People

Children & Leadership Futures brings together a team of researchers based in Management, with expertise in leadership studies, organisational behaviour, inclusion, and participatory, child-centred research.

Children are at the heart of this work—not just as subjects, but as collaborators whose perspectives shape what we study, how we study it, and why it matters.

So far, our research has focused on how children conceptualise leadership—what they see, imagine, and believe about who leads and why. In 2026, with new funding, the project takes an exciting step forward. We will use participatory action research (PAR) to work with children in designing and testing inclusive leadership education—moving from insight to action, and from observation to co-creation.

While grounded in Management at the Deakin Business School, the initiative is actively seeking interdisciplinarity and global collaboration and is excited to be building emerging connections across education, psychology, media, and the arts.

Our work is supported by educators, researchers, artists, families, organisations and community partners—and inspired every day by the children who walk alongside us.

Meet the team—and the future generation shaping what leadership can become.

Interested in getting involved? We’d love to hear from you, please contact us.

Children’s Committee (Launching mid 2026)

Children’s Committee (Launching mid 2026)

The Children’s Committee is a group of young people aged 5–12 who will play an active role in shaping Children & Leadership Futures. As co-researchers, co-designers, and advisors, these children will contribute their ideas, questions, and lived experiences to help guide the research—informing what we explore, how we work, and how findings are interpreted.

Launching as part of the 2026 research program, the Committee will function as an intergenerational space for inquiry, reflection, and dialogue on leadership, inclusion, and ethical practice. Children will work alongside researchers, educators, and community members in a supported, age-appropriate and ethically approved process.

Deakin Team

Dr Claudia Escobar Vega (Chief Investigator)
Lecturer, Arts & Cultural Management — Deakin Business School

Claudia is an academic and creative practitioner with a PhD in leadership. Her research focuses on how children and adolescents form ideas about leadership (Implicit Leadership Theories) and on practical strategies to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in future generations. She has 20+ years’ experience consulting and co-creating programs with children and young people in the arts sector, schools and in community settings. Her recent publications include work in Psychological Review, the Journal of Constructivist Psychology, Journal of Management & Organization. She has a long track record in the arts and education sector (management, practice and governance) building partnerships across organisations and communities, delivering professional development for educators, and has featured in national media.

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Dr John Molineux
Senior Lecturer Human Resource Management — Deakin Business School

John is a Senior Lecturer in Management at Deakin Business School with extensive experience spanning academia and industry. Prior to joining Deakin, he spent over 30 years in senior human resource management roles, bringing strong applied expertise to his teaching and research in HRM, leadership, and organisational change.

His research focuses on inclusive leadership, organisational learning, wellbeing, and participatory action research, with a strong record of industry-funded projects. John is a long-time collaborator on the Children & Leadership Futures program, contributing methodological depth and systems insight. He has supervised multiple doctoral candidates to completion and is actively involved in professional and scholarly bodies, including the Australian Human Resources Institute and the Action Learning and Action Research Association.

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Dr Fannie Wu
Senior Lecturer, Management/Organisational Behaviour — Deakin Business School

Fannie is a Senior Lecturer in Management at Deakin Business School. She holds a PhD in Management (Organisational Behaviour) and brings strong expertise in leadership diversity, minority experiences at work, participatory methodologies, and advanced data analysis.

Fannie’s research examines how individuals from underrepresented backgrounds achieve effectiveness, career success, and wellbeing, with publications in leading journals including Academy of Management Annals and The Leadership Quarterly. She has secured significant competitive research funding and plays a strategic role in connecting Children & Leadership Futures to broader leadership futures research, industry engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Project involvement: FRGS, 2026.

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Professor Lucy Taksa
Professor, Management — Deakin Business School

Professor Lucy Taksa is a Professor at Deakin Business School and Deputy Director of the Centre for Refugee Employment, Advocacy, Training & Education (CREATE). She is a leading multidisciplinary scholar whose work spans employment relations, management, gender, cultural and age diversity, and the past, present, and future of work. Her research focuses on workplace equity, institutional change, migrant and refugee employment, representations of leadership, and diversity management, with a strong commitment to research that advances the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Lucy brings extensive leadership, governance, and research strategy experience across higher education, government, and the not-for-profit sector. She has held senior academic leadership roles at UNSW and Macquarie University, served on numerous national and international advisory boards, and is a former member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts. A highly experienced grant assessor and recipient of multiple ARC grants, she is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Industrial Relations. Within Children & Leadership Futures, Lucy provides strategic policy insight, and cross-sector perspective to strengthen the initiative’s impact and alignment with equity-driven research and practice.

Project involvement: FRGS, 2026.

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Collaborators

Professor Jon Billsberry
Adjunct Professor, Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre — La Trobe University
Honorary Research Fellow, Eva Burrows College — University of Divinity  

Expert Advisor

Professor Jon Billsberry is a leading international scholar in implicit leadership theories, organisational behaviour, and management education. His research focuses on person–environment fit and misfit, socially constructed approaches to leadership, and how people make sense of work and organisational life. He brings deep theoretical and methodological expertise to Children & Leadership Futures and has collaborated closely with Claudia on multiple studies examining children’s leadership perceptions.

Jon is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK), the British Academy of Management, and the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Management Education and Chair of the Academy of Management’s Management Education and Development Division, and is a recipient of ANZAM’s Management Educator of the Year Award. His research is widely published in leading international journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Psychological Review, and Academy of Management Learning & Education, and he is highly regarded as a PhD supervisor and mentor in leadership and management research.

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