We are very excited to provide you with high quality guest speakers for The OSCAR Foundation National Conference 2008. The speakers will be dispersed throughout the Conference weekend and we are sure will offer something valuable for all the delegates.

We are especially thrilled to present a new addition to our normal workshop options for the Conference. This year we are launching an Academic Speakers stream which will run concurrently with the workshops. Our four speakers, highlighted below, will provide interesting insights and information on a variety of topics impacting the OSCAR sector.

	Tim Gill Tim Gill is one of the United Kingdom’s leading thinkers on childhood. His work focuses on children’s play and free time. Tim’s book, No Fear: Growing Up In A Risk Averse Society, was published in 2007.He appears regularly on radio, television and writes for the mainstream and specialist press. Tim has advised political parties and think-tanks across the political spectrum, and has carried out consultancies for major NGOs and public bodies including the Mayor of London and the Forestry Commission. In 2002, while Director of the Children’s Play Council (now Play England), Tim led the first ever government-sponsored review of children’s play. Tim’s website is www.rethinkingchildhood.com Tim Gill is our Keynote Speaker on Saturday and will present as an Academic Speaker on Sunday. Tim’s book, No Fear: Growing Up In A Risk Averse Society, will be available for purchase at Conference. More...
	Dame Susan Devoy Dame Susan Devoy is a New Zealand sporting legend. The world’s number one women’s squash player for almost a decade, Dame Susan Devoy is a highly motivated and inspirational person. Winner of four World Cup titles and New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year five times, her services to sport and charity have been recognised with an MBE, an OBE and the title of Dame, the youngest women in New Zealand to receive such an honour. An entertaining and motivational speaker, Dame Susan draws on personal experiences from both on and off the court to share her knowledge of success, challenges, hurdles and making the most of opportunities. Dame Susan Devoy is our Closing Speaker on Sunday.
	Jeremy Elwood Jeremy Elwood is one of the stars of New Zealand stand up comedy. He has an extensive list of comedy awards under his belt; most recently Best MC in the 2007 New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards and Gag of the Year Award winner in 2006 by the New Zealand Comedy Guild. Born in Canada, raised in the United Kingdom, and now living in New Zealand, Jeremy offers a no-holds-barred style of comedy with intelligent and relevant material. With a stage presence you cannot ignore, Jeremy is set to entertain us with a devastating combination of biting social commentary, music and song. Jeremy Elwood will entertain delegates at the Awards Evening on Saturday night.
	Tina Green Tina Green is Operations Manager of The OSCAR Foundation. Highly regarded in the OSCAR sector, she has been involved in most of the major milestones in the OSCAR sector since she began work as an After School Programme Supervisor in 1992. Currently on the MSD's Out of School Services Advisory Group, she is passionate about the quality of OSCAR provision for children in New Zealand, and has recently travelled throughout the UK and Denmark to study their quality assurance systems after winning a Winston Churchill Fellowship. Tina Green will present as an Academic Speaker on Saturday.
	Michael Gaffney Michael Gaffney is Deputy Director of the Children's Issues Centre of the University of Otago, a national interdisciplinary forum for research into and discussion of children's issues, as well as resources and information for those involved with children. His main areas of study are educational policy in New Zealand, both early childhood education and compulsory schooling, school culture and ethnographic studies, disability studies and inclusive education and social research methods. Michael Gaffney will present as an Academic Speaker on Saturday.
	Dr. Emma Davies Dr. Emma Davies runs the Auckland office of the Children’s Commissioner. Emma has 20 years experience in contract and investigator-driven research on children’s issues in academic, health and non-government organizations. She has conducted research on postnatal depression, developing pre-school children’s communication skills, empowering children with disabilities, children in the criminal courts and preventing violence toward children. Dr. Emma Davies will present as an Academic Speaker on Sunday.

Back to the top