Melanie is a registered nurse, specialising in Intensive Care. She is an associate professor and the national academic lead for specialised learning environments and simulation at Australian Catholic University. She also holds an adjunct associate professor role with Curtin University. Since 2011, she has focused on designing and delivering simulation programs. Melanie has held such positions such as the Director of Simulation in a large health service and was previously Chair of the national healthcare simulation body, the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH). Melanie has undertaken an international fellowship in simulation with the Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, USA. Melanie completed her PhD through the School of Psychology at University of Queensland, where she explored how healthcare professionals receive messages and how communication can be enhanced to improve interprofessional communication such as speaking up and feedback conversations, and ultimately patient safety.

Dr. Kerry Reid Searl is the Professor of Simulation and Innovation at the University of Tasmania, an Emeritus Professor at CQUniversity and an Adjunct Professor at Monash University. Kerry has been involved in tertiary education for 35 years with a focus on innovation. She has developed two simulation techniques termed Mask-Ed™ and Pup-Ed™. These simulation teaching techniques focus on patient centred care and allow learners to experience humanistic and realistic simulation experiences whilst suspended in disbelief. The techniques are now used across the world. Kerry has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards and received a member of the order of Australia for her contribution to nursing education. Kerry is well published in international journals for her work. She has delivered an extensive number of keynote and or invited speaker presentations globally and has been the principal author, as well co-author, of several nursing textbooks.

Associate Professor Stephen Guinea is the Associate Dean, Learning, Teaching and Professional Experience at Australian Catholic University, Faculty of Health Sciences and Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Technology, Sydney. For more than 20 years Steve has been a leader in embedding innovative approaches to healthcare simulation across multiple undergraduate health professional programs. He is well published internationally in the areas of simulation design, clinical reasoning, patient safety simulation and culturally safe simulation. He is an Editorial Board member of Clinical Simulation in Nursing. More recently, Steve has been leading the embedding of digital health in pre-registration health professional degrees comprising academic development and technologies for the teaching of digital health to students at ACU. He is an executive member of the Australian Council of Senior Academic Leaders in Digital Health and co-Chair of the Council’s Education and Workforce Committee.