Our team

Kate is the Director of the Sydney Policy Lab.

As the former Head of Policy & Design at the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Kate has seen the positive impact of good policy and partnerships to help to break cycles of disadvantage across Australia. Prior to this, she was CEO of Anglican Deaconess Ministries, a 130-year-old Christian women’s foundation, where she worked to reimagine the vision of the organisation and re-establish their work in public and practical engagement.

In government, Kate was an adviser to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Working with the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff, Dr Harrison Brennan worked across the policy portfolios and on caucus management. She had also previously served former Deputy Prime Minister Gillard in the portfolio of social inclusion. Prior to joining the Office of the Prime Minister, she was Director of Strategic Communications and Global Affairs at the Australian Consulate-General in New York.

Kate is a graduate of the University of Sydney, a NSW Rhodes scholar, holds a D.Phil in Politics and an M.Phil in Development Studies (International Development, with Distinction) from the University of Oxford. During her doctoral studies, Kate was awarded a Fleet Fellowship by Magdalen College Oxford to attend Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. She has published an edited volume on Making Global Institutions Work.

Connect with Kate on LinkedIn.

As the Sydney Policy Lab's first Deputy Director, Design, Associate Professor Leigh-Anne Hepburn brings her focus on design-enabled collaboration to bear on complex policy problems.

An international leader in policy and design, Leigh-Anne is the Head of Design at the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. She has published extensively and worked with community members and governments on impact-focused projects. Leigh-Anne's experience includes time spent in local government, health innovation and consulting.

An emphasis on co-creation through creative and participatory methods is woven through Associate Professor Hepburn’s career in design research and practice, which has intersected with health and care, resilience, and social impact.

Brendan is Academic Chair of the Lab's CARE program – Championing Australia's Relational Economy program. An internationally renowned nursing leader, Brendan has spent his career enabling person-centred practices in nursing and healthcare through participatory action research. He is now Head of School and Dean, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery at the Faculty of Medicine and Health.

Brendan has a deep commitment to cultures and practices of relational care. In 2024, he was appointed a commissioner of the Lancet Commission on People-centred Care for Universal Health Coverage at Harvard University.

Louise leads programs at the Sydney Policy Lab and has more than 15 years experience in local and state governments, universities and entrepreneurial environments in Australia and internationally. Before joining the Lab, Louise was based in Singapore as Director of Executive Education at the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, where she worked with governments across Asia and the Middle East to design programs to inspire leaders and transform policymaking.

She has also worked with civil society and advocacy organisations, including sitting on local and national advisory boards. Louise holds a Bachelor of Economics and Social Sciences (Hons) from the University of Sydney and a Master in Public Administration from the National University of Singapore.

As the Lab’s inaugural philosopher-in-residence, Associate Professor in Political Philosophy Luara Ferracioli contributes her expertise to a range of research and policy projects.

Luara's research and writing goes to the heart of wicked public policy problems. Her recent books on “Parenting and the Goods of Childhood” and “Liberal Self-Determination in a World of Migration” reflect her focus on the biggest debates being had in society.

Since moving from Amsterdam to the University of Sydney in 2017, Luara has been a regular in the media, applying an ethical lens to issues from the housing crisis and paid parental leave to immigration and effective disagreement.

Associate Professor Gareth Bryant is the Economist-in-Residence at the Sydney Policy Lab and is Chair of the Discpline of Political Economy at the University of Sydney.

Gareth researches how public policy and public finance can create more sustainable, equal and democratic economies. His research has focused on issues including climate change, higher education, housing, labour and Indigenous justice.

Gareth’s cross-disciplinary research has been published across a wide range of policy, geography and economics journals. He is the author of Carbon Markets in a Climate-Changing Capitalism, published by Cambridge University Press. 

Gareth co-edits the Progress in Political Economy (PPE) blog and associated Manchester University Press book series.

Max works on the Lab's communications. He has experience in communications and policy roles in federal politics and the not-for-profit sector.