School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University from 1995 to 2001, and Director of the Psychological Health Research Centre from 2002-2006, and Director of the Griffith Institute of Health and Medical Research in 2007. Prior to working at Griffith, he held a conjoint appointment as Reader in Clinical Psychology at the University of Queensland and Chief Psychologist at Royal Brisbane Hospital.
Kim’s major research and clinical interests focus on couple relationships. He has published four books and over 120 articles on couple therapy, relationship education, and coping with cancer diagnosis and treatment. He has presented invited addresses to major international meetings like the World Congress of Cognitive and Behaviour Therapies (in Mexico in 1998 and again in Barcelona in 2007), the Association for Behaviour and Cognitive therapies in Reno is 2004, and the Smart Marriages Conference in Atlanta in 2006. Kim has provided workshops on couple therapy and relationship education throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada Mexico, China, Greece, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy. Approximately 10,000 professionals have undertaken specialized training in work with couples in Kim’s workshops in the last 20 years. He has served as consultant on marriage and family policy to the Australian, German and United States governments, is a regular media commentator on family issues, and currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Australian Institute for Family Studies Family Resources network.
Kim joined the APS in 1979, served as Chair of the Board of Examiners for the Clinical College for four years, was active in the Heads of Psychology Schools and Departments for a number of years, and was a member of the Psychologists Board of Queensland. Kim has been active in the AACBT for over 25 years, serving as Chair of their Continuing Education Committee (1985-1989), Convenor of the World Congress of Behaviour Therapy in 1992, Australian representative to the World Congress Committee (1992-), and Chair of the World Congress Committee (2005-).
Kim’s work has been recognised in a series of awards. He was a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence in 2002, received a Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Australian Association of Cognitive and Behaviour (AACBT) in 2003, was appointed as a Fellow of the APS in 2003, and was Distinguished Kellog Visiting Chair to Brigham Young University in the United States in 2004.
Kim is married to Barbara, also a psychologist, and they have two adult sons. He is a tragically passionate Brisbane Lions supporter, avid reader, keen cyclist, loves travel, and is an enthusiastic but unskilled tennis player, skier, photographer and surfer.
Back to TopProfessor George Paxinos AO
NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Psychology and Medical Sciences
Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute
New South Wales, Australia
Professor George Paxinos completed his BA at The University of California at Berkeley, his PhD at McGill University and spent a postdoctoral year at Yale University.
George is the author of 35 books on the brain of humans and experimental animals. His first atlas, The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates, is the most cited Australian scientific publication and is ranked by Thomson ISI amongst the 50 most cited items in the Web of Science. His brain atlases assist scientists to study animal models of human disease and to relate the observations to humans.
In 2004/5, George was President of the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS). During his term as President, ANS was chosen by the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) to host the International Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne 2007. Professor Paxinos was the President of the Bid, presented the successful bid to the IBRO Governing Council and he is the President of the Local Organizing Committee.
George is the recipient of numberous honours and awards. These include the Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research in 2001; Officer in the General Div of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2002 for services to neuroscience; the Alexander von Humbolt Foundation Prize (Germany) in 2003; and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, The Australian Psychological Society in 2007.
Back to Top