Australian rules footballer, Hawthorn Football Club

SESSION: Plenary session – What was key to your (and your families’) successful settlement?

Akec Makur Chuot is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Hawthorn Football Club in the AFL Women’s competition. Born in South Sudan, Akec was raised by her single mother in a family of seven and for twelve years they lived in Kakuma, refugee camp in Kenya. The family moved to Perth and in 2009, she tried Australian Rules football for the first time at an East Perth Football Club all-girls carnival. Chuot was drafted by Fremantle with their 18th selection and 139th overall in the 2016 AFL Women’s draft. In 2018, she moved to Victoria to play with Carlton in the VFL Women’s state competition.

At the end of 2022 AFLW season with 4 new clubs joining the AFLW Makur Chuot decided to move to Hawthorn. In Round 1, Makur Chuot played in their inaugural match against Essendon, she had 8 disposals.

First Assistant Secretary of the Refugee, Humanitarian and Settlement Division, Department of Home Affairs

SESSION: Frameworks for the settlement sector- current state and future directions

Andrew is the First Assistant Secretary of the Refugee, Humanitarian and Settlement Division in the Department of Home Affairs. Prior to that, Andrew headed up the Humanitarian and Child Wellbeing Policy and Capability Branch under the same Division, and the Assurance, Risk & Engagement Branch in the Critical Infrastructure Security Division and worked across the critical infrastructure security space for several years. Andrew has also worked across a number of areas in the Attorney-General’s Department including criminal justice legal policy and reform, international crime cooperation which involved treaty negotiation and engagement with the UN criminal justice program, emergency management and national security policy.

Deputy Dean Research and Professor of International Management, University of Sydney Business School

SESSION: Moving beyond entry level: Career progression for refugees and migrants

Betina Szkudlarek is Deputy Dean Research and Professor of International Management at the University of Sydney Business School. 

Her research and consulting expertise lies at the intersection of cross-cultural management, international human resource management, and management of diversity. Her pioneering work on refugee workforce integration has been recognized with multiple awards, including the International HRM Scholarly Research Award and the Research Impact on Practice Award (Academy of Management, 2022). She is the lead editor of the Sage Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management, and her work featured widely in national and international press.

Betina lectured and trained across four continents and has worked with several multinational corporations and not-for-profits on developing intercultural competence and fostering global leadership excellence. She also holds the post of Strategic Sustainability and Grown Consultant with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

Assistant Secretary, Preventive Health and Food Policy Branch, Department of Health and Aged Care

SESSION: Improving health policy and practice for migrants and refugees

Ms Carita Davis is Assistant Secretary, Preventive Health and Food Policy Branch, Population Health Division at the Department of Health and Aged Care. She leads the Branch responsible for improving the health and wellbeing of Australians through policies and programs designed to reduce preventable mortality and morbidity, support nutrition, food regulation and governance and ensure health equity for multicultural communities.  

Ms Davis has been a member of the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities Health Advisory Group, since leading its establishment in December 2020, when she held the role of Assistant Secretary, COVID-19 Primary Care Response Division.  From early in 2021, Ms Davis held the role of Assistant Secretary, COVID-19 Primary Care Policy and Coordination Branch in the National COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce. In this role she was responsible for implementation of the COVID-19 vaccination program across the primary care sector and ensuring it was designed and delivered in a manner that was culturally safe and equitable in access for everyone in Australia. 

Before moving to the Department of Health and Aged Care, Ms Davis was Branch Manager for Women, Families and Children at the National Indigenous Australians Agency and prior to that, at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

She holds a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in Sociology and Anthropology.

Deputy Director, NSW Refugee Health service

SESSION: Supporting new arrivals with disabilities

Cathy Preston-Thomas is the Deputy Director of the NSW Refugee Health Service. She has a Master of International Law (USyd) and Master of International Social Development (UNSW). Cathy has worked in the refugee sector since 1998, in community development, research, training, and settlement policy, but her passion is refugee health. Before joining the refugee sector, she worked in disability.

Board Member, CareerSeekers

SESSION: Moving beyond entry level: Career progression for migrants and refugees

Chantal is originally from Syria and moved to Australia as a refugee with her daughter Ayla in 2017 as part of the humanitarian program. She came as a single mom after fleeing to neighbouring Iraq with her family, leaving behind the pain of losing her twin children.

Previously, Chantal held the position of Chief Risk Officer in the Middle East. In 2018, she moved again from Brisbane to Sydney and join the CareerSeekers program, where she had the opportunity to restart her career at Commonwealth Bank as an intern, just like any fresh graduate, in order to gain new knowledge in the Australian work environment. Over time, Chantal progressed through various roles in banking, starting as an intern and moving up to become a Digital Analyst, Risk Manager in Wealth Management, and eventually taking on the role of Senior Manager in Risk with Westpac.

Furthermore, Chantal is an ambassador for Westpac Foundation, supporting HBE (Happy Brain Education) in Melbourne. She has also been actively involved in research related to refugee immigration across several universities in Australia,  Speaker in several governmental and international forums to raise awareness about how to settle refugees. In February 2023, Chantal joined the CareerSeekers Board after being an alumna of the CareerSeekers program in 2018.

Chair, Bread & Butter Project

SESSION: Supporting newly arrived refugees to get their first job

Cindy Carpenter is Chair of the Bread & Butter Project, Australia’s first social enterprise artisan bakery, investing 100% of profits to provide training and employment pathways for refugees and asylum seekers.

Cindy also leads the advisory groups supporting three other refugee-focused social enterprises; CommUnity Construction, FoodLab and Aunty’s Ginger Tonic. She co-founded the work-integrated-social enterprise hub within Social Enterprise Australia, which advocates for payment by outcomes funding models for social enterprises, and convenes a knowledge-sharing group of refugee-focused social enterprises. She also sits on the national judging panel for Westpac Foundation’s Social Change Fellowship.

She is a Board Director for Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia, and a member of the Governance Group for Settlement Council of Australia’s ‘Road to Belonging’ national strategy. She also convenes a group of chief executive women to secure safe passage for Afghan career women to Australia via skilled visas, and co-leads a diaspora group providing education and work opportunities for young women inside Afghanistan.

Cindy was a Principal and then General Manager Aust/NZ for the Boston Consulting Group before co-founding the strategy consulting firm, Cast, 13 years ago. She thrives on helping organisations achieve their boldest aspirations and has advised many corporates as well as not-for-profit and public sector organisations.

She has an MBA from AGSM where she was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, with an exchange to the Wharton School of Finance in University of Pennsylvania.

Deputy Chair, National Ethnic Disability Alliance

SESSION: Supporting new arrivals with disabilities

Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland. Dinesh is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher. Halfway through medical school, he was involved in a motor vehicle accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury. Dinesh has completed an Advanced Clerkship in Radiology at the Harvard University. 

Dinesh works in the emergency department at the Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a researcher and senior lecturer at the Griffith University. Dinesh is a researcher in spinal cord injury. He is a doctor for the Gold Coast Titans physical disability rugby team. Dinesh is a senior advisor to the Disability Royal Commission. He is an ambassador to the Human Rights Commission’s Includeability program. He is a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia. He is an advisory board member to HealthyLife.

Dinesh was the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service’s Junior Doctor of the Year in 2018. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019. He was the third Australian to be awarded a Henry Viscardi Achievement Award. He was the 2021 Griffith University Young Alumnus of the Year. Dinesh was the Queensland Australian of the Year for 2021. In 2022, Dinesh was listed as number 33 in the Courier Mail’s top 100 power list for Queensland’s most influential in health and wellbeing. His autobiography, Stronger, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2022.

Senior Durable Solutions Officer, UNHCR

SESSION: Future directions in complementary pathways for refugee settlement

Emily began her role in Australia in June 2019 and works with governments and other partners to strengthen the protection of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons in the Pacific, as well as enable durable and lasting solutions for refugees.

Emily has fifteen years of experience working in various humanitarian and refugee contexts,including Guinea, Kenya, Burundi, and South Sudan. Before coming to Australia, she was the
Senior Regional Resettlement Officer at the UNHCR Regional Office for West Africa based in Dakar (Senegal). Emily helped establish an Emergency Evacuation Transit Mechanism to facilitate the processing of the most vulnerable refugees trapped in detention in Libya, which
enabled them access to protection and durable solutions. In between her deployments, she has also worked in Paris for the French Office for Protection of Refugees and Stateless (OFPRA) conducting refugee status determination for persons seeking asylum in France.

Emily is French Canadian. She has a Master of International and European Law, International Humanitarian Action from Paul Cezanne University (Aix-Marseille III, France) and an Undergraduate Degree of Clinical Psychology from Lumiere University (Lyon II, France).

Stakeholder Engagement Manager, CORE Community Services

SESSION: Supporting communities to be their own advocates

Farhad Arian is Stakeholder Engagement Manager at CORE Community Services, a not-for-profit organisation that has been supporting South West Sydney for over 43 years. Farhad coordinates the development and implementation of multicultural stakeholder engagement strategies and leads the organisation’s community development initiatives, stakeholder engagement, service providers interagency forums, and advocacy and research projects. 

Previously, Farhad had worked in various management, community development and research roles with non-government organisations, academic institutions, government departments and international development agencies, including Edmund Rice Centre, Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre, Western Sydney University, The Asia Foundation, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United States Agency for International Development. 

Farhad holds a Master of Research from Macquarie University and two additional master’s degrees in Conflict Analysis and International Relations from the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. 

Northern Region Program Manager, Community Migrant Resource Centre

SESSION: Plenary session – From Lived Experience to Professional Insight

Being a former refugee, born in Pakistan as a member of the Hazara ethnic minority, Farzana holds a   Master of Business Administration from Western Sydney University. In Pakistan, she worked as a Master Trainer with UNICEF on a girl’s empowerment initiative called The Girl Child, that addressed the needs and challenges girls were facing by promoting their empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights. Being an educated woman in Pakistan wasn’t an easy life. In 2010, Farzana was forced to leave her home country and flee to Australia due to the increasing level of discrimination and persecution.

In the first year of living in Australia Farzana was offered a role working with Navitas Skilled Futures (formerly Navitas English) who recognised her skills and qualifications, coupled with the asset that she spoke five languages (Hazaragi, Farsi, Dari, Urdu and Hindi) in addition to English. Through sheer hard work and dedication her talent was recognised and appreciated and was able to move her way up in the organisation; Navitas English in different roles such as Program Administrator, Operations Manager and Stakeholder Engagement Manager. 

To take her portfolio to the next level of success and to further help the community, in particular refugee women, Farzana Joined Community Migrant Resource Centre as a Program Manager. Farzana  has been able to communicate effectively with clients and refugee support groups in the local community as she is able to relate to the challenges new migrants and refugees face arriving in a foreign country during a time of immense change in their lives. Farzana has been instrumental in supporting programs to improve settlement outcomes clients and vulnerable members of local communities. 

Farzana is currently the Steering Committee Member of the Kateb Hazara Association, the largest Hazara Association in NSW, bord member of Women’s Shed Hornsby Ku-Ring gai and board member Multicultural Integration Community Support (MICS). In Farzana’s current role as Northern Region Program Manager, she works closely with government and community organisations to improve settlement, education and employment outcomes for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Westpac Foundation Social Change Fellow

SESSION: Plenary session- What was key to your (and your families’) successful settlement?

Hedayat (Nick) Osyan is dedicated to uplifting, supporting, and training fellow refugees. He is a social entrepreneur, inspirational speaker and an advocate for the refugee community. In his desire to empower fellow refugees, he founded @ CommUnity Construction in 2018, a social enterprise whose mission of “building homes, building lives” has seen 89+successful refugee trainees, 159+ projects with the government and private sectors, and four trainees who have since founded their own companies.

Since arriving from Afghanistan in 2010, Hedayat has studied politics and international relations (Hon. Arts and Design), and studied Entrepreneurship and Innovating in the Age of Change at the London School of Economics (LSE) and has been a youth advisor to multiple organisations including @CMRC, @MYAN NSW and @SSI.

Currently a 2023 @Westpac Foundation Social Change Fellow and recently recognised as the Western Sydney Champion @Committee for Sydney, Hedayat has gained numerous other accreditations and recognitions during his career including Young Social Pioneer 2018 (FYA), First Gens Accelerator 2019 (Ygap), Humanitarian Award Winner 2019, TEDx Speaker 2019 (ICC Sydney), Social Traders Certification 2021, Refugee Entrepreneurship Pitch Winner 2021 (Center for Entrepreneurship London) and was shortlisted for the 2022 Impact 25 Awards. Hedayat also manages a refugee soccer team (OQAB TEAM) to help young refugees to feel belonging and overcome the trauma and stress. Hedayat is an active community leader, youth activist and mentor.

Chairperson, Settlement Advisory Council

SESSION: Plenary session – From Lived Experience to Professional Insight

Jasmina Bajraktarevic-Hayward is a Social Worker who came to Australia in 1993 as a refugee from Bosnia-Herzegovina. She manages STARTTS’ Community Services Program which consists of over 100 staff including the teams: Community Development, Rural and Regional Community Development, Youth, School Liaison, Families in Cultural Transition (FICT), Mental Health Community Living Supports for Refugees (MH-CLSR) and Health in My Language; as well as staff covering STARTTS’ LGBTIQA+ Project, volunteer management, policy analysis and input, community development evaluation, community cultural development, grant and tender writing and community capacity building. Jasmina has significant Board experience and is currently the President of the Refugee Council of Australia and a member of the NSW Refugee Communities Advocacy Network as well as a member of the World Pride Sydney Advisory Committee.

President, Culturally Diverse Alliance Tasmania

SESSION: Addressing Inequity within Multicultural Affairs and Settlement

Mr John Kamara arrived in Tasmania 19 years ago as a refugee and he is the 2023 Tasmanian Australian of the Year. He is the co-founder and President of the Culturally Diverse Alliance Tasmania (CDAT), an organisation which delivers advocacy, mentoring and education and promotes social cohesion. John also co-founded the African Communities Council of Tasmania. It strives to build relationships between African Australians and the wider community. 

Sitting on multiple boards and involved in many community groups, John helps to highlight the systemic disadvantages that migrants face, such as racism, labour exploitation and the need for recognition of their overseas qualifications. He also assists with migrants’ resumes and their search for jobs and housing, is active in multicultural choirs and takes many other roles in the community. John and his wife Mavis have also established the Kamara’s Heart Foundation, a charity to help provide educational resources for school children in Sierra Leone and Ghana.

Country Director, HOST International

SESSION: Plenary session – From Lived Experience to Professional Insight

Joseph is a recognised global advocate for the refugee crisis since 2010 through his direct professional work experience. He is considered as one of the influencers in the Australian community leadership space. Joseph holds a bachelor in Applied Management and more than 16 years’ experience in the Australian NGO management sector. Joseph is a public speaker, a mentor, a thriving leader, and one of the key persons to access grassroots communities at the local and state levels.

Joseph made a recorded impact through sitting on a number of community positions including the Refugee Council of Australia board. Joseph works closely in advocacy space in partnership with the UNHCR to improve refugee participation and the level of engagement. He has been participating in the global UN consultation on refugees since 2013 through being a member of the Refugee Advisory Group for the Global Annual Tripartite Consultation for Resettlement ATCR. Additionally, Joseph is a founder of many initiatives including the founder for the only Assyrian peak refugee-led organisation named by the Australian Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Advocacy Network AACSAN.

Joseph’s passion to revive the role of real refugee voices through regular visits to refugee camps and build evidence based reports about the crisis on ground. His recent experience is recording more than 20 hours of recordings to publish a global film documentary about forgotten refugee minorities in the Middle East.

In 2021, Joseph was recognised as the Citizen of the Year for the Hume City Council in Victoria.

CEO, Homelessness Australia

SESSION: Brokering housing solutions

Kate Colvin is the CEO of Homelessness Australia, the national peak body for homelessness. Kate’s professional life has been dedicated to advocacy for social justice. This includes more than 20 years in leadership and management roles in policy and campaigns across peak bodies, youth, homelessness, housing and international development sectors.  

Kate joined Homelessness Australia in 2022, following her role as the national spokesperson for the national housing and homelessness campaign, Everybody’s Home and Deputy Director at the Victorian peak body for homelessness, Council to Homeless Persons. Kate is passionate about achieving the changes needed to end homelessness. 

Research Assistant, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

SESSION: Bridging the gap between academia and practice

Official Full Name : A’eoainu’u Dr Loudeen Moetunai Fualautoalasi-Lam

Loudeen is a Research Assistant with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute bringing her expertise to bear on issues related to infectious diseases, social determinants of health and wellbeing of the Pacific community in Victoria.

As the director of Gagana-ole-Moana (GoMoana) Consultancy, Loudeen works alongside local government agencies with a growing portfolio in the community, health and education sectors.

As a Victoria Multicultural Commission regional advisory committee member for NW Metro, she plays an active role in promoting diversity, advocating for the needs of Oceania/Pacific people while shaping policies that support the local multicultural community.

Loudeen is a medical doctor with post graduate qualifications in Surgery and Health Services Management. She has over twenty years of health sector experience in and around the Pacific Region. Having been educated in Samoa, Fiji, Japan, New Zealand and Australia and prior to calling Melbourne Australia home, Loudeen worked as a Consultant & Head of Clinical Serivces, Samoa, a tutor and regional supervisor for the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) Trainee Internship program for Fiji National University and a clinical tutor & Anatomy lecturer for the Oceania University of Medicine. She is an accredited international instructor for Primary Trauma Care Course & an honorary member of the Society of Medical Practitioners in Samoa and the Pacific.

In addition, Loudeen is a proud Rugby Football Union supporter, cheering on her sons who play for The Melton Warriors.

Director of News and Current Affairs, SBS

PLENARY FACILITATOR: What was key to your (and your families’) successful settlement?

Mandi Wicks is the Director of News and Current Affairs.

Prior to this, Mandi was the Director of SBS’s Audio and Language Content for almost 10 years. This included overseeing SBS Radio’s 68 language services and three music channels – SBS PopAsia, SBS PopDesi and SBS Chill.

Mandi has more than 30 years’ experience in the media industry and oversees a team of journalists delivering news and current affairs on television, online, via audio and social media, with trusted content such as SBS World News, Insight, Dateline and SBS News in Arabic and Mandarin.

Director & Principal Consultant, Myriad Kofkin Global

SESSION FACILITATOR: Our role in supporting women experiencing violence

Maria brings well over 30 years of continuous contribution to building strategic capability within a breadth of sectors and within peak bodies across Australia. She has worked across all tiers of government advocating for human rights and social justice informed policy responses, areas that have been a lifelong passion and professional commitment. Her extensive relationships and deep knowledge of many communities represented across multicultural Australia have been amassed over decades of untiring efforts to support inclusion and contribution towards building Australia’s future.

Maria’s incomparable contributions have seen her awarded the Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order Of Australia for significant service to women, to cultural diversity, and to the prevention of domestic violence, and a Lifetime Achievement award by the Migration Council of Australia in 2017 for her tireless devotion to Australian multiculturalism and support for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse women. She has held numerous advisory positions to government including the National Judicial Council on Cultural Diversity, the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children and the Federal Multicultural Affairs Access and Equity Inquiry panel.

Community Services Manager, Multilink Community Services

SESSION FACILITATOR: Bridging the gap between academic and practice

Michael Zgryza has worked across the youth and multicultural community services sector for over 30 years and is currently the Community Services Manager with MultiLink Community Services Inc. in Queensland. He has oversight of the Settlement, Youth, Community Engagement & Support, Financial Wellbeing, and Employment & Training service teams, as well as previously managing MultiLink’s Aged Care and Disability services area and a formal 6-month period as acting MultiLink CEO. Michael has been the Queensland Representative on the SCoA Board since June 2020 and is currently also Deputy Chair of the Board.

Co-founder and Director, TANCK

SESSION: Collaborating for more impactful influence

Neil is a founding Director of Tanck, and a government engagement and campaigning guru with a depth of experience in social purpose, government, public policy, and advocacy.

Having led corporate affairs, business development and marketing teams, he has been the driving force behind leading social policy and advocacy campaigns, as well as national and international philanthropic and development work, in child welfare, education, refugee and LGBTIQ+ issues.

Neil was a founding director of LGBTIQ+ philanthropic group, GiveOUT, and was national co-convenor of Rainbow Labor, where he led the internal campaign which achieved over 200 legislative and regulatory reforms, including changing the Labor Party’s position on marriage equality. Neil was featured in the Deloitte ‘2018 Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leaders’ list and ran for parliament in 2014 and 2018 as the Labor candidate for Prahran, Victoria.

After many years working across the not-for-profit, private and government sectors, both in Australia and internationally, Neil formed Pharaoh + Associates, and in 2021, co-founded Tanck, a government engagement consultancy firm who believe there is strength in strategy. 

In a few short years he has already delivered a range of highly successful government engagement, advocacy, business development and funding outcomes for a variety of clients spanning different sectors. United by shared purpose, he is committed to building highly motivated, engaged and effective teams within an organisation.

Neil has a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing and Accounting) as well as a Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD). Neil has qualifications in Media Training, Project Management and has completed a Harvard University (Club Australia) Short Course on Executive Leadership. Neil sits on a number of private, public and community boards.

Neil is proud of his culturally and linguistically diverse background, and of being a member of the LGBTIQ+ community. He brings these connections, strengths and diversity to every engagement.

Community Advocate

SESSION: Supporting new arrivals with disabilities

Nyrob Majak is a young woman who lives with a disability and comes from a culturally diverse background. Now living in Melbourne, Nyrob travelled here from South Sudan, via Egypt, then Hobart. Nyrob has recently completed a Diploma in Community Services while working in a part-time facilitating role in the Diversity & Disability Program with the Migrant Resource Centre. More recently Nyrob completed placement with Romsey Neighbourhood House helping with research into short and long-term housing solutions for vulnerable community members to be submitted for government funding. 

Nyrob has aspirations to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work with her mission to help the community and individuals facing similar challenges to those she faces each day. She is confident that with the combination of her background and determination she will be able to make meaningful contributions to society.

Author, Bhutan to Blacktown- Losing everything and finding Australia

SESSION: Plenary session – What was key to your (and your families’) successful settlement?

A trained telecommunications engineer turned ‘Inner Engineer’, Om Dhungel is a consultant, trainer and a mentor, and a practitioner of Strength-Based Approach to refugee settlement and community engagement. A former refugee from Bhutan and an author of: Bhutan to Blacktown – Losing everything and finding Australia, Om Dhungel combines his cross-sectoral professional expertise and rich lived experience to help shift thinking and drive transformational change. A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, he serves on different Committees including the NSW Health Ministry and NSW Police. Amongst many other accomplishments, Om is a recipient of the ZEST 2021 Outstanding Volunteer Leader Award, 2017 University of Technology Sydney (UTS) International Alumni Award and 2016 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Community Medal for Lifetime Achievement.

Senior Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Family Studies

SESSION: Emerging research in settlement

Dr Pilar Rioseco is the Program Lead of the Building a New Life in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants (BNLA) and has been involved with the study since 2016. A psychologist and demographer, Pilar has a particular interest in the design, implementation, and analysis of longitudinal studies. Pilar’s research has focused on understanding the health and wellbeing of different populations from a life course perspective, including children and young people, humanitarian migrants, older adults and military families. Pilar has extensive experience in the analysis of large-scale longitudinal studies, including the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA), the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), and the Building a New Life in Australia (BNLA).

More recently, Pilar managed the design and implementation of Wave 6 (2023) of the BNLA, marking the 10th year of BNLA participants’ settlement journey in Australia. Pilar has several publications using the BNLA data and has presented these findings at national and international conferences. Pilar is also involved in the evaluation of the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP), a collaborative project, led by the University of Queensland, for the Department of Home Affairs. 

National Manager, Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network

SESSION: Supporting communities to be their own advocates

Rana Ebrahimi is the National Manager of the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network Australia (MYAN). She leads MYAN to advocate for young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds’ rights and best interests in policy and practice. She is an expert in social inclusion and humanitarian ethics. Recently, she has been appointed as the reference group for this Multicultural Framework Review (The Review). Rana is the first Iranian woman to be a National Head of Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran. She is also President of the Equal Employment Opportunity Network, Director on board of Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, and member of several advisory groups including Welcoming Australia.

Team Leader- Education, Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services

SESSION: Moving beyond entry level: Career progression for migrants and refugees

Robyn Matthews is the Team Leader for Education at Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services (LCMS). Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services (LCMS) is a member of the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria and is the peak body for multicultural communities in central Victoria. LCMS provides services including employment support, education, community development, Redress and cultural celebrations. A core element of our work is as a secondary settlement provider.

Robyn has over 25 years’ experience teaching English as an Additional Language in a variety of settings including Japan, China, and Taiwan. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) focusing on linguistics, a TESOL qualification as well as qualifications in massage and yoga. Robyn is also fluent in Japanese. For the last four years Robyn has worked closely with multicultural communities, stakeholders and employers to create and deliver several award-winning pre-accredited employment pathways programs for multicultural communities living in the Bendigo region. Courses are designed with a specific focus on empowering those from a refugee background to understand their work rights and employment options. Integral to the success of these programs is the cultural inclusion training and support that Robyn provides to the employers, thus improving employee retention and career progression opportunities for multicultural community members. Robyn also leads LCMS’s “Racism it stops with me” campaign, and delivers unconscious bias and cross cultural awareness training.

Chief Client Officer, Multicultural Australia

SESSION FACILITATOR: Frameworks for the settlement sector- current state and future directions

Rose Dash holds qualifications in social work and business, and has been working in the refugee and multicultural sector in Queensland and internationally in client service delivery, torture and trauma services, and community development for over a decade. Rose has a demonstrated history of working holistically and collaboratively with diverse communities, and complex, vulnerable, resilient individuals and families. She is experienced in developing organisational strategies and turning them into achievable operational plans and modelling for direct service delivery and community development. Rose is passionate about leading teams in best practice, creating moments that matter and impact for new arrivals through empowerment, opportunity generation, and building safe, inclusive, and welcoming communities in Australia.

Chief Executive Officer, Settlement Council of Australia

SESSION: Plenary- State of the sector and future directions

Sandra is the CEO of the Settlement Council of Australia, the peak body representing Australia’s migrant and refugee services. The Council has 125 member organisations that work with migrants and refugees to build a new life in Australia. In her current role, she leads the sector in building an inclusive society where migrants and refugees belong and thrive. Sandra is a second-generation migrant, whose parents came to Australia from Egypt. Her experience growing up in a migrant family significantly influences her work.

Prior to joining SCOA, Sandra has had roles working in government, and frontline social services. She is also undertaking a PhD on domestic and family violence in Australian Muslim communities.

Manager- Multicultural Services, MercyCare 

PLENARY: From lived experience to professional insight

Samira Husic is a general manager of multicultural services with Mercy Care in WA. Prior to this she worked with the City of Stirling and Association for Torture and Trauma Survivors (ASeTTS) where she developed and fine-tuned her skills in working with refugees, trauma survivors and overall Humanitarian arrivals in Australia. Samira experienced refugee life firsthand in the 1990s war torn Bosnia. She has been living in Australia for 22 years.

Samira holds qualifications in:

• Primary school teaching (Bosnia)
• Psychology and Children and Family Studies (double Major, ECU Australia)
• Postgraduate degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy (ECU Australia)
• Global Mental Health: Trauma and Recovery Certificate Program (Harvard University)
• Currently studying an MBA course at Edith Cowan University in WA 

Additionally, Samira is also a registered trainer with Living Works Australia for providing ASIST – suicide prevention training.

Samira has spent the last 20 years working as a trauma counsellor, group facilitator and had developed and implemented various programs including individual and family counselling, youth work, group work, community development initiatives, and asylum seeker supports. Most of Samira’s work is guided by strong passion, her ability to understand the broader national and international context of displacement and working with re-settlement. Has a strong belief in measuring the work done in this sector, using research evidence to build body of knowledge but also to ensure ongoing funding for the multicultural sector.

Talent Beyond Boundaries

SESSION: Future directions in complementary pathways for refugee settlement

A passionate Syrian lady who writes magic code to make life easier, my experience in software engineering and building applications gave me wings and moved me to Australia, Adelaide after living ten years as a refugee in Jordan through the TBB program.

As I love helping the clients in Aligent company by providing and creating fast, stable, and flexible solutions to meet their business and e-commerce goals, I love helping others find their way in this life and supporting them to hold their dreams and move to the peaceful side.

I really enjoy learning new things and technology and working with brilliant people from different cultures, everything in life for me is a new adventure which adds to my experience and takes me to the next level.

Director, Centre for Multicultural Youth

SESSION FACILITATOR: Supporting communities to be their own advocates 

Shabnam is a driven community development practitioner passionate about cultivating true partnerships between communities and structures of power to create social change. She grew up as a Hazara Afghan refugee in Pakistan before arriving in Australia at the age of 15. Grounded in her own experience of forced displacement, she advocates for meaningful participation of refugees in addressing the complex challenges of resettlement, inclusion, and belonging. She is part of a small national team at the Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) building a community-led refugee sponsorship movement in Australia. She also leads the National Refugee-led Advisory and Advocacy Group (NRAAG), a refugee-led organisation creating spaces for effective elevation of voices with lived experience in key decisions, policies, and discourse about refugees.

Shabnam was one of the leading voices behind the Action For Afghanistan campaign galvanising mass support in urging the Australian government to take action when the Taliban forcibly took over Afghanistan in 2021. A Director at the Centre for Multicultural Youth, Shabnam also serves on multiple government advisory boards influencing policy design and delivery in addressing the unique challenges and opportunities facing multicultural communities in Australia. She was recently inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women for her work in promoting refugee rights and social cohesion

CEO, Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services

SESSION: Brokering housing solutions

Sonia Di Mezza is the CEO of Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services, headquartered in Bendigo, Central Victoria. She is a human rights lawyer, and solicitor. Sonia has set up a human rights project in Pakistan for Afghan widowed women; set up a legal aid project in Sudan; worked as a Resettlement Officer for UNCHR and an Indian NGO supporting child labourers. She worked for four years as a refugee lawyer in Australian immigration detention centres. 

CEO, Multicultural Australia

Chair, Road to Belonging Working Group 1

SESSION: Road to Belonging: Empowered settlement journeys

Christine is the Chief Executive Officer of Multicultural Australia, with substantial expertise in organisational transformation and change management, strategic governance, policy, community engagement and service delivery. Prior to this, she was Deputy Director-General in the Queensland Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works. Christine has a strong track record in delivering significant reform and innovation projects, including for adult and youth justice, disaster management response and recovery and public sector ethics and integrity reform.   

Christine is a passionate advocate for equal access to justice and services for everyone regardless of their gender, beliefs or circumstances, drawing on her lived experience as a migrant. She has a personal belief that we all have a part to play in tackling disadvantage and exclusion, and to making the world a better place for all. Christine holds a Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Arts (English and Communications) and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Queensland. 

CEO, HOST International 

Chair, Road to Belonging Working Group 5

SESSION: Building monitoring, evaluation and data capability

CEO and founder of HOST International. Social work Leader, Social Entrepreneur Trainer, manager, and investor in good ideas. He has led small and large projects in refugee settlement, international protection, youth homelessness and child protection throughout his 20 year career.  

David has a passion for doing things differently and supporting others to bring their ideas to life.  He brings this passion to the work of HOST and is committed to working to create better lives for people on the move and the communities that host them.

David’s vision is for an inclusive world where people on the move and host communities work together to create better lives for all.  He believes that this is best achieved by fostering a common sense of humanity, dignity, and a shared hope in a better future.

With this passion and vision HOST currently operates across the Asia Pacific Region (Australian, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and New Zealand) providing support to individuals and communities whilst seeking to make systemic change in refugee protection.

CEO, Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights

Chair, Road to Belonging Working Group 6

SESSION: Driving research and systems change

Diana is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights. She joined the organisation in October 2019 as an international human rights lawyer with experience working in both Australia and the United States.

She is the former Campaigns Manager at Fair Agenda and Senior Crisis Response Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia.

Diana has appeared as a regular panellist on The Drum, ABC The World, SBS, Al Jazeera, MSNBC and ABC Q&A. With a Master in International Human Rights Law she is an expert on issues pertaining to gender equality, social justice, and human rights. She has worked as a lawyer, advocate, and campaigner for over a decade, and has the lived experience of being a visible Muslim woman of colour in Australia, as a former refugee from Afghanistan.

Journalist, SBS

Darren Mara is a journalist and presenter with almost two decades’ experience in Australian and international news and current affairs across television, radio, print and digital. He has previously worked for media outlets in Southeast Asia and Europe and more recently with Australia’s flagship daily world news program, SBS World News, where he covered stories across Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia. He is currently filing for long-form international current affairs program, SBS Dateline, producing and reporting documentary films around the world.

Darren is a proud Maltese-Australian who maintains a strong connection to Southern Europe. He also traces his Australian lineage back over 150 years, including ties to First Nations. He’s a passionate advocate for underprivileged communities, having grown up in similar circumstances, and regularly engages in fundraising drives for cancer treatment and research. When not working, Darren is a weekend footballer (soccer), boulderer and family man.