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Keiko Nishiyama specialises in Japanese language education for adult learners and has been teaching in Sydney since 2010. She currently designs and provides interactive classes, based on a variety of learning goals called “can-do” goals, helping to create an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere for learners to improve their communication skills in Japanese.

After becoming qualified as a Japanese teacher in 2010, Keiko continued her professional development through her participation in the “Program of Designing Curriculum for the Teachers of the JF Japanese Language Courses” in 2011, 2013 and 2014 at the Japan Foundation Japanese-Language Institute, Urawa in Japan. She completed her Advanced Training Program there in 2016.

Keiko has Masters degree in European Linguistics from the University of Freiburg (Germany) and in Modern Literature from the University of Grenoble III (France).

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Richard Niu has been teaching the Chinese Martial Arts course at the University of Sydney Confucius Institute since August 2011. Richard Niu was born in Hebei province, China in 1984. Richard began martial arts training at 6 years old. For many years, he has trained with the best martial arts teachers in China. Richard is a multi-awards winning Chinese martial arts master who has won numerous awards in international martial arts competitions between 2006 and 2009, including 2006 “Kung Fu Star” China National TV Competition, 2006 Macau Chinese Martial Arts International Competition, 2007 International Martial Arts Competition and 2009 Hong Kong International Kung Fu Competition.

In 2009, Richard graduated from the Hebei Normal University with a Master degree in Chinese Martial Arts Teaching. Richard believes that martial arts is a state of mind, people can improve their fitness and self-defence ability through learning kung fu movements and self-defence techniques.

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Gerry has taught meteorology and written about meteorology. As an ocean racing sailor he has sailed over 20,000 nautical miles, including one Sydney to Hobart and two Lord Howe Island races as well as a cruise to New Zealand via Lord Howe Island. But not including over 25,000 nautical miles at sea on the HMAS Melbourne. His sailing experiences include several cyclones and typhoons and endless calms. For many years he has sailed on Sydney Harbour in yachts ranging from Hood 23s to 12 meter boats, including two seasons on Gretel 2.

Gerry lectured at Qantas as an operations instructor on the B707 and had his own school teaching pilot theory for the Department of Aviation exams, including meteorology, to senior commercial pilot standard. Since 2003 he has tutored on the annual summer school at UNSW.

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Ali Asghar Noorani. Tutor of CCE

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Alex Norman is a sessional lecturer and tutor at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. He completed his doctorate at the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney in 2009 with a thesis examining the intersection of travel and secular spiritual practice by contemporary Westerners. His book Spiritual Tourism will be released by Continuum in 2011. He is co-Editor of the journal Literature & Aesthetics, and Vice-President of the Sydney Society for Literature and Aesthetics. His research interests include tourism and religion, new religious movements, food, and the practice of secular spirituality in the everyday. He hopes to make tourism a more thoroughly examined subject in the study of religion.

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I teach psychology at the University of Western Sydney, specialising in critical thinking, the history and philosophy of scientific psychology, personality theories and motivation/emotion.

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Carmen Nunes. Tutor of CCE

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Mimi Nussbaum. Tutor of CCE

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In 2009 Patricia O’Brien (PhD) returned to Australia from Trinity College Dublin to take up the position of Chair in Disability Studies and Director, Centre for Disability Studies, University of Sydney. At Trinity College Patricia was the Foundation Director, National Institute for Intellectual Disability where her work supported a mission of Inclusion through Education, Research and Advocacy. She attracted several research and development grants that focused on inclusive research where people with disabilities and family members were involved in developing and participating in research that they had ownership over. Prior to Ireland Patricia worked at the University of Auckland where she taught both graduate and post graduate courses relevant for professionals working in the area of human services and special education. Patricia has co-edited two texts that promote disability services as value driven and person centred organisations. Patricia’s teaching and research interests cover advocacy, deinstitutionalisation, community participation, transition, inclusion, as well as the interface between offenders with intellectual disabilities and the criminal justice system. Her interest in community participation arose from leading a team in New Zealand to relocate people with intellectual disabilities from institutional settings to community based residences. Two major projects that she has recently been involved in Ireland have respectively seen young people with intellectual disabilities gaining further education within university settings as well as people with intellectual disabilities becoming co-researchers within a National Survey of Peoples' Needs.

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John O’Byrne is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Academic Programs in Physics at the University of Sydney. He has worked in Australia and the US exploring his interests in how to achieve high resolution using ground-based optical telescopes, most recently in the emerging field of Astrophotonics. He is also the Secretary of the Astronomical Society of Australia, the society of professional astronomers in Australia.