Our team
Meet the staff who run the Policy Lab
Director of the Sydney Policy Lab
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.
Brendan is Academic Chair of the Australia Cares project. 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.
Louise leads operations and engagement 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 Sydney Policy 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.
Gareth is the Economist-in-Residence at the Sydney Policy Lab and works as a Senior Lecturer in the Department 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.
Read more about his research here.
Lisa manages projects across the Lab’s research and engagement activites. Having worked at the intersection of academia, civil society and advocacy for a decade, she is passionate about building powerful alliances to tackle the most pressing questions of our time.
Previously, Lisa directed the Sydney Peace Foundation, where she elevated voices of some of the world's most effective changemakers. Before this, Lisa coordinated the Electoral Integrity Project at the University of Sydney and Harvard University. Lisa also worked on transitional justice for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa.
Lisa studied peacebuilding and conflict resolution at Gothenburg University and the University of Amsterdam, and public administration at the Hague University.
Katie provides support to the Sydney Policy Lab’s executive team, and applies her extensive experience in operational and administrative management to ensure the smooth functioning of the Lab’s office and activities. She is passionate about supporting brilliant teams who make our world a better place by finding innovative solutions to pressing social challenges.
Katie previously was the Executive Officer of the Sydney Peace Foundation, where she managed program and event development, financial reporting and fundraising, and a range of diverse stakeholders to support campaigns to promote peace with justice, and was more recently the Institute Coordinator at the NSW Public Policy Institute, a joint venture of a consortium of three universities supported by the NSW Government.
Katie studied classical music, politics, international relations, and social justice at Butler University (USA) and the University of Notre Dame Australia.
Connect with Katie on LinkedIn.
Thanh is the Lab’s Finance Administration Officer, and looks after all the financials within the Lab. Thanh’s diverse background makes her a valued member of the Lab’s professional team. She is an alumnus of the University of Sydney where she studied Secondary Education and Psychology and has worked in a diversity of sectors including property management, retail management and hospitality.
Working at Lab has given Thanh an appreciation and insight of the collaborative work between academia, civil society, businesses and government and how we can build trusting relationships across different spectrums to find new policies and solutions to make our world a better place.
Max works on the Lab's communications. He has experience in communications and policy roles in federal politics and the not-for-profit sector.
As Senior Research Support Officer, Dayna's contributes passionately to the Lab's research projects. She is a dedicated advocate and researcher currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Sydney, focusing on the experiences of women and girls in Rohingya and Syrian refugee camps.
Having lived in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh for several years, Dayna worked as a humanitarian aid worker in Rohingya refugee camps. She also founded Maiya School, a non-profit organisation that operates schools for Rohingya refugee girls, and continues to serve as a director. Dayna actively contributes to human rights discussions through publications such as DW News, The Diplomat, and Southeast Asia Globe, aiming to raise global awareness of human rights issues, particularly in displacement contexts.
