Practice Leadership and Research Reference Group

We are delighted to announce the formation of a new group of researchers and practice leaders with established links to our organisation, who have agreed to share their experiences and expertise to help shape practice and future policy, in community volunteering in Melbourne’s west.

Introducing the four inaugural members of the Practice Leadership and Research Reference Group:

Dr Danielle Hitch

Danielle is a Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at Deakin University, and Allied Health Research and Translation Lead at Western Health. She qualified as an occupational therapist from LaTrobe University in 1998 and has worked in both Australia and the United Kingdom.

During her clinical career, Danielle has worked in a range of mental health settings, and also in private practice. Her research interests include mental health and wellbeing, occupation and occupational therapy, knowledge translation and implementation science, and more recently, Long COVID.

Ash Youkyoung Lee

Ash is a Community Development professional with expertise in strength-based community development and program & partnership development. She has worked in various roles within the Community Development sector: local Neighbourhood Houses (also known as community centres), a Volunteer Resource Centre that serves a large region, (Volunteer West), and with local governments. She enjoys using a variety of approaches to collect and process qualitative and quantitative data to improve her practice.

Ash completed a Master's Degree in Development Studies with a focus on participatory community development, and Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology, where she practiced participatory observation.

Ash is a current board member at Volunteering Victoria. Her interests are in supporting small organisations to run inclusive volunteering programs.

Paul Muller, CPD.

Prior to co-founding the Institute of Project Management, Paul enjoyed 15 years of senior management experience across Australia, Asia and Europe in a wide range of project-driven businesses. He currently advises a diverse community of public, private and not-for-profit organisations on management issues relating to strategy, risk, projects, operations, marketing and people.
In the early 2000’s, Paul was engaged at the Australian Innovation Research Centre as a PhD scholar, extending his postgraduate qualifications in International Sports Management and Law. A published author, he has pioneered new approaches to research in volunteering, sport and the creative industries, and has presented his unique perspective on value as a keynote speaker at a number of international conferences and events.

Paul has a particular interest in challenging institutional assumptions and improving the quality of executive decision making and is excited now to be mentoring and inspiring the next generation of creative and critical thinkers.

Tracey O’Neill

Tracey O’Neill, CVA has been a leader of volunteer engagement since 2001 and is currently the Senior Manager of Volunteer Engagement at the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, a social justice organisation that works to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia. She spent one term as a board member of the Australasian Association for Managers of Volunteers (AAMoV) and was a member of the Victorian Volunteer Strategy Taskforce (Australia).

Tracey is proud to be Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) and a 2020 Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (Al!ve) Exemplary Leader award recipient. She has been a co-editor of the Voices section of the online journal Engage: the global voice for leaders of volunteer engagement since 2019.

Dr Mario Peucker

Mario Peucker (PhD) is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities at Victoria University and an executive member of the international consortium CRIS, the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies. He has been conducting qualitative and quantitative research on civic and political engagement, inclusion-exclusion dynamics in pluralistic societies and radical political movements since 2003, both in Europe and Australia.

Mario is particularly interested in ethno-religious community activism, including volunteering, and has recently co-edited the book Muslim Volunteering in the West:  Between Islamic Ethos and Citizenship (2020, together with M. Kayikci).

Mario is also an active member of the Research Working Group, established by Volunteering Australia to support the development of a new National Strategy for Volunteering.