Keynote Biographies

Li Cunxin

Li was born into utter poverty in Mao’s communist China, at the age of 11 he was selected to train in Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy. And so began Li's journey. The 7 years of harsh training regime at the Beijing Dance Academy taught him discipline, resilience, determination and perseverance. Li’s astounding drive and relentless hard work made him one of the best dancers China has produced.

When he was 18, Li was awarded one of the first cultural scholarships to go to America, and subsequently been offered a soloist contract with the Houston Ballet. Two years later, Li defected to the West in a dramatic media storm, which involved the then Vice President, Mr George Bush Snr. He then went on to become one of the best dancers in the world, won two silver and a bronze medal at three International Ballet Competitions. In 1995, Li and his family moved to Australia where Li danced his last three and half years as a principal dancer with the Australian Ballet.

For the final two years of his dancing, Li studied finance at the Australian Securities Institute with a view of becoming a stockbroker. This meant rising at five in the morning to start his daily ballet practise, then racing to the stock exchange by eight. By the time he joined the rest of the company's dancers for afternoon rehearsals; he had already put in a full day's work. Li made a successful career transition from ballet to finance in 1999. He is a senior manager at one of the largest stockbroking firms in Australia.

Li's story is about love, determination, perseverance, hope and courage, it's about revitalising the shattered dreams and achieving excellence against impossible odds.

Dr Norman Amundson

Dr. Amundson is a Full Professor in Counselling Psychology,  Faculty ofEducation at the University of British Columbia, Canada.  He has given numerous workshops and seminars and also has been a keynote speaker at many national and international conferences. In his writings, Dr. Amundson emphasizes the importance of creativity, imagination, cultural awareness, and action as career development strategies. His publications include over 70 journal articles; training DVDs (Active Engagement in Action); books such as Active Engagement (2009, 3^rd edition), The Essential Elements of Career Counseling (2009, 2^nd edition), Metaphor Making (just released) and  The Physics of Living; and several career workbooks - Career Pathways, Guiding Circles; and CareerScope. Dr. Amundson has won many awards from professional associations for his work, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Umea, in Sweden.

Mr Darren Bilsborough

A thought leader with a passion for the environment, Darren Bilsborough is currently the National Director of Sustainability for PB Australia (Parsons Brinckerhoff) and an Adjunct Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute. He is tasked with developing the strategy and framework for PB’s delivery of sustainable project outcomes across Australia and New Zealand.

Darren is an engineer whose career has seen him travel extensively throughout the Asia Pacific. He has been at the forefront of sustainable development issues in the built environment through his involvement as the inaugural chair of the Sustainable Development (SD) Committee for the South Australian Division of the Property Council of Australia. Darren was a direct appointment from the SA Minister for the Environment to the Premier’s Round Table on Sustainability in 2003. He was also chair of both the Sustainable Settlements sub-committee of the round table and the building sector working group for the South Australian Greenhouse Strategy “Tackling Climate Change” released in May 2007.

Prior to his appointment at PB, Darren was Joint Managing Director of Lincolne Scott, a building services and environmental engineering consultancy. Most recently Darren has become an “Al Gore Ambassador” by undertaking personalised training from the former vice president of the USA, of an Australianised version of the “An Inconvenient Truth” slideshow presentation of which he now presents on behalf of the “The Climate Project”, an initiative of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF). Darren has recently been appointed to the National Council of Directors of Environment Business Australia (EBA) and also currently serves on the Development Assessment Commission (DAC) in South Australia as a specialist member with expertise in the Environment and Sustainability.

Since joining PB in July of 2007, Darren has been responsible for development of policy and strategy to position PB as the leading consulting firm in the delivery of sustainable infrastructure solutions in the Australasia region. He has been responsible for crafting PB’s Sustainability Principles, Climate Change policy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, has provided leadership for their quest to become Carbon Neutral, has instigated the formation of a climate change business unit within PB, provides leadership for each of PB’s regional sustainability champions and has been responsible for developing a consulting, research and educational alliance with Curtin University’s Sustainability Policy Unit (CUSP) headed by Professor Peter Newman.

Martin Westwell

Martin Westwell is the first Director of the Flinders Centre for Science Education in the 21st Century. The Centre, formally launched in January 2008, supports the decision making of policy makers, leaders in education, teachers, parents and young people to help shape the future of science education. Current projects underway include using an evidence-informed approach to engage young people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education-pathways, new forms of electronic assessment and supporting primary teachers in science and maths education.

After completing his degree and PhD at Cambridge University, Martin moved to Oxford University as a Research Fellow in Biological and Medical Sciences at Lincoln College. While at Oxford, Martin undertook a number of research projects from producing artificial DNA, to drug discovery for tropical diseases and neurodegeneration. He also began a program of work in science education and public-engagement-with-science.

Martin left academia to work in the biotechnology industry and then with a number of science education organisations returning to Oxford in 2005 as the Deputy Director of the Institute for the Future of the Mind. Here he ran the research program on the influence of modern lifestyles and technologies on the minds of the young and the old. Throughout all of the work at the Institute for the Future of the Mind, Martin worked with government, teachers, parents and others to provide access to scientific evidence to help inform their decision-making about the learning and education of young people. Martin has won a number of awards for communicating science to non-scientists including, in 1999, being named by The Times newspaper as Scientist of the New Century.

Martin and his family moved to Adelaide in September 2007. His wife Val is a maths teacher and their two boys attend Bridgewater Primary School in the Adelaide Hills.