PhD subject expert
My work sits at the intersection of group relations practice, systems psychodynamic thinking, and applied research into how unconscious processes shape authority, leadership, and learning in organisations.
My formation is interdisciplinary. I hold a PhD in Psychology from UNSW Sydney, an MSc in Organisation Management, and undergraduate degrees in International Studies and Physiotherapy. This cross-disciplinary grounding informs how I read group life: through the lens of object relations and open systems theory, and with attention to embodiment, ritual, and the conditions under which meaning is and is not made.
My group relations practice has developed across multiple institutions and geographies. I have directed and staffed conferences in Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, working within the Tavistock tradition. I serve as Director of the Group Relations Australia annual conference and direct the ECW conference in Italy. Practicing across European and Australian contexts has brought me into contact with different group relations traditions and institutional cultures, each carrying distinct assumptions about authority, leadership, and what learning in groups is ultimately for.
I also bring systems psychodynamic thinking into executive development contexts, working with leaders navigating complexity, transition, and the pull of unconscious organisational dynamics. I serve on the board of Il Nodo Group, a not-for-profit advancing group relations and systemic consultation in Italy. My philosophy is grounded in the belief that groups are primary sites where unconscious life becomes legible, where projections, defences, and desires take social form. I am drawn to working at the boundaries of role and institution, in moments of disruption and transition, and in the intensity of the residential conference as a learning environment.
I am also attentive to what remains undertheorised in the field: the role of the body, contemplative states, and non-rational knowing in group life. I bring these interests as extensions of the tradition's commitment to full-spectrum attention to experience.
I speak English, Italian, and Portuguese.