With over thirty years of creative practice, Melissa collaborates with many thinkers and makers to design experiences that embed the Arts in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEAM). Melissa is co-director of STEAMpop.zone while also engaged in research contributing to learning ecologies spanning creative intelligence and innovation, transdisciplinary education, and designing for preferred futures. Melissa enjoys being part of a bold community of multipotentialities intent on developing and sharing unique learning experiences for everybody.

Awards: Beth Southwell Award for Education Research 

Andrew Barnum is a Designer, Educator and Artist and continues to work on projects and in contexts that synthesise his experience and inspiration as a creative practitioner. In Design he is the chief creative officer of Social Design Action consultancy Peopleness, which is human-centered design focused. In education he is a PhD candidate at UTS researching the potential dislocation between Australian song, cultural identity and place in the digital age, and is course author and lecturer in the Bachelor of Design (Digital Design) at JMC Academy in Sydney.

As an artist his passion is songwriting and painting with independent releases on iTunes and Spotify as Andrew Barnum and Vitabeats, with a new project under the moniker of Memory Collective. His most recent paintings are a series of colour field investigations in Australian ‘colours in common.’

Clint is a design addict, a compulsive gatherer and a very curious, creative, sharing 20+ years of design education, collecting letterpress artefacts, importing classic cars, and creating visual communication solutions are his primary passions.

His creations are based on core design principles and 30 plus years of design  experience, supported by a collaborative team of colleagues. Clint explores, learns, and preserve traditional crafts and is a passionate advocate for integrated art and design approaches. Clint seeks old craftspeople to collaborate with, combine their skills and learn from them, for him its all about sharing the knowledge with the next generation of creatives in an attempt to produce effective and creative human interactions.

Arielle is the senior lecturer for Design in Melbourne, who specialises in Branding, Typography, and Illustration.

Growing up in Hong Kong and Australia, Rizwan Nawaz was always an avid learner and creative thinker. In high school he was Dux for 4 years and could have become anything he wanted to be; a finance professional, a doctor, a scientist or even a literary professional. However, his imagination and love for design would take him down a different path. Instead, he completed a Certificate II in Multimedia at TAFE plus a Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design at university.

He then began his career in uniforms and signage learning how to practically apply his designs. Soon he opened his own clothing store in a Sydney factory outlet, garnering that entrepreneurial spirit. All this by the age of 20. Soon after a university internship turned into a job at a B2B Publication house, where he worked on various industry magazines; including the finance, franchising, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing and media sectors. Rizwan then made his way up into a Creative Director role for a merchandising group. A few years later, he was poached to work as a Lead Pitch Designer in the commercial real estate sector.

All the while Rizwan dabbled in freelancing during this journey. He finally quit the corporate world to focus full-time on his creative agency, where he built a team of experts and followed a deep passion for learning, innovation and sharing his knowledge through teaching and lecturing. He is fascinated by history, mythology and philosophy; and how they can tie together a brand’s story, values and narrative. Championing diversity, equity and inclusion are also some of his life missions.

In his spare time, he loves photographing cityscapes and landscapes and is an accredited Master Photographer on Google Maps. He spends some of his year lecturing Design and Entertainment Business Management at JMC Academy.

Jane is currently undertaking a creative practice PhD, researching ‘life-centred design’ through the study of insects. Jane's work has garnered recognition, notably winning a design competition hosted by TEDI, The Engineering and Design Institute in London.

In their artistic and research endeavours, Jane delve into the significance of storytelling within interactive art, with a particular emphasis on conveying challenging themes like anthropogenic climate change. This focus is notably inspired by events such as Australia's Black Summer fires. The primary aim of their research is to identify the most impactful artistic strategies for fostering empathy and a sense of action in audiences through interactive narratives. This exploration is further enriched through a collaborative venture with the faculty at UNSW BEES (Faculty of Biological Environmental and Earth Sciences).

Before embarking on her current academic journey, Jane spent eight years in the higher education realm, contributing as a course coordinator and lecturer. Their areas of expertise span Digital Design, Traditional Animation, Visual Storytelling, Data Visualization, and Film and Design theory.

Jane continues to engage in their design practice through Fisheye Design. Jane's portfolio includes collaborations with esteemed entities like ABC Books, Allen & Unwin, The Really Useful Company, Pan Macmillan, The Federation Press, Writers UK, Pearsons Australia and New Zealand, and The Australian Museum.

Tim McEwen draws on his broad experience in feature film storyboards and concept art (Happy Feet Two, Blinky Bill, Wolf Creek 2), as well as comic books, illustration, and cartooning. He's been published professionally since he was 17, has featured in 22 exhibitions domestically and internationally, and has been nominated and shortlisted many times for numerous awards, including three times for Best Comic Book Artist in the Australian Cartoonists’ Association's prestigious Stanley Awards. In 2018 he received the Platinum Ledger Award for contributions to the Australian comics scene.

He's been the director of the Comics Art Awards of Australia, a committee member for the Australian Cartoonists' Association, founding art director of Supanova Pop Culture Expo, as well as being a featured guest at numerous conventions, and an expert speaker at numerous events. He's also an art director and graphic designer with 30+ years of experience.

Tim has lectured at JMC in Sydney for nine years, and has previously lectured at the University of Western Sydney. He continues to work in his chosen professions, illustrating books, providing storyboards, and working on his internationally distributed, award-winning comic series ‘Greener Pastures’.