Sir Roland Wilson Foundation

Dual-trained in journalism and law, Kristian has held a range of roles in the Department of Home Affairs since 2015, with a particular focus on protection assessment and administrative law. Kristian was previously a Department of Immigration and Border Protection Research Fellow in the Migration and Border Policy Project at the Lowy Institute, undertaking research on comparative approaches to establishing identity in undocumented asylum seekers. Kristian currently works in Refugee, Humanitarian and Settlement Division, advising on lawful decision-making, litigation outcomes, and protection assessment reform.

Kristian’s research at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) will consider how administrative decision-makers make findings of fact in the absence of verifiable evidence. Through the lens of protection obligations assessment, Kristian’s research examines how decision-makers exercise their discretionary powers in probing, weighing, and constructing their assessment. This research will contribute to building and maintaining the trust of the Australian public and government in their institutions by improving the consistency and fairness of visa decision-making.

Prior to commencing her PhD, Polly was an Assistant Director at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). Throughout her career in the Australian Public Service (APS), Polly has used her science background to contribute to a range of biosecurity import policies and negotiations with trading partners to ensure the safe trade of commercially important aquatic animal goods. She has also been involved in strategic planning for the use science in the management of Australian marine parks and remained a keen promoter of APS women in science, having held the position of Chair of DAFF’s Gender Equity Network in 2023.

Polly completed her honours in aquatic animal physiology in 2018 at The University of Sydney. Her PhD research at the ANU Research School of Biology is focused on reducing exotic disease risk in aquaculture through the delivery of scientific information and tools to inform biosecurity policy.

Kathryn is a business, governance, and research professional with over 20 years’ experience across the public and tertiary education sectors. She has implemented initiatives and led successful outcomes across diverse research, technology, strategic planning and policy, governance, and service delivery environments. Prior to commencing as a Sir Roland Wilson Scholar, she was the Director Governance within Headquarters Joint Operations Command.

Kathryn’s PhD research program examines the phenomenon of flexible work. Flexible working has burgeoned in recent decades and the COVID-19 pandemic catapulted its status to normative work method, at least temporarily if not permanently. As employers and employees navigate complex social expectations and environments, the mutual gains stemming from flexible work are increasingly valuable to the APS, individuals and businesses, and broader society. Kathryn’s research explores flexible working holistically to better understand how it is changing and how it affects workforce participation and career advancement.

Crystal has worked in the APS since 2001 in the social services and environment portfolios. For over 15 years she has led various domestic and international environment policy programs such as chemical policy, biodiversity policy and natural capital accounting policy. In partnership with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Crystal recently led the development of Australia’s first national ocean ecosystem account and co-chaired the United Nations working group advancing global ocean accounting standards.

Crystal’s PhD research explores what is ‘critical natural capital’ in Australia’s environmental and socio-economic context, the way Australia’s essential economic products and services depend on nature, and options for protecting critical natural capital in law and policy. She is particularly interested in how critical natural capital dependency can be reflected in Australia’s system of national accounts. Crystal’s research aims to support governments to understand and address natural capital dependency risk.

Maathu is a Senior Actuary at the National Disability Insurance Agency, with experience in the disability, health and general insurance sectors. She led the Actuarial Strategic Initiatives team evaluating key scheme initiatives and priorities. Her work ranged over various strategic policy and service delivery areas including the early childhood strategy, framework for consistent decision making, review of pricing arrangements, intergovernmental agreements and workforce modelling.

Through her PhD research, Maathu will investigate the drivers of increasing prevalence of Autism, focusing on the impact of government support schemes. Her research will also investigate the types of supports that are effective in achieving outcomes using a novel data driven approach. This research will inform policy by assessing the effectiveness of scheme design and service delivery of disability supports.

Maathu is a Fellow of the Actuaries Institute, Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary and Board member of the Actuaries Institute Australia. She won the Actuaries Institute’s Melville Prize and the International Actuarial Association’s Bob Alting von Geusau Prize for research conducted in her Honours degree in Actuarial Studies from the University of New South Wales.