Agnieszka has worked for various agencies in the Australian Public Service and in the UK Department for Work and Pensions. Her experience is in the area of social policy development, research and evaluation. In the UK, she lead a team of economists, social researchers and statisticians to deliver groundbreaking research to support policy development. At the Department of Social Services, Agnieszka works on strengthening the Department’s research and evaluation capability and culture. To do this, she developed and Evidence Strategy and established an International What Works in Social Policy Working Group between DSS and the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK.

Agnieszka’s research includes an examination of income support dynamics among vulnerable Australian youth, with a focus on changing economic conditions and welfare to work reforms. She is also a Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Crawford School of Public Policy and a Board Member of the Foundation for International Studies on Social Security (FISS).

Heidi is a proud Wakka Wakka and Gubbi Gubbi woman born in Brisbane, Queensland.

After leaving school at 13, she returned to education, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in the allied health field. In 2015, she entered the Australian Public Service as an APS2 via the Indigenous Apprenticeships Program, going on to complete the National Graduate Program. She is an Assistant Director in the National Indigenous Australians Agency with years of experience in the HR space in inclusion and diversity, entry level programs, and First Nations employment.

Both of Heidi’s grandmothers are survivors of the Stolen Generations, and it is their story of resilience after losing connection to family, identity, land, language, and culture that ignites her passion for inclusive policy. As a Pat Turner scholar studying a Master of Public Policy, she intends to give back to the APS, working to create and implement policy built on inclusiveness, empowerment, and shaped by the voices of those it affects.

Dolly Nye is a Walbunga/Yuin woman from Mogo on the New South Wales south coast.

Dolly moved from her home town to Canberra and began her career in the APS in 1993. She has forged a career in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs across the areas of diversity and inclusion, employment entry programs, policy, program, contract management, and relationship management.

In her most recent position in the Office of the Interim First Nations Aged Care Commissioner, Dolly is responsible for managing external engagements and consultations with aged care providers and services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, older people, and their carers and families.

Through her experiences as a carer for her mother, Dolly saw firsthand the challenges her Elders, older people, families, carers, and communities face when accessing and navigating the aged care system.

Dolly will undertake a Master of Project Management at ANU, including a research project on navigating culturally safe aged care.