Comedian Mel Buttle

Our fabulous local and nationally loved Comedian, Mel Buttle, needs no introduction.

Mel will join us to ensure the fun-loving aspects of being part of the youth sector prevails alongside the important conversations we continue to have to ensure ongoing learning and development and quality responses to children and young people.

Professor Stephen Gaetz

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Focusing on Prevention and Early Intervention in Crisis Driven Work.

Incorporating housing first into the continuum of crisis and transitional housing responses – What is needed?

Stephen Gaetz is a Professor in the Faculty of Education and is the Director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Homeless Hub.   Acclaimed for his work in Canada’s Housing First for Youth (HF4Y) movement, Professor Gaetz has dedicated much of his career to raising awareness of the need to focus on youth homelessness and intervene early to end its long-term disastrous impacts on the life trajectories of young people.

He’s an avid supporter of young people centred policy and frameworks alongside housing solutions such as HF4Y. He provides a voice of reason and simple solutions to an issue viewed as a wicked problem that arguably is not.

Prof Gaetz will also talk to the need to ensure young people as a priority cohort in youth centred policy and practice alongside the importance of early intervention and prevention.

As a scholar Dr. Stephen Gaetz has had a long-standing interest in understanding homelessness – its causes, how it is experienced, and potential solutions. His program of research has been defined by his desire to ‘make research matter’ through conducting rigorous scholarly research that contributes to our knowledge base on homelessness and is mobilized so that it has an impact on policy, practice and public opinion. Dr. Gaetz has published extensively on the subject of homelessness and his research on youth homelessness, prevention and models of intervention have contributed to significant change in how we respond to homelessness in Canada.  In 2015, he was appointed to the Province of Ontario’s Expert Advisory Panel on Homelessness, and in 2017 he played a leading role as a member of the Government of Canada’s Advisory Panel on Homelessness.

As Director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, one of his key projects is the Homeless Hub, an innovative web-based research library internationally recognized as a leading example of innovation in knowledge mobilization. Incorporating “design thinking” into this work (Gaetz, 2014a), the Homeless Hub integrates collaborative processes of knowledge and content development with a more assertive involvement in different aspects of publishing (and modes of publication), including graphic design, marketing, communications, and dissemination, with the goal of increasing the reach, usability and ultimately the impact of research.

Professor Tim Prenzler

A space for all – policing public spaces – why highly organised integration with welfare services works.

Professor Tim Prenzler is an expert on police integrity matters, with a specialist interest in complaint reduction strategies, covert tactics against corruption, early intervention systems, and use of force minimisation. He has also researched extensively on effective regulatory strategies for the security industry, successful crime prevention programs, and the history and integration of women police.

Professor Prenzler joined the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2015 as the inaugural Program Coordinator of the Bachelor of Criminology and Justice. He was previously a foundation member of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University, where he held numerous Program Coordinator positions and was Head of School. At Griffith, he was also a foundation member of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security, where he was Coordinator of the Integrity Systems Program.

At UniSC, Tim is a member of the External Industry Advisory Committee for the Bachelor of Criminology and Justice. He has previously been a long-term Member of the Branch Committee of the National Tertiary Education Union, and a member of the School of Law and Society’s Research Committee and Teaching and Learning Committee. He was previously a member of the University’s Research Committee and the University Council.

Tim’s research interests include crime and corruption prevention, police and security officer safety, security industry regulation, gender equity in policing, and restorative justice and mediation. He has developed and taught courses in introductory criminology, policing, crime prevention, and criminal justice ethics and accountability.

Belinda Cox

When young people have seen too much. Young person-centred intervention in Domestic and Family Violence (DFV).

Supporting young people to heal from DFV and enter healthy relationships – A journey from early intervention to prevention is key.

More information coming soon