Speakers
2024 Gary Andrews International Fellow
Ms Susana Concordo Harding

Susana is Senior Director at the International Longevity Centre Singapore, an Initiative of Tsao Foundation. She is also Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at College of Nursing &Health Sciences at Flinders University.

Her policy and research interests are ageing and gender and its intersectionality, caregiving, financial security, community resilience, active and successful ageing, long term care, empowerment, and community development.

Susana graduated Cum Laude from the University of Santo Tomas (Manila, Philippines) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and holds master’s degree in public administration (MPA) from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore.  

She is also the Honorary Secretary of the Board of Directors at Centre for Seniors, a non-profit, Social Service Agency that is dedicated to helping seniors to remain meaningfully engage in work and in life, as well as Honorary Secretary of the Gerontological Society of Singapore..

2024 David Wallace Address
Professor James Vickers

James Vickers is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Tasmania and Director of the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre. The Wicking Centre has core research themes on the Cause, Care and Prevention of dementia, and offers an under graduate and postgraduate degree programs in dementia as well as two free massive open online courses (MOOCs) on ‘Understanding Dementia and ‘Preventing Dementia’.

James is a neuroscientist and has research interests in Alzheimer’s disease, neuron injury, brain plasticity and dementia risk reduction. He is a Past-President of the Australasian Neuroscience Society and is a Board Member of the Dementia Australia Research Foundation...

Opening Plenary
Rev James "Jim" Colville AM

When the Reverend James Colville AM opened the doors of Colony 47 in 1973, Hobart was a very different place. There were no gay rights, access to contraception was difficult and people were rejected for being different. After renting an old church at 47 Davey Street, Hobart, a coffee shop was opened where everyone was welcome and help provided when requested. This included many young people, older people, Indigenous Australians, the lonely, hungry and unemployed. James believed those struggling with rejection had a lot to give with the right support – they just needed non-judgemental assistance, acceptance and respect.  

Fifty years on, not for profit Colony 47 continues to deliver programs for Tasmanians in need, with a particular focus on housing. It's helped more than 50,000 households with bond or rental assistance, more than 7000 young people with early intervention support, and more than 17,500 young people with education and employment.  

Rev Colville was recently awarded 2024 Tasmania Senior Australia of the Year.

Plenary
Professor Kathy Eagar

.Professor Kathy Eagar is Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New South Wales, Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Past Director of Australian Health Services Research Institute, University of Wollongong.

Professor Eagar has undertaken extensive work in the aged care system over the last two decades. She led the design of the new Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) and funding model for residential aged care and undertook research commissioned by the Aged Care Royal Commission into the adequacy of residential aged care staffing

Plenary
Professor Leon Flicker

Leon is the inaugural Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Western Australia since 1998. He is Director of the Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing. He led the reorganization of undergraduate and postgraduate education in geriatric medicine in Western Australia. He remains a practicing geriatrician and is a consultant geriatrician at Royal Perth Hospital.

Leon’s research activities have focused on the major health issues of older people, including falls, depression, cognitive impairment and dementia. He has performed and reported many studies about frailty and successful ageing. Leon has published 16 book chapters and 520 peer-reviewed articles. He has been Chair of the Asia Pacific Geriatric Network for the last 18 years. In 2017 he was honored to receive an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contributions to geriatric medicine and dementia prevention and care. He is the current Co-Chief Editor of the journal Maturitas..

Plenary
Mr Saul Eslake

Saul Eslake worked as an economist in the Australian financial markets for more than 25 years, including as Chief Economist at McIntosh Securities (a stockbroking firm) in the late 1980s, Chief Economist (International) at National Mutual Funds Management in the early 1990s, as Chief Economist at the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) from 1995 to 2009, and as Chief Economist (Australia & New Zealand) for Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2011 until June 2015. In between these last two positions he was Director of the Productivity Growth program at the then newly-established Grattan Institute, a ‘think tank’. In July 2015 Saul started up his own economics consultancy business, operating out of Hobart, and in April 2016 took up a part-time position as a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Tasmania. He is currently undertaking an Independent Review of Tasmania’s Public Sector Finances.

Saul is a member of the Australian Parliamentary Budget Office’s Advisory Panel; the Australian Taxation Office’s ‘Tax Gap’ Advisory Panel; and is on the Advisory Board of Jamieson Coote Bonds, a Melbourne-based specialist bond investment manager.

Saul has a first class honours degree in Economics from the University of Tasmania, and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia. In December 2012 he was awarded an Honorary LLD degree by the University of Tasmania. He has also completed the Senior Executive Program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business in New York.