Vivienne is a Professional/Industry Fellow in the School of Built Environment at the University of Technology Sydney. She is a skilled communicator and has worked across the urban policy field. Recently completed research consultancies have investigated homelessness, the disability sector, use of urban parklands, barriers to age-friendly shopping, creative ageing, and community resilience and wellbeing following natural disasters.
Vivienne has a Masters degree in Urban Policy and Strategy (with Excellence) from the School of Built Environment at the University of NSW. She has almost 20 years’ experience as a senior adviser to two NSW Premiers and was most recently senior urban policy advisor and speechwriter to the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.
Vivienne is skilled at writing tight, compelling opinion pieces. She has had them published under her own name, and for others, in major newspapers and journals including The Conversation, Sydney Morning Herald, The Saturday Paper, the Australian, the Sun Herald and Crikey.
She is a member of the NSW Government’s Community Consultative Committee for the rebuilding of the Sydney Football Stadium and is an active member of Saving Moore Park, established in 2015 to preserve Moore Park as green space and protect it from encroachment. She was a member of the Centennial Parklands and Moore Park Trust and Chair of the Centennial Parklands’ Community Consultative Committee.
Vivienne is a director of Westwords, which develops literacy and a love of reading among young people in Western Sydney, and a member of The Big Issue Women’s Advisory Committee. For three years, she was deputy chair of the Adelaide Film Festival and a director of the South Australian Film Corporation, the physical theatre company Legs on the Wall, and sat as an alternate for the NSW Premier on the board of the Sydney Festival.
DR PHILLIPPA CARNEMOLLA
Senior Associate
Dr Phillippa Carnemolla is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Built Environment at the University of Technology Sydney. She is an urban researcher and industrial designer specialising in participatory design practice and in the design and evaluation of inclusive environments. Her research investigates the breadth of care, health and social impacts resulting from inclusive design approaches including smart cities, ageing in place and disability housing models.
Graduating with a PhD in 2016, Phillippa’s thesis measures the effect of home modifications on levels of caregiving and wellbeing for older people and those living with disability. Phillippa is involved with a diverse range of projects investigating the impact of the built environment and technologies on service provision and quality of life for all, no matter what their age or ability. She advises a variety of organisations on design of the built environment, social impact, engagement and service provision. She has more than 25 years’ experience as an expert witness in a diverse range of legal and unlitigated matters relating to accident conditions, product liability and design relative to human performance.
Phillippa is a director of the Centre for Universal Design Australia. Phillippa sits on the City of Sydney’s Inclusion (Disability) Advisory Panel on the Synergis SDA Advisory Board (Social Ventures Australia).
PROFESSOR MIKE RANN AC, CNZM
Affiliate
Professor Mike Rann AC, CNZM, is chief executive of the London-based Rann Strategy Group. He is a visiting professor at the Policy Institute of King’s College London. He was a member of the University’s Commission for London. He is Chair of the international charity Power of Nutrition (UK) and a member of the UK, US and Global boards of The Climate Group. He is a member of several private sector boards in Australia and Europe.
From 2014 to 2016 Mike was Australia’s Ambassador to Italy, San Marino, Libya and Albania, based in Rome. He was also Australia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme. Between 2012 and 2014, Mike was Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and Permanent Representative to the UN International Maritime Organization.
From March 2002 until October 2011, Mike was Premier of South Australia and held a range of Ministerial positions while Premier including Economic Development, Social Inclusion, Sustainability and Climate Change and the Arts. He led the South Australian Labor Party for a record 17 years. His Government invested strongly in re-vitalising Adelaide through a new approach to planning and urban design, a major ‘greening’ program as well as large investments in transformational infrastructure, high-tech precincts and transport-oriented developments, and major events and festivals. He oversaw the State’s first 30 Year Plan for Greater Adelaide.
ROSLYN SIMMS
Affiliate
Roslyn Simms is a former diplomat and communications specialist with skills in editorial services and language tuition. She provides coaching in presentation delivery and public speaking.
She has close involvement with disability services, particularly in relation to barrier-free living and wheelchair accessible transportation.
Roslyn is a former Australian diplomat and has worked in Vietnam, Canberra and Austria in the political, trade, environment and development assistance sectors. She has represented Australia’s interests in various United Nations bodies responsible for drug control and transnational crime, industrial development and Antarctic fisheries. She has also worked for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change where she advised on policy issues related to the Kyoto Protocol.
Roslyn speaks German and Vietnamese.
