MEET THE AUTHORS
Dara Simkin is Australia's leading voice in play at work and the founder of Culture Hero, a learning experience design consultancy specialising in evidence‑based play interventions that strengthen adaptability, collaboration and human capability in an era defined by rapid technological change.
She is an expert facilitator and keynote speaker with more than a decade of experience designing experiential learning for organisations across technology, finance, healthcare, retail and the public sector. Through applied research with RMIT University’s Behavioural Business Lab on Playful Work Design, she has demonstrated measurable gains in engagement, belonging and learning adaptability in enterprise settings.
Her work has been shaped by collaborations with pioneers such as Dr Stuart Brown of the National Institute for Play, IDEO’s Play Lab, and a global toy foundation—helping advance recognition that play is not frivolous but a core mechanism for resilience, creativity, and adaptive thinking.
Grounded in neuroscience, behavioural psychology and applied improvisation, Dara helps teams navigate escalating technological pressure by building cultures rooted in curiosity, experimentation and psychological safety.
Now based in Melbourne, after moving from the United States at 25, she brings humour, clarity and rigorous science to the work of building cultures where humans can actually be human.
DARA SIMKIN FOUNDER, CULTURE HERO
TĀNE HUNTER
CO-FOUNDER,
FUTURE CRUNCH
Tāne Hunter is a systems scientist and founder of Future Crunch—a thought-leadership and research organization that explores the frontiers of science and technology to foster intelligent optimism about the future. A former cancer researcher and bioinformatician, he traded the lab bench for a broader canvas, spending 15 years helping individuals and organizations navigate exponential change.
With a Master's in Bioinformatics from the University of Melbourne, he worked at the Royal Children's Hospital diagnosing rare genetic diseases and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre using AI to improve cancer treatments. Through more than 500 keynotes across six continents, he has become one of Australia's most compelling science communicators—with a front-row seat watching CRISPR leap from research papers to clinical reality, AI evolve from theory to reshaping entire industries and renewable energy flip from fringe to mainstream.
He doesn't predict a specific future; he studies the patterns of change so individuals and organizations can navigate uncertainty with clarity instead of fear. His work shows that solving our biggest challenges isn't just about better technology—it's about better choices at the intersection of human ingenuity, collaboration and the tools we build. Based in Melbourne, he brings scientific rigour and engaging storytelling to help people make sense of rapid change with intelligence, curiosity and evidence-based optimism. He is a former U.S. mountain biking champion and an avid sailor.
