The biggest professional conference of the year was back in-person for our tenth anniversary at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 1 October 2024.
This year’s theme was How We Drive Progress: Now and for the Future. It’s been chosen to showcase how we’re driving progress for the University within the professional staff community, and to be a platform to share success stories, challenges, opportunities, and practical takeaways for others to learn from.
View the 2024 Program for session and presenter information.
Key Dates
- Thursday 6 June 2024
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Conference Save the Date, and Call for Presentations open
- Thursday 20 June 2024
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Early bird registrations open (once early bird is sold out, standard tickets will be available)
- Sunday 7 July 2024
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11.59pm
Call for Presentations close
- Late August
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Conference program announced
- Tuesday 1 October 2024
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2024 Professional Staff Conference
2024 Organising Committee
The University of Melbourne Professional Staff Conference is organized by professional staff for professional staff.
Sustainability Statement
The University of Melbourne's Professional Staff Conference is committed to being a sustainable event that minimises our carbon footprint and promotes environmentally friendly practices.
The 2024 Professional Staff Conference Committee would like to thank the generous support of our sponsors and contributing partners.
Innovative Sponsors
Connected Sponsors
Contributing Partners
After a year in hiatus, the 9th University of Melbourne’s Professional Staff Conference took place in person on Wednesday 13th September 2023 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The conference provided a platform for the exchange of ideas and insights among professional staff from various fields.
Questions? Email psc-info@unimelb.edu.au
2023 Professional Staff Conference Summary
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Conference theme
This year’s theme "Energise. Enrich. Empower: Realising our Future" was centered around three key concepts:
- Energise: To recharge and invigorate staff by learning new strategies for self-care, stress management, and mental health.
- Enrich: To deepen professional staffs’ knowledge, broaden their horizons, and expand their perspectives, both personally and professionally.
- Empower: To equip professional staff with the tools, resources, and confidence to take charge of their careers and make a positive impact at the University.
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Keynote speakers
We were thrilled to have Kirk Docker, one of Australia's finest interviewers and producer of the award-winning ABC TV series "You Can't Ask That", in the morning keynote session. He shared with us the processes and techniques of interviewing and explained the difference between interrogating and understanding.
In the afternoon keynote session, Kirk facilitated the intimate panel discussion with two of the University’s senior leaders, Professor Nicola Phillips and Professor Pip Nicholson.
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Committee Leadership
The 2023 Professional Staff Conference committee was led by below chairs:
- Chairs: Myron Yovannidis (FBE) and Antony Stark (CFO Group)
- Deputy Chairs: Melissa Bruorton (FOA) and Ashley Michailaros (FOA)
The following staff led the four main portfolios:
- Logistics: Raveena Grace (Business Services) and Alison Broadby (FEIT)
- Program and Content: Tram McQueen (CFO Group)
- Promotion: Pian Zhang (CFO Group)
- Sponsorship: Sabrina Rahman (SASS)
The committee was supported by Executive Sponsor, our CFO, Katerina Kapobassis.
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Committee
The 2023 PSC committee was made up of a team of dedicated and talented volunteers from across the University.
2023 committee (listed alphabetically): Adrianne Huang, Amelia Catalano, Carolin Sudkamp-Baldoni, Dinesh Chikurumelli, Ellie Clay, Gabbie Hepworth, Ilene Shen, Jasmine Stiff, Jennifer La Torre, Jo Steinle, KK Hong, Karen Kennedy, Linda Footit, Lourdes Sanchez, Madalyn Conwell, Marcus Robson, Nicole Zhang, Oliver Smith, Poonam Mehra, Rina Gao, Sai Atulya Bhaskaran, Sakshi Sakshi, Sally Ly, Sophie Grant, Tania Temple, Veronica Wade, Yajing Chen and Yuhong Hou.
Photo: Breeana Dunbar
If you are interested in volunteering in the 2024 committee, please fill out the form.
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Sustainability achievements
Catering:
- 100 mile catering - all ingredients were sourced locally within 100 miles
- Almost all of the catering was vegetarian
- All food waste was given to Oz Harvest
- Reusable crockery, cutlery and cups were used (no biocups or bioplastics)
Stationary:
- You brought your own note pads/ pens
- You wore lanyards that were made from bamboo fabric and will be reused for PSCs for years to come
- You wore a badge made out of seeded paper (and will hopefully plant it at home!)
- Committee wore shirts made from ethically produced, recycled fabric from a B-corp certified sustainable company
Materials:
- Plants were used on the plenary stage instead of cut flowers
- All materials used for guest experience were recyclable/ made from recycled materials and will be reused at future events
- Sponsors and presenters were briefed to be as sustainable as they can, avoid using paper and post it notes and use a whiteboard instead
We also invested $748 in offsetting 20 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
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Program and session slides
View the 2023 program and session slides where available.
The 2023 Professional Staff Conference Committee would like to thank the generous support of our sponsors and contributing partners.
Silver sponsor
Partner Sponsor
Atlantic Group Catering @ Melbourne Connect
Bronze sponsor
Lifetime sponsor
Contributing partners
The 2021 Professional Staff Conference (PSC) took place as a virtual conference over two days and presented a great opportunity to interact with colleagues, share experiences and celebrate the role of professional staff at the University of Melbourne.
The PSC is organised by a committee of volunteers from across the University and is an excellent professional development opportunity for both committee members and presenters.
If you would like to get involved next year, please send an email to psc-info@unimelb.edu.au.
The 2021 PSC committee was made up of a team of dedicated volunteers from across the University.
2021 committee (listed alphabetically): Amy Huynh, Andrea Lou, Andrew Siebel, Ashley MacMahon, Assyl Haidar, Charlotte Hurry, Di Doyle, Elise Newman, Emma Russo, Jess Ridout, Julie Kennedy, Lauren Gutches, Louise Craven, Lucy Keller, Michael Stephens, Myron Yovannidis, Petra Van Nieuwenhoven, Preethika Padmanabhan, Robin Chacko, Rossella Lo Conte, Sandie Tsan, Sheridan Nanscawen and Tai Smith-Moir.
The 2021 Professional Staff Conference Committee would like to thank the generous support of our sponsors.
Gold sponsor
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Building Resilient Futures
Adapting to Change - Building Capability
When the 2020 Professional Staff Conference committee convened to discuss potential themes for this year's conference in March, the Australian bushfires were top of mind. We had seen how both staff and students from across Australia had been impacted by the bushfires, and we discussed how important resilience is in the face of adversity.
At the time, COVID-19 was beginning to spread throughout Australia, too, though none of us could have predicted just how disruptive this virus would become. We anticipated how we might need to change our ways of working, should the virus continue to spread, and discussed how resilience would be important to get through this crisis as well. We decided on the theme of "Building Resilient Futures" as it would encourage forward-thinking in the midst of whatever challenges we might face in the coming months. Just weeks after that first brainstorming session about themes for the conference, the committee had shifted to working entirely remotely, in line with COVID-19 restrictions.
As we continued to plan for the conference from our home workstations, we developed the sub-themes of "Adapting to Change" and "Building Capabilities." We saw that it would be essential for professional staff at the Uni to be comfortable adapting to change this year, as further change was inevitable given the ongoing and widespread effects of COVID-19. At the same time, professional staff would need to build their capabilities and skill sets in order to best respond to these changes.
The keynote speakers, panel discussion and individual sessions held throughout the 2020 Professional Staff Conference tied into our main theme of Building Resilient Futures, and we hope that attendees were able to walk away from the conference with enhanced skills to embrace change and build capabilities for the future.
There were 1688 staff registrations from across the university to attend the 2020 virtual UOM Professional Staff Conference which spanned over 5 days (Monday 14th September to Friday 18th September 2020), with an average attendance rate of 70%.
Established in 2014 and co-founded by three professional staff, the conference aims to explore best practices, report project outcomes and share new trends and opportunities, while engaging staff through motivational and creative means.
Delivered within a project framework, the conference broadens networks and encourages collaboration across the University’s different campuses, while contributing to the sustained excellence of services supporting learning, teaching, research and engagement. The conference:
- Celebrates the contributions made by professional staff to the success of the University
- Acknowledges the expertise and passion of professional staff through presentations that showcase innovation in higher education administration
- Provides participants and organisers with mentoring and professional development opportunities
- Creates time for networking, collegiality and fun
The Professional Staff Conference is organised by a Committee of volunteers from across The University of Melbourne. If you have questions or comments, please email psc-info@unimelb.edu.au.