1230 – 13:15

Welcome Lunch

13:15 – 14:00

Session 1 – Program overview and getting to know your mentors

14:00 – 15:30

Session 2 – Values Workshop

15:30 – 16:15

Afternoon tea and Session 3 – Small group discussions with mentors

16:15 – 17:30

Session 4 - Leadership

18:15

Dinner

7:00 – 8:00

Informal walk/swim and talk

9:00 – 10:30

Session 5 – Communication

10:30 – 11:00

Morning Tea

11:00 – 12:30

Session 6 – Navigating challenges and tools for resilience and wellbeing

12:30 – 13:15

Lunch

13:15 – 14:45

Session 7 – Econ Café – discussion of contemporary economic issues

14:45 – 16:15

Afternoon tea + Session 8 - Small group discussions with mentors

16:15 – 18:30

Free Time

1830

Dinner

7:00 – 8:00

Informal walk/swim and talk

9:00 – 10:15

Session 9 – Panel Discussion - Career tips and tricks

10:15 – 11:15

Session 10 – Small group discussion with mentors over morning tea

11:15 – 11:45

Session 11 – Retreat Closing Session

11:45

Group photo

12:00 – 12:45

Lunch

12:45

Depart for airport  (arrive at airport by 13:30)

Amy Auster
The Policy Institute

Amy is the inaugural CEO of the Policy Institute of Australia. An economics and finance professional by training, Amy combines expertise in applied quantitative analysis with senior executive experience in the public and private sectors to advocate for meaningful change that will advance Australia’s prosperity.

Prior to leading the Policy Institute, Amy was Partner and Chief Economist at PwC (Scyne Advisory) and previously served as as CEO, Infrastructure and Project Financing Agency; Chief Adviser, Commonwealth Treasury; and Deputy Secretary at the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. Before joining the public service, Amy worked as a senior executive and subject matter expert at ANZ Banking Group in the International and Institutional Division where her roles included Global Head of Client Engagement, Head of Markets Strategy and Head of International Economics. She is a non-exective Director of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Victorian Trust for Nature, a member of the Advisory Board to the APEC Study Centre at RMIT and a Research Fellow at Monash University Business School.

Associate Professor Radhika Lahiri
QUT

Radhika is an economist with a background spanning both policy research and higher education. Before joining academia, she worked in leading policy institutes in New Delhi, including the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and the National Council of Applied Economic Research.

Since 2001, Radhika has been part of the School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology where she has held leadership roles. She has led major reforms in the economics program, developed new units, and was recognised with a Vice Chancellor’s Performance Award for her contributions to teaching and student learning. She is currently Director of Research Training in the Faculty of Business and Law overseeing the doctoral and higher degree research program and supporting the next generation of researchers. She has also contributed to thought leadership in the profession through editorial roles with Economic Papers and Economic Analysis and Policy. Her research spans the intersection of development economics and macroeconomics, and she has published extensively in several leading international journals

Radhika has been closely involved with the Women in Economics Network as Executive Director of the Queensland Branch since 2018, leading initiatives to support and connect women economists. She is passionate about mentoring and about creating inclusive pathways for women and early-career economists to thrive in the profession.

Professor Emily Lancsar
Chief Health Economist
Department of Health and Aged Care

Emily commenced as the Chief Health Economist in the Department of Health and Aged Care in April 2024. 

Prior to this, Emily spent 25 years in academia, most recently as Head of the Department of Health Economics Wellbeing and Society at the ANU, and from 2020-2022 served as Associate Dean (Policy and Practice) in the College of Health and Medicine, where she remains a Professor.  Emily has also held academic appointments at Monash University (where she remains an Adjunct Professor), the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK, the University of Sydney and University of Technology, Sydney. 

Emily’s appointment represents a return to the Australian Public Service and the Department of Health where she began her career as a cadet Health Economist.

Emily holds a PhD, Masters and Bachelors degrees in Economics, a Postgrad Dip in Health Economics and Evaluation and a Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies).

Diana Mousina
Deputy Chief Economist,
AMP

Diana joined AMP in 2016 within the AMP Investments team. Diana’s responsibilities include providing global economic and macro investment analysis to retail, institutional and internal customers through her regular reports and presentations. Diana regularly presents AMP’s macro views across various media outlets. Diana also contributes to the asset allocation decisions of the AMP multi-asset funds.

Previously, Diana worked at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia as an economist. Diana holds a Bachelor of Commerce/Economics and has a Master of Finance (in funds management), both from the University of New South Wales.
Diana is a believer that economics should and can be understood by everyone, because it improves your financial literacy. And being more financially literate helps you to build your wealth. Diana is helping to build Australian financial literacy through her Econosights videos alongside her team, which explain economic concepts in short, digestible forms that are humorous and easy to understand.

Dr Alicia Mollaun
Senior Economic Analyst
Australian Government

Alicia has over 19 years of experience in domestic and international public policy making, including in the federal government and as a consultant.

She has worked at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Equity Economics and Development Partners, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (including as a diplomat in New Delhi), the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, and at the Australian National University. Alicia has worked and studied in India, Pakistan, Kenya, France, and the United States.

Alicia holds a PhD in Public Policy from the ANU. Her research examined elite perceptions of US foreign aid to Pakistan. She also has a Master of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies from the ANU, a Master of International Economics and Finance from the University of Queensland.

When not chasing after 3 young sons, Alicia loves to read and drink coffee in the sun (preferably all at the same time!) and is a meditation teacher and mindfulness mentor.

Marg Thomas
First Assistant Secretary
Department of Treasury

Marg is the First Assistant Secretary of the First Nations and Commonwealth-State Division in the Commonwealth Treasury. The Division’s responsibilities include administering payments to the states and territories and supporting the development of a First Nations Economic Partnership.

Marg joined Treasury in 2021 following several years in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She developed the first Women’s Budget Statement and worked on a broad range of social policy issues including welfare, persistent disadvantage, schools, First Nations policy, and early education and care.
Marg has over 20 years’ experience in the Australian Public Service, which has included work on immigration and humanitarian policy, child protection policy and health programs. Prior to joining the public service, Marg worked in the private sector and academia. She holds degrees in Arts and Asian Studies from the Australian National University. 

Dr Katherine Trebeck
Program Director - Economy
The Next Economy / CPD 

Katherine is a political economist, writer and advocate for economic system change. Her roles include writer-at-large and co-director of the Compassion in Financial Services Hub at the University of Edinburgh, Economic Change Lead at The Next Economy, and Strategic Advisor to the Centre for Policy Development. She co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) and also WEAll Scotland, its Scottish hub.

Katherine instigated the group of Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) – comprising Scotland, New Zealand, Finland, Wales, Iceland, and Canada. She is a Distinguished Vistor at ANU’s Planetary Health Equity Hothouse, was 2024 thinker-in-residence at the Australian Health Promotion Association, is a New Economics Senior Fellow at the The Zoe Institute, and is a Fellow of The Post Growth Institute.

She is a member of the Club of Rome and sits on the boards of Hands Across Canberra, the Wellbeing Economy Lab Denmark, and the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity