Lea Waters PhD is an Australian academic, researcher, psychologist, author and speaker who specializes in positive education, parenting and organizations. Professor Waters is the Founding Director and Inaugural Gerry Higgins Chair in Positive Psychology at the Centre for Positive Psychology, University of Melbourne where she has held an academic position for 22 years. Lea holds affiliate positions at Cambridge University’s Well-Being Institute and the University of Michigan’s Center for Positive Organizations. As a researcher, she has published over 100 scientific articles and book chapters. Lea is the 2017-2019 President of the International Positive Psychology Association, serves on the Council of Happiness and Education for the World Happiness Council, is the Patron of Flourishing Education Japan and Ambassador for Positive Education Schools Association. Her book, The Strength Switch: How The New Science of Strength-Based Parenting Can Help Your Child and Your Teen to Flourish, was the top release on Amazon in the parenting category, was listed in Top reads for 2017 by Berkeley University’s Greater Good Centre and was listed in the Top Five Books on Happiness for Children in the UK’s Top Five site. It is being translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Hungarian, Arabic, Russian, French and Spanish. In 2015, Professor Waters was listed as one of Australia’s Top 100 Women of Influence by the Financial Review and Westpac Bank. She has been listed in the Marques ‘Who’s Who in the World’ since 2009 and has been included in the 2017 edition of Who's Who of Australian Women. Lea was featured in the ABC TV documentary Revolution School and is frequently featured in print and on the radio, including USA based outlet such as Wall Street Journal, TIME.com Magazine, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Live Happy Magazine, Success Magazine as well as outlets in other countries such as The Globe (Toronto), The Guardian (UK), and The Age (Australia). Lea’s TEDx talk, Warning: Being positive is not for the faint hearted! explores how small positive steps can make a big impact on the wellbeing of ourselves and others. Her positive education program, Positive Detective, is being used in schools in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Finland, Ghana, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand. Her Visible Wellbeing initiative is being used in schools across Australia, Asia, Canada and New Zealand. Her newest program, The Strengths Switch offers parents and educators free resources to better build the strengths of young people as well as a five-week on-line course for parents and is being used by parents across the globe.

Dr Barbara L. Fredrickson is Director of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (PEP Lab) at UNC-Chapel Hill, Past President of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), and also of the Society for Affective Science. Among the most highly cited scholars in psychology, Barbara Fredrickson is most known for her Broaden-and-Build Theory of positive emotions, foundational within Positive Psychology for providing a blueprint for how pleasant emotional states, as fleeting as they are, contribute to resilience, well-being, and health. Dr. Fredrickson has published > 150 peer-reviewed articles, and her general audience books, Positivity (2009, www.PositivityRatio.com) and Love 2.0 (2013, www.PositivityResonance.com) have been translated for more than 30 foreign markets. Dr. Fredrickson’s research has received funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NCI, NIA, NCCIM, NIMH, NINR) and has been recognized with numerous honors, including the inaugural Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology from the American Psychological Association, the Career Trajectory Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, the inaugural Christopher Peterson Gold Medal from the International Positive Psychology Association, and the Tang Prize for Achievements in Psychology, awarded to recognize exceptional career contributions to the well-being of humanity. In 2015, through a partnership between UNC-Chapel Hill and Coursera, Dr. Fredrickson began teaching a free, online course on Positive Psychology that has attracted ~340,000 learners across ~200 counties worldwide. Through this and other means, her work influences scholars and practitioners worldwide, within education, business, healthcare, the military, and beyond. Dr. Fredrickson was born and raised in Minnesota and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota (1986). She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University (1990), with a minor in organizational behavior, and post-doctoral training in psychophysiology from the University of California at Berkeley (1990-1992). Prior to joining the faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill, she held faculty positions at Duke University and the University of Michigan.

Dr. Tim Lomas has been a lecturer in positive psychology at the University of East London since April 2013. Tim completed his PhD at the University of Westminster in 2012, where his thesis focused on the impact of meditation on men's mental health. Since 2013, Tim has published numerous papers and books on topics including positive psychology theory, mindfulness, Buddhism, linguistics, and gender. His work has been featured in articles in prominent publications including TIME, The New Yorker, Scientific American, and The Atlantic. His current main area of research involves creating a lexicography of untranslatable words relating to wellbeing (please visit www.drtimlomas.com/lexicography for the latest on the project). Two books on the project are out in 2018: an academic analysis of the lexicography, entitled Translating Happiness: A Cross-Cultural Lexicon of Wellbeing, published by The MIT Press; and a general interest exploration of key words, entitled The Happiness Dictionary: Words from Around the World to Help Us Lead a Richer Life, published by Piatkus.

Professor Michael F. Steger, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology, and the Founding Director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose at Colorado State University. He earned his doctorate with specializations in Counseling Psychology and Personality Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2005. For more than 15 years, he has researched how people flourish through building meaning and purpose in their lives and in their work. Among his research projects were the development of tow widely-used measurement tools, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI). He has published more than 100 scholarly journal articles and book chapters, and three books, including The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Positivity and Strengths-Based Approaches at Work and Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace. He provides keynotes, lectures, workshops, and consulting around the world on the topics of meaning, purpose, psychological strengths, meaningful work, and creating a happy workplace.

Dr Ryan M. Niemiec is a leading figure in the education, research, and practice of character strengths that are found in all human beings. Ryan is author of 3 new books: Character Strengths Interventions (2018), for practitioners, the first field-guide in positive psychology. The Strengths-Based Workbook for Stress Relief (June 2019), for consumers wanting to perceive and transcend stress in a new way. A character strengths trade book (September 2018), with Dr. Robert McGrath, outlining ways to understand and develop the 24 character strengths. Several other books that are leaders in their respective fields, including Mindfulness and Character Strengths; Movies and Mental Illness; and Positive Psychology at the Movies. Ryan’s primary role is education director of the VIA Institute on Character, a global, non-profit organization in Cincinnati that advances the science and practice of character strengths. Award-winning psychologist, annual instructor at the University of Pennsylvania and adjunct professor at Xavier University. Fellow of the International Positive Psychology Association. Frequent keynoter and workshop leader with over 500 presentations on positive psychology topics across the globe. Columnist for Psychology Today, reaching over 1 million reads. Scholarly author of over 80 invited/peer-reviewed articles. He’s passionate about the connection between character strengths and mindfulness, spirituality, health, disability, parenting, positive movies, and savoring. Personally, Ryan lives with his wife and three young kids who travel the globe together. Ryan is an avid collector of vintage Pez dispensers, a passionate fan of The Walking Dead, only listens to 1990s alternative rock music, and is a zealot for his alma mater, Michigan State University. His highest strengths are hope, love, curiosity, honesty, fairness, and appreciation of beauty.

Mathew A. White, PhD, is Deputy Dean, International, for the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law, and Economics at the University of Adelaide in Australia, where he is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the School of Education. Mathew has taught and researched curriculum, pedagogy, wellbeing education, and teacher education. He has supervised higher-degree research students in these areas. He is passionate about educating the next generation of teachers and leaders committed to evidence-informed teaching practice to improve student wellbeing and learning regardless of circumstance. Before joining academia in 2018, Mathew was an award-winning secondary school English and French teacher for 20 years and had a decade’s senior leadership-level experience in schools. 2004 Mathew was awarded his PhD in Education from the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has published six books and numerous journal articles on wellbeing and education, including Transforming Teaching: Wellbeing and Professional Practice (2022), Wellbeing and Resilience Education COVID-19 and Its Impact on Education (2021), Critical Perspectives on Teaching, Learning and Leadership: Enhancing Educational Outcomes (2020), Future Directions in Well-Being: Education, Organizations and Policy (2017) and Evidence-Based Approaches in Positive Education: Implementing a Strategic Framework for Well-being in Schools (2015). He served joint terms as Interim Head of the School of Education and Acting Deputy Dean (Learning and Teaching) for the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law, and Economics. Mathew is also a principal fellow at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Mathew has been awarded national education leadership awards and faculty and university teaching excellence commendations. He was President of the Education Division of IPPA (IPPAEd 2019-2022) and was conferred the title of IPPA Fellow in 2021. His next two books New Research and Possibilities in Wellbeing Education (in-press, Springer) and Integrating Wellbeing and Learning in Schools: Evidence-informed Approaches for Leaders and Teachers (in-press, Routledge), will be published in 2024.

Alejandro most recently served as Director for the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network in New York, overseeing wellbeing science and policy initiatives. He has also served as the Deputy Director of the Global Happiness and Well-being Coalition and was an Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Sustainable Development in the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Prior to his time in New York, Alejandro was the Director of International Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center. Alejandro’s research, programs and policy work focus on wellbeing, education, skills, human capital development and public policy. He has worked with a number of international multilateral organizations and with the governments of various countries, including Bhutan, Nepal, India, Mexico, Peru, the UAE, Australia, Jordan, and Colombia, to infuse the education systems in these countries with positive psychology skills and life competencies, in order to measure the impact of these interventions on youth wellbeing and to inform education reform at the local, regional and national levels. Alejandro has published a number of articles in both scholarly and non-academic publications and has presented at several global conferences and events. He has advised international organizations, including The World Bank, the United Nations and the OECD and he is currently one of 60 members of the United Nations International Wellbeing Expert Group. Originally from Mexico, Alejandro has a BA in psychology, a B.Sc. in economics, an MA in psychology, and a PhD in psychology, all from the University of Pennsylvania.