The University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne team was responsible for developing an innovative, world-first, AI-supported learning system to both provide practitioners with supportive feedback during the development of BSPs and appraise the quality of BSPs for the purposes of assessing compliance with nationally agreed standards.

Professor Keith McVilly is a Clinical Psychologist and Professorial Fellow for Disability & Inclusion at the University of Melbourne. He brings 30+ years’ experience as a practitioner, researcher and educator. He has developed and delivered PBS education for direct support staff and allied health professionals and conducted research into BSP quality.

Professor Michael Kirley is the Co-director of the Melbourne Centre for Data Science, where he leads a research and teaching team focussed on application of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to address complex social, health, and economic issues. A current project in the disability sector is investigating the application of AI to identify ableism in job advertisements.    

Dr Eduardo Oliveira is a Senior Lecturer in Software Engineering in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. His expertise is in the use of artificial intelligence to model and assist tertiary students on digital learning environments. Eduardo uses machine learning and natural language processing combined with models of self-regulated learning to guide his research.      

Flinders University

The Flinders University team was responsible for providing evidence-informed education and training resources that will enable Behaviour Support Practitioners to meet behaviour support practice standards and registration obligations.

Dr Alinka Fisher  (BDisRehab, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer in Disability and Community Inclusion within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University. She began her career as a Developmental Educator specialising in PBS for people living with disability, with 18 years of practice-based experience. She lectures in PBS within the Bachelor of Disability and Developmental Education and Graduate Certificate in PBS, Flinders University. She is also an active researcher in this field, a regular presenter at conferences, and Director of Behaviour Support Practitioners Australia.    

Ms Kymberly Louise is a research and teaching scholar within the PBS team in Flinders University’s Disability and Community Inclusion Unit and has a history of PBS consultancy in schools. Kymberly’s work focuses on capacity building for stakeholders involved in PBS.

The University of Queensland

The University of Queensland team was responsible for the development of quality assurance processes and tools to appraise the quality and compliance of the BSPs with evidence-informed standards that support practitioner development and participant outcomes.

Professor Karen Nankervis has had an extensive research and practice career supporting people with disabilities and behaviours of concern. She was Executive Director of Queensland’s Centre of Excellence for Clinical Innovation and Behaviour Support. She developed the Graduate Certificate and Diploma in Positive Behaviour Supports at UQ College. She currently leads research into behaviour support plan quality assurance.    

Dr Maria Vassos is a Research Fellow at University of Queensland. She is a registered psychologist with research and practice experience in positive behaviour supports and working with people with disabilities and their families. She has undertaken extensive work in BSP quality assurance for both state and commonwealth authorities.