Annick Janson

I am passionate about developing leadership in the Health & Disability sector. I trained as clinical and an educational psychologist with a special interest in vulnerable families and families raising children with disability.

• Associate, Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research, Victoria University of Wellington
• Inaugural Research Director, NZ Leadership Institute, University of Auckland Business School
• Research Director, Microsoft NZ, PiL.
• Past Co-President, Current Exec. Committee member, New Zealand Association of Positive Psychology (NZAPP)
• Principal Investigator. NZ Leadership Pathway, Royal Society of NZ, Designed the first New Zealand leadership storytelling analysis and web-based dissemination facilitating tacit knowledge learning for upcoming leaders
• Visiting Research Associate, INSEAD
• Visiting Research Associate, Harvard School of Consulting & Clinical Psychology
• Member and contributor, Citizen Network.

My positive psychology research in disability with the NZ Ministries of Education, Health & Social Development led me to author over 50 peer-reviewed publications including for UNESCO and the Human Rights Commission. I use storytelling (www.pictability.org) and the science of wellbeing to develop family and youth leadership. I am a NZ Ministry of Health (Te Pou) Knowledge Translation Fellow for my research on building capacity in the disability sector (www.egl.ac.nz).

Co-founder with Sylvana Mahmic, Plumtree Children Services, a Sydney-based Early Intervention Centre, of ‘Now & Next’, an award winning ground-breaking program. Now & Next facilitates a leadership pipeline to take parents raising young children with disability through a transformative journey to increase outcomes for their children and families. The program trains peer leaders to harness their sector leadership (www.nowandnext.org).

I received a Gallup International Positive Psychology Award for research in Leadership Formative Experiences and represented New Zealand at the Global Leadership Summit, Gallup Leadership Institute, and at the European Commission Disability Service Providers Forum. I have served on Advisory Boards and Steering Committees, such as the Community Public Health Advisory Committee of the Waikato District Health Board and the NZ Tertiary Commission.

I encourage my three children to take up, and design, life opportunities. My lived experience includes coaching my son Yaniv through his leadership journey as an international artist (www.yanivjanson.com).