Carolyn M. Callahan

Dr. Carolyn M. Callahan, Commonwealth Professor of Education at the University of Virginia, developed the program in gifted education at the University and is the founder of the Saturday and Summer Enrichment Program. Principal investigator on projects of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented for the past 20 years and principal investigator on four Javits grants, Dr. Callahan has published more than 200 refereed articles and 50 book chapters across a broad range of topics including the areas of identification, program evaluation, gifted females, the development of performance assessments, and curricular and programming options for highly able students.She is a Past-President of The Association for the Gifted and the National Association for Gifted Children and is currently editor of Gifted Child Quarterly.

Maureen Neihart

Maureen Neihart, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical child psychologist with thirty years’ experience counseling high ability children and their families. She is co-editor of the text, The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Children: What do we Know? and a former member of the board of directors of the National Association for Gifted Children. Dr. Neihart serves on the editorial boards of Gifted Child Quarterly, Roeper Review, and Journal of Secondary Gifted Education. She is currently Associate Professor and Head of Psychological Studies at the National Institute of Education in Singapore where her interests include the social and emotional development of gifted children, home and school-based psychological interventions for children at-risk, resilience, and the psychology of high performance. Her most recent book is Teaching gifted children with autism spectrum disorders, published by Prufrock Press.

Invited Speakers

Cathie Harrison

Dr Cathie Harrison is currently Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney. She is the author of the books Giftedness in Early Childhood and Young Gifted Children- Their Search for Complexity and Connection. Cathie has a diverse range of experience within early childhood education as an academic, teacher, advisor to the ABC television program - Play School, and consultant to a number of museum and community projects. Her work has been strongly influenced by the early childhood educational experience in Reggio Emilia, Italy and Scandinavia. 

Lesley Williams

Dr Lesley Williams is an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Western Australia, an education consultant and a company director. Her PhD thesis, which was awarded with Distinction, was awarded the Cameron Prize in Education by The Research Committee of the Faculty of Education of UWA. Dr Williams has teaching experience in primary, education support and tertiary settings, and experience as co-ordinator of a National Curriculum project. She has worked as an Education Support Centre Principal and is a past President of the Western Australian Education Support Principal’s peak body.

Winner of the AAEGT John Geake Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award

Jim Watters

Jim is an Associate Professor in Education at QUT in Brisbane. He has had over 30 years experience in gifted education as a classroom science teacher, university lecturer and researcher, and professional developer. He has taught gifted children from early years through to high school and now teaches preservice students in gifted education. Jim has also supervised post-graduate students in the field whose projects have ranged from identification, psycho-social issues and creativity. He has played a significant role in providing advice to all sectors of education. Jim’s broad interests focus on the processes of learning and motivation in high ability people with particular reference to the learning of science.

Recipient of the AAEGT Eminent Australian Award.

Dr. Jane Jarvis