Generation Asia Young Leaders Forum: Engagement Reimagined

Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development and participation, and has played a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country.

Prior to taking up her post, Ms. Wickramanayake was instrumental in creating the movement for civic and political engagement of young people, especially young women in Sri Lanka named “Hashtag Generation”. Previously, she advocated for global youth development on an international level including as the first ever Sri Lankan Youth Delegate to the United Nations and as the youth lead negotiator and member of the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 where she played a critical role in mainstreaming youth in the Post-2015 Process and in the establishment of World Youth Skills Day.

Ros attended Eltham High School in Melbourne’s north east and graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. She later received a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Leo Cussen Institute and was admitted as a Lawyer in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2006.

Ros was admitted as a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2012 and was awarded a Company Directors Course Diploma.

Prior to being elected in November 2014, Ros worked as an Operations Manager, an Electorate Officer and in a range of administrative and office management roles. She has also served as a Councillor, Deputy Mayor, and Mayor on Hume City Council between 2008 and 2012 and as a volunteer solicitor with the Broadmeadows Community Legal Service.

In addition to serving as the Member for Yuroke, Ros was appointed as the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Community Sport and Youth in March 2020.

She has previously served as the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transport, the Parliamentary Secretary for Road Infrastructure and as Government Whip.

Before joining DFAT, she worked in the private and not for profit sectors, and at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 

In 2021 Mercedes was awarded an Australian Leadership Award by the ADC Forum. She was a finalist in the 2019 Women's Agenda Leadership Awards and in 2018 was named by the Australian Financial Review and Qantas as one of Australia's 100 Women of Influence. In 2015 she was recognised by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) as one of Australia's Top 50 Young Social Pioneers. She was previously recognised by the WEF as a Global Shaper, and was a non-resident WSD-Handa Fellow and a member of the Young Leaders Program at the Pacific Forum.

Mercedes currently sits on the Youth Working Group of the Global Diplomatic Forum.

In 2020, Henry also took on the role of Chapter Head in Melbourne to lead the local committee during the peak of the pandemic and lockdowns in Victoria.

In his professional career, Henry has over nine years of experience in corporate advisory and turnaround working at KPMG and McGrathNicol. During this time, Henry consulted for major ASX listed companies and government agencies to implement large scale turnaround and restructuring initiatives. In 2021, Henry accepted a role with Brosa Design, a e-commerce furniture retailer, as Head of Finance.

Elise has worked in Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong, and completed studies in Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Busan, South Korea. She has a wealth of experience engaging with government, private and community sector in these international environments.

Elise was previously deployed to Vietnam to strengthen local capacity to address infectious disease threats with the Government of Vietnam, together with other international agencies. Elise also worked in South Sulawesi, Indonesia engaging with local NGO on building monitoring and evaluation capabilities to measure the success of social development programs in rural Indonesia.

Previously, Elise worked within economic and social policy portfolios in the Queensland State Government. In 2019, Elise was recognised as an ASEAN-Australia Young Leader for her ability to drive issues and opportunities of significance to other young leaders across both Australia and the ASEAN region.

Mr Jadwat has been Australia’s Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation since December 2018. 

Previously, he worked at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as Assistant Secretary, South and South-East Asia, Americas and the Middle East, International Division where he headed the Taskforce for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit 2018.

A career DFAT officer, Mr Jadwat has served in Cairo, Riyadh, Tehran and Kuala Lumpur.  In Canberra, Mr Jadwat has held a range of positions including Director, ASEAN and East Asia Summit Section, and roles in India and South Asia Section and Middle East Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

He holds Bachelor of Economics (Social Science) and Bachelor of Laws Honours degrees from the University of Sydney.

She’s a TEDx speaker, Raisina Young Fellow and AIYD Alumna and Steering Committee member.

Mitali is passionate about leading the conversation on financial equality for women and including them in conversations that impact their health, opportunities and lives.

She is former Markets & News Editor at CNBC TV18. Over the last 18 years, she has worked with the TV18 Network, The TV Today group, Doordarshan (India’s National Broadcaster), Editorji & BBC World

She has also co- founded platforms addressing core socio-economic issues, like MoneyMile & Samarthan.

A gold medalist in Television Journalism from IIMC, Delhi and a gold medalist in Political Science, Mitali brings a unique perspective to her interaction connects instantly with audiences & viewers alike.

She was a delegate of the 36th Australia-Indonesia Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP) to Bengkulu, Sumatra and is a graduate of Linguistics and Indonesian Studies from Monash University. Clarice is passionate about the Australia-Indonesia relationship and believes that AIYA plays a great role in its development at a grassroots level.

Prior to assuming her role, Deborah served in the Education and People-to-People pillars of the organisation, and as the Delegates Director for the 10th Australia-China Emerging Leaders Summit. Through these positions, she has led initiatives to facilitate people-to-people connections across the bilateral relationship, and develop the cultural capabilities of emerging leaders.

Deborah holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Melbourne, where she was awarded the W. T. Mollison Scholarship in Modern Languages. She has studied Mandarin at Peking University, and is currently a Master of Teaching (Secondary) candidate, with a strong professional interest in the development of 'Asia literacy' amongst students and educators.

In 2019, Cameron studied at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and the National University of Singapore as the New Colombo Plan ASEAN Fellow.

Cameron volunteers as the CEO (and Co-Founder) of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership – the leading organisation for youth partnership between ASEAN and Australia. He also is a Non-Executive Board Member at Curious Legends – a theatre company based in his hometown, Newcastle. In 2020, Cameron sat on ASEAN Australia Education Dialogue Advisory Committee and represented Australian young people at the Y20.

Previously, Cameron worked as a Strategic Communications Officer in the COVID-19 Response Team at the ANU. Before working at the ANU, Cameron interned at the Australian Mission to ASEAN, Migrant Care, Thales and the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Kana also works as part of the Global Engagement team at Monash University and develops successful international collaboration in the higher education sector. She has extensive experience in facilitating high-level international engagement at Monash University with notable delegations including the Education Minister from India, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry from Japan, the President of the C9 universities and many senior figures from high ranking universities across the globe. This work enables Monash to build mutually beneficial agreements through joint Bachelor/Masters/PhD programs, research collaboration, and student and researcher exchanges. By providing strategic advice to senior staff across faculties on potential opportunities and risks, Kana facilitates the best possible outcomes for engagement. This advice, and Kana’s detailed organisational knowledge, enhances the value of existing and emerging connections by incorporating other Monash faculties and projects that may be relevant for global partners.

Prior to joining Monash, Kana worked for three years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan where she was involved in a number of significant diplomatic events including the planning and delivery of Prime Minister Abe's visit to Sydney, APEC in Philippines and ASEM in Mongolia.

Impactio was incubated through the WWF network's first impact acceleration program, Panda Labs, through which Anorah works with diverse players to formulate innovative solutions for global impact that delivers for people, the planet, and the bottom line. She started her career at PwC with a focus on Financial Services. Since then she has gone on to be a finalist at several hackathons focused on tech for social and environmental impact. In 2017, she was one of the winners of the WWF Future Cities Hackathon and was invited to work for WWF.

Prior to politics, Dave enjoyed an extensive and distinguished career as an Australian diplomat, with service in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and the United States. Dave served with the Australian-led peacekeeping force in Bougainville in 2000, for which he was awarded the Australian Service Medal. From 2001 to 2003 Dave was stationed in Papua New Guinea, helping to negotiate an end to the civil war in Bougainville. On his return to Australia, he worked as the legal and multilateral adviser to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

From 2006 to 2009, Dave served as the political counselor at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC, where he worked to coordinate and align policies with the US Administration on important challenges in East Asia and the Middle East.

From 2010 to 2012, Dave headed the International Division in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra, helping spearhead the Prime Minister’s diplomatic effort across the breadth of Australian interests.

From 2013 to 2017, Dave served as Australia’s Ambassador to Israel, helping strengthen the relationship in the defence and technology sectors and ensuring strong Australian support for Israel in international forums.

Dave joined the private sector following his return from Israel, working in advisory roles for a number of Australian and Israeli tech companies. He chaired Israeli technology company Shekel Brainweigh for its successful IPO on the Australian stock exchange.

Dave did his undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, where he graduated with first-class honours in Law. He also has a Master of Arts from Cambridge and a Master of Arts (International Relations) from Deakin University.

Amanda was previously Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Defence Personnel.

Amanda was educated at state schools in Adelaide and was a volunteer swimming instructor and surf life saver.

During her university studies, Amanda worked as a sales assistant and developed a strong interest in workplace fairness. Amanda followed this passion to work in the trade union movement, both as a union representative and an occupational health and safety trainer.

Amanda graduated with a Bachelor of Psychology Honours from Flinders University and a Masters Degree in Psychology from Adelaide University. After graduating, Amanda practised as a psychologist working with General Practitioners in the delivery of mental health care to the community.

Fran holds a Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education, is a certified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory and a qualified trainer for the Global Competence Certificate. Fran’s earlier consulting and teaching work focussed on the design and delivery of accredited training for trainers and assessors and she recently held the role of CEO for AFS Intercultural Programs Australia.

Fran’s love of learning fuels her work and personal life.  Learning through immersion in new cultures, both at home and abroad stimulates her natural curiosity and interest in people to people connections.

Marcela led the development of multiple intercultural learning curricula to enhance study abroad experiences including the AFS Global Competence Certificate, a blended learning program for 18+ study abroad participants.

Over the last few years Marcela has been an advocate for Global Citizenship education organising and speaking at several conferences around the world. She is a former faculty at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication and is also a certified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory.