Dr Chris Skinner
Dr Chris SkinnerChairman of EISA
PhD, MBA, M.Psych, B.Psych, Dip.Ed

Chris Skinner is an Associate Professor and Chair Professional and Personal Development at the Medical School, Notre Dame University where he is responsible for the development and coordination of professional programmes and research. He has extensive qualifications in the fields of education, psychology, and health management and in 2002 completed his doctoral studies. Chris has worked in a wide range of educational and health positions, clinical, educational and managerial capacities. Chris has worked extensively at the national and international levels with seminars and workshops being conducted in New South Wales, Tasmania, Canada, Malaysia, Indonesia and the United Kingdom. Chris became a Fellow Association Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) in 2017, and is currently Regional Director Australia, International Society of Emotional Intelligence (ISEI).  His main research and applied interests are in the link between emotional intelligence and health leadership behaviour and effectiveness, the transition of individuals in the work context and the evaluation and impact of management development programmes.

Dr Nigel Gribble
Dr Nigel GribbleDeputy Chairman
PhD, MBA, B.Sc.(Occupational Therapy)

Nigel Gribble is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Allied Health (Occupational Therapy) at Curtin University in Western Australia. Since 1993, he has worked as an occupational therapist across Australia and in the USA. He completed a PhD in 2019 that focused on the impact of fieldwork placements on the emotional intelligence of occupational therapy, speech pathology, and physiotherapy students. He completed an MBA in 2007 where he discovered the concept of emotional intelligence and has been passionate about the applications of EI in healthcare and business ever since. Nigel has delivered EI training to 100s of participants in business, healthcare, and the higher education sector. His research interests are emotional intelligence, fieldwork placements, simulations, and higher education.

Dr Laurel Collin
Dr Laurel Collin Secretary
PhD, M.Nursing, B. Nursing

Laurel is currently a Clinical Facilitator, sessional lecturer and tutor within the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University Notre Dame Fremantle. Laurel has worked as a nurse in a variety of settings; metropolitan and country WA, Northern Territory, and Zimbabwe. As a researcher, she has worked at the University of Western Australia and the University of Notre Dame. Her interests have always been neuroscience, stress, and the lived experience of the undergraduate student nurse. Since working closely with students across both the clinical and university settings Laurel has become aware of reduced resilience, and increased stress and anxiety, leading to reduced coping in undergraduate students. To understand and address this need, Laurel did a PhD on the enhancement of Emotional Intelligence in undergraduate nursing students.  Her PhD included an educational intervention and new assessment tools aimed at measuring EI in nursing students, based on the Mayer and Salovey Ability Model of EI.

Cindy Cranswick
Cindy CranswickTreasurer
M.Phil, B.Couns, MACA, MCOS

Cindy is a registered Counsellor, Clinical Supervisor, Group Facilitator, Educator and Author. She has a number of years’ experience in Women’s health and wellbeing issues and has a special interest in maternal and paternal PNDA (Perinatal Depression and Anxiety).  Cindy has a professional private practice where she offers clinical supervision for allied health professionals and counselling to individuals, couples and families.  Cindy uses an eclectic approach and is trained in a number of theories including: EFT (Emotion Focused Therapy), ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) and Compassion Focused Therapies.  She has presented her research and findings on Self-compassion at a number of conferences and professional development seminars. Cindy is the author of “Self-compassionate Motherhood”.

Kirsty Johnson
Kirsty JohnsonMarketing
B.Sc. Occupational Therapy (Hons)

Kirsty holds an Honours degree in Bachelor of Science Occupational Therapy from Curtin University, where her interest for emotional intelligence was sparked. She completed her honours thesis on the topic of the importance and use of emotional intelligence in occupational therapy professional practice. Kirsty currently works as an Occupational Therapist in a private practice where she supports children and families to understand their emotions and promote self-regulation. Her passion lies within the link between emotions, movement and the body. This passion has driven Kirsty to pursue further advanced training in Somatic and Dance Movement Therapy. At the core of Kirsty’s practice are principles of compassion, enthusiasm, and delight. She is dedicated to making emotional intelligence a topic that is easily understood and used by individuals of all ages.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA

Ambassadors of the Emotional Intelligence Society of Australia

The Board of the Emotional Intelligence Society of Australia (EISA) has selected Professor Neal Ashkanasy (University of Queensland Business School), Mark Sparvell (Microsoft – Director Marketing Education) and Nicola Schutte (University of New England)  as the society’s Ambassadors.

Neal and Mark provide their perspectives on the importance of emotional intelligence in the 21st century in these videos.

Neal Ashkanasy

University of Queensland Business School

Mark Sparvell

Microsoft – Director Marketing Education

Nicola Schutte

University of New England

Nicola’s research  is in the areas of positive psychology, including a focus on mindfulness, emotional intelligence, curiosity and psychosocial factors related to telomere processes. She teaches topics related to motivation and emotion.

Qualifications: M.A. Arizona State University; Ph.D. Arizona State University