Associate Professor Kate Williams is a Principal Research Fellow [ARC DECRA funded] and Associate Professor in the School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and intervention leader of the QUT Childhood Adversity Research Program. Her research focusses on children’s development of self-regulation and the parenting, educational, and intervention contexts that support such, along with the developmental outcomes associated with children’s self-regulatory functioning. This includes children’s regulation of sleep, attention, emotion, and behavior. Kate primarily uses structural equation modeling and large longitudinal datasets such as the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to achieve her research aims. Kate is also an interventionist, having designed and tested several early childhood and parenting interventions. In late 2019 Kate was awarded the only ARC DECRA fellow for Education in that year. In this project she is currently leading a randomized control trial of a group self-regulation intervention for kindergartens in disadvantaged communities. Kate has used her background as a pediatric Registered Music Therapist to design the intervention that capitalizes on the neuropsychological benefits of rhythmic movement to stimulate outcomes. Kate has extensive project expansion management skills having taken a small Federally funded early intervention program from a South-East Queensland to National expansion as National Director for a not for profit organisation in 2005.View Kate’s publications here.
Rebecca Eager is one of Australia’s leading Neurologic Music Therapists (NMT). She has a Master of Music Therapy degree and advanced fellowship NMT training. Over the past 10 years Rebecca has worked with many and varied families through her private practice NMTSB (Neurologic Music Therapy Services of Brisbane) specialising in the area of autism. Rebecca previously lectured in music therapy at the university level and continues to run professional development workshops and provide professional consultation to colleagues. With a performance musician background Rebecca created and produced the majority of the music in the RAMSR program. She has been involved in the design and delivery of RAMSR since 2016 and is currently a teacher coach for RAMSR.
Dr Sally Savage is trained as an early years’ teacher, and has had extensive experience in teaching in a variety of early years settings both in Australia and the UK, including kindergartens, long day care, primary school, and home-based early intervention, and more recently in the university sector. Sally has always had a keen interest in singing and has performed in musical theatre, opera and choirs. In 2004, she combined her love of music and teaching to establish her own music teaching business for children under five with their caregiver which ran for 12 years. She has facilitated several music workshops for early childhood educators. Sally has recently completed a PhD with a focus on musical mothering, specifically how involvement in music influences women’s mothering practices. She was involved in the initial RAMSR pilot study in 2016 and has continued to work as part of the RAMSR team in redesigning the program and providing workshops in Queensland and Victoria. Sally is currently a casual RA and sessional academic for QUT, currently working as a teacher coach in RAMSR.
Cathy Nielson first trained in research methodology with Kate as an undergraduate Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) student. Since graduating and registering as a teacher Cathy has undertaken supply work in primary schools and has been Kate’s senior research assistant across a number of projects, including RAMSR. In RAMSR Cathy supports all administrative aspects, contributes to early childhood perspectives on teacher training, and manages the data collection team.
Laura Bentley recently completed her undergraduate degree in Psychological Science (Hons) at the University of Queensland. Undertaking this degree provided Laura with a wide range of skills including research design and experience in statistical computations. In the last year of the degree Laura conducted her own research as part of her honours thesis and the results from this research are currently under review for publication. Whilst completing her undergraduate degree Laura worked as a research assistant in the Faculty of Education, QUT and had the opportunity to work on a number of projects centred around fostering better learning outcomes in young children. In this role she was able to develop her research skills in a supported and encouraging environment, which ultimately sparked her passion for Early Childhood research, leading her to join the RAMSR team as a PhD candidate.
Anne Flood is a Registered Music Therapist and an Early Childhood Teacher. Anne has been using RAMSR since its inception within primary schools, community hubs and private practice. Anne is currently working in “Musicability”, her private practice and is a music specialist teacher at St Elizabeth’s Catholic Primary School. Anne is a Neurologic Music Therapy Fellow and the Chair of Education for Australian Music Therapy Association. She is a proud teacher and music therapist who enjoys helping children learn to regulate using rhythm and movement.
Carlin McClellan is a change‐maker at the intersection of music, health and technology. As a Registered Music Therapist, Educator and App Developer, he is passionate about supporting children to thrive using engaging, evidence‐based approaches. Carlin is excited to be part of the RAMSR team where he works with Early Childhood Practitioners to implement the RAMSR program. Carlin believes that all young people, regardless of their circumstances should have the opportunity to develop their social, emotional and self‐regulation skills.
Emma Nainby has just completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at QUT. As a musician Emma regularly performs at QPAC as a QUT ceremonies musician and has worked and performed internationally with Grammy Award winning composers. Emma has seen first-hand the positive effects of music while working with those with complex needs within the NDIS system and has previously worked as a support worker for people with physical and intellectual disabilities since 2011. After the completion on her bachelor’s degree, Emma is looking at completing a Master of Music Therapy.
Laura Murray is currently training to deliver workshops in Victoria.
Veronica (Ronnie) Pederson is currently training to deliver workshops in Victoria.