Biographies of the congress speakers, symposia chairs, and workshop trainers
Dr Katie Crabtree is a Chartered Coaching Psychologist, Master Coach (EMCC), Coaching Supervisor (RAPPS & ESIA) and founder of the Academy of Coaching Psychology (AOCP). Her research and published work focuses on the development of evidence-based coaching interventions to enhance wellbeing and cognitive flexibility. Katie is an Associate Fellow of the BPS and Professional Fellow of the Institute of Coaching, and is currently leading the development of accredited programmes in Positive Psychology Coaching and Coaching Supervision.
Dr Yi-Ling Lai is a Lecturer of HRM and Organisational Behaviour at the University of Southampton. Yi-Ling also had several years of professional experience in a global talent management consulting firm before her academic research career. Yi-Ling has received the British Psychological Society (BPS) President’s Award 2024, which recognises her efforts in producing a body of outstanding research and several paper awards since 2020.
Dr Anna-Rosa le Roux is a registered Industrial/Organisational Psychologist (HPCSA) with postgraduate qualifications in Psychology and a DPhil in Leadership, Performance, and Change. With a career spanning corporate leadership, consulting, coaching, and academia, she embodies a scientific-practitioner approach to addressing complex organisational challenges. Anna-Rosa’s work is rooted in an organisational development philosophy, emphasizing systemic, transformative growth. Her expertise lies in delivering projects in culture, leadership, well-being, and sustainable performance in an era of rapid change. She has contributed to academic books, presented at international conferences, and delivered impactful consulting assignments across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East for corporate, government, and non-profit sectors.
Anna-Rosa has held senior roles, including Head of Organisational Effectiveness at Woolworths Financial Services and Head of Talent Management for Gold Fields’ Africa region. She has also served on the executive committees of professional bodies such as SIOPSA and ACMP Africa and is an honorary Vice President and Fellow of the International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP). She has recently been appointed as international advisor to the ISCP Faculty of Climate Change and Coaching Psychology.
Currently, Anna-Rosa collaborates with various thought leaders to deliver solutions for creating people-first organisations for sustainable impact and profit
Dr Tia Moin PhD is a Chartered Coaching Psychologist and a BPS RAPPS coaching psychology supervisor, also accredited by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. With 20 years of experience as a Consultant Organisational Psychologist, she has partnered with organisations across diverse sectors, including financial services, government, and education. Tia brings together deep academic insight and real-world expertise, driven by a strong intellectual curiosity and a passion for innovation. Her work focuses on translating cutting-edge research into practical strategies that enhance performance, promote wellbeing, and foster inclusion.
Dr Ana Paula Nacif is a senior lecturer at the Masters in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology at the University of East London. Ana Paula is also an experienced executive and group coach, consultant and facilitator, who works with a range of clients in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. She specialises in coaching for wellbeing, leadership, inclusion and career transition. Dr Nacif is an active researcher in group coaching and coaching for wellbeing. Her latest book, Coaching for wellbeing: a guide for practitioners, brings together theory, research and practice in the field of coaching for wellbeing. She is also a coach supervisor, with expertise in groups.
Lizana Oberholzer is an Executive and Leadership Coach and Programme Director of the Masters in Education, and National Professional Qualifications for School Leadership. Lizana specialises in Teacher Education and in particular in professional learning, teaching and learning, assessment, special education needs, curriculum design, school improvement, English, Media Studies, Leadership Development, and Coaching Psychology at the University of Wolverhampton’s Postgraduate provision. In her role Lizana leads on the coaching of Senior Leaders, Headteachers and Executive Leaders in Education, drawing on principles of coaching psychology. Lizana works closely with executive leaders across disciplines to strategically lead and support their teams to unlock their potential. She is passionate about professional learning, coaching psychology, leadership development, inclusion, governance and teacher development. Lizana supports the BELMAS Research Interest Group for Governing and Governance as a Convenor. She is also BELMAS Vice Chair and Trustee as well as a BAMEed Trustee. Lizana works with WomenEd as a regional lead in the West Midlands. She is currently the IPDA England Chair, as well as Chair of the IPDA International Committee. She chairs UCET’s CPD forum and is a member of the UCET Executive Committee. Lizana is a member of the APPG for the Teaching Profession, and Chairs the APPG SIG for Teacher Development. She is a proud trustee of a Multi Academy Trust, and is a committed educator, striving to provide learners with learning opportunities and life-chances. Lizana is actively involved in the British Psychological Society’s Division of Coaching, and she is the Chair for the division. Lizana is a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, an IPDA Fellow as well as a CMI Fellow. Her research interests centre around professional learning, mentoring, coaching, coaching psychology and leadership development within education, and other disciplines.
Dr Siobhain O’Riordan PhD CSci CPsychol FISCP MIHPEHon is Chartered Scientist and Chartered Coaching Psychologist. She is Course Co-Director on the stress management and coaching programmes and a trainer at the Centre for Coaching. She is an Honorary Member of the Institute for Health Promotion and Education, Fellow of the International Society for Coaching Psychology and Accredited Coaching Psychologist and Supervisor. From 2013-2015 she was Editor of the International Journal of Health Promotion & Education. Currently, she is Founder Chair of the International Society for Coaching Psychology, Editor of the International Journal of Coaching Psychology, Consulting Editor of The Coaching Psychologist and Editor of Coaching Psychology International. Her other roles include supervising doctorate students at the Wales Academy for Professional Practice and Research, University of Wales Trinity Saint David where she is a Research Fellow. She has published research and practice papers and her latest book is Introduction to Coaching Psychology (2021, with Palmer).
Prof Stephen Palmer PhD CPsychol CSci FISCP Accred is a Chartered Scientist, Chartered Coaching Psychologist, Registered Health Psychologist and APECS Accredited Executive Coach and Supervisor. He is President and Fellow of the International Society for Coaching Psychology, Vice President and Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Health Promotion and Education, former President and Honorary Fellow of both the the International Stress Management Association (UK) and Association for Coaching. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Royal Society of Biology. He is former Co-Editor of International Coaching Psychology Review, former editor and now Consulting Editor of the International Journal of Health Promotion & Education. He has written/edited 60 books including How to Deal with Stress (with Cooper), and Handbook of Coaching Psychology (with Whybrow). His university posts include being Honorary Professor of Practice in the Institute of Management and Health at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Adjunct Professor of Coaching Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark, and Co-ordinating Director of the ISCP International Centre for Coaching Psychology Research. Previously he has been a Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit, City University London; Honorary Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, and BABCP London Branch Co-chair. He is a Director of Studies and supervisor of PhD students at UWTSD.
Dr Jelena Pavlović, is an Associate Professor of Organizational Development & Change at the University of Belgrade and Founder of Koučing Centar. She has over 15 years of international experience in coaching psychology, leadership development and organizational change. Jelena is the author of Coaching Psychology: Constructivist Approaches (Routledge, 2020) and Partnering with AI in Coaching and Human Skills Development: A Constructivist Guidebook for Innovation (Routledge, 2025). Her current work focuses on the integration of coaching psychology with AI-augmented learning and innovation, positioning coaching as a profession of both human depth and technological agility.
Dr Rachael Skews PhD is a coach, workplace psychologist, behavioural scientist, trainer, speaker, author, supervisor and advisor. She is an internationally recognised subject matter expert in acceptance and commitment coaching. Rachael is the founder of Cognus Consulting, which provides training in acceptance and commitment theory (ACT) in the workplace and in coaching. She is a registered supervisor with the BPS, specialising in acceptance and commitment coaching. In her commercial career, Rachael has successfully developed both traditional and technology-delivered psychological interventions. She has extensive experience consulting with clients from industries across the private, public, and charity sectors. She is a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society, an accredited coaching psychologist with the International Society for Coaching Psychology, and a Fellow of the Centre for Evidence Based Management.
Dr Ceri Sims is a Chartered Coaching Psychologist, Fellow of the International Society of Coaching Psychology, and Senior Practitioner Coach with the EMCC. Dr Ceri Sims is a highly experienced coach, academic researcher, and practising psychologist. She has worked at the Medical Research Council and with NHS Trusts, as well as at Durham, London, Middlesex, and Buckinghamshire (BNU) Universities. She has developed and led various programmes, including a Master’s degree in Positive Psychology and specialised courses in Coaching and Leadership. She is also an experienced editor, reviewer of peer-reviewed journals, research supervisor, and examiner. As a coaching psychologist, she applies strengths-based, wellness, and wellbeing approaches. Dr Sims is a member of the faculty advisory board of the ISCP International Centre for Coaching Psychology Research: Positive Psychology Coaching Research Faculty.
Dr Linda Steyn PhD is a registered Industrial Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and a senior lecturer at the University of South Africa (UNISA), in the department of industrial and organisational psychology. Her research focuses on workplace coaching, coaching and consulting psychology, and qualitative well-being. She applies a transpersonal-, positive- and coaching psychology approach in her work as psychologist and coach, which is instrumental in personal change and transformation, well-being and optimal human functioning. She co-authored and contributed to peer-reviewed articles on the topic of coaching.
Liz Sweigart, PhD, MBA, is a consulting psychologist, entrepreneur, and researcher at the intersection of leadership, technology, and organizational change. She currently serves as President of the Society of Consulting Psychology (Division 13 of the American Psychological Association) and is a founding member of an open-source collective building decentralized, human-centered tools on the Nostr protocol. Liz coaches founders, developers, designers, and community leaders working in decentralized and distributed web technology and open-source environments, with a focus on resilience, ethical leadership, and inclusive design. Her scholarship and practice explore how psychologists can help individuals and organizations adapt to new frontiers of collaboration–whether in corporations, nonprofits, or distributed networks. A frequent speaker and author, Liz is committed to bridging psychology and technology to equip leaders for complexity, uncertainty, and transformation. She holds a BA from Rice University, an MBA from The University of St. Thomas (Houston), a PhD in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Computer Science department at Vanderbilt University.
Dr Vince Szekely is a coaching psychologist, organizational psychologist, leadership coach, and university lecturer who has been training and mentoring coaching psychologists for two decades. He is among the first generation of coaching psychologists and a founder and president of the Hungarian Association for Coaching Psychology, as well as the founder and associate president of the Coaching Psychology Section of the Hungarian Psychological Association. Vince promotes the education of coaching psychology in academic settings. He was the first to deliver university courses in coaching psychology. He developed and implemented successfully the highest-level academic postgraduate programme for psychologists, leading to a specialist degree in coaching psychology. His research interests focus on facilitating identity work in organizations. Additionally, Vince is a seasoned executive and team coach with over 2,000 hours of coaching experience.
Christin Tan is a Chartered Coaching and Occupational Psychologist, with more than 20 years’ experience across different industries and sectors, including banking and financial services, logistics, high-performing education and sports, non-profit, and government. Graduated with an MBA (Entrepreneurial Management), MSc (Occupational Psychology), and book author to ‘Entrepreneurial Personality for a Sustainable Competitive Advantage’, Christin is passionate to promote and advance coaching psychology, organisational psychology, and entrepreneurship psychology in Asia Pacific.
Dr Gail Wrogemann’s areas of specialisation include systems thinking, organisational development, executive and team coaching, systems coaching, supervision of consulting and coaching teams. Gail has completed her PhD in Leadership and Teaming in Complexity, graduation in September 2025, is a registered Industrial and Organisational Psychologist, Qualified Coach and Supervisor, and specialist in Systems Psychodynamic and family and business constellations. Her experience of 25+ years across many industries – including corporate, public sector, education and community, and strong business focus led to successes in long term systems transformation. She leads teams on a number of consulting projects and designed models for long term development, impact assessment and systems training. She serves as a Masters supervisor, examiner and part-time lecturer, has published and presented locally and internationally, and has won awards for her contributions including fellow status with the International Society of Coaching Psychology. She is the outgoing chair of the IGCCP (Interest group for coaching and consulting psychology) for SIOPSA, currently leading the partnerships portfolio for IGCCP and SIOPSA. She is chair of SCASA (Systems Constellations of Southern Africa).
Dr Anna Navin Young is a Coaching Psychologist, researcher, educator, and facilitator specialising in time awareness and positive psychology/positive health. Working across educational, organizational, and community spaces, Anna supports individuals and groups through 1:1 coaching, workshops, trainings, lectures, and keynotes. Her work as a coaching psychologist and researcher integrates time research, coaching psychology, and positive psychology to investigate how our relationship with time and our everyday time habits (how we spend, think about, and value time) influence and are influenced by our environments and our health and wellbeing. Her work further seeks to integrate time awareness approaches into coaching psychology practice to support clients’ personal/professional development. Her professional experience spans psychological research and coaching, leadership mentoring and training, lecturing, events management, program and retreat facilitation, youth development, community building, and arts programming. Anna is an assistant lecturer in University College Cork, Ireland, teaching on the MA in Applied Psychology: Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology and the MA in Applied Psychology: Work and Organisational Psychology/Behaviour. She is Chair Elect of the Psychological Society of Ireland’s newly formed Division of Coaching Psychology.
Symposium: Coaching for Her: How Coaching Psychology Facilitates Career Development in Chinese Women
Speakers
Dr. Qing Wang is an educational psychologist, chartered psychologist, accredited coaching psychologist and a passionate lifelong learner. She completed PhD from University of Bristol and currently works as Associate Professor in Educational and Coaching Psychology at the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University (ECNU). She established Educational Coaching Research Group (ECRG) at ECNU focusing on coaching psychology research and practice in the field of education. She is Fellow of International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP), Associate Fellow and Chartered Psychologist of British Psychological Society (BPS) and Member of International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP). With a genuine interest in coaching psychology for learning, she explores, designs, delivers and evaluates coaching models and approaches with teachers and students in secondary schools, medical schools, vocational schools, universities and in parents’ education.
Haixin Lu is a postgraduate student and her research interests include creative coping and coaching psychology. She designs coaching psychology programmes on social support and creative coping to improve students’ daily coping skills.
Qinyue Zhu has a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology from East China Normal University. Her research interests include creativity, creative motivation and coaching psychology. She is about to start her PhD in University of Tübingen (Germany).
Jingxin Li has a Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology from East China Normal University. Her research interests include coaching psychology, creativity and well-being. She has developed a coaching model that integrates positive psychology and expressive arts therapy to enhance students’ creativity and school well-being.
Huiwen Zhang has a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology from East China Normal University. She is interested in coaching psychology and career well-being in primary and secondary school teachers in China. She is now a psychological teacher in Shanghai.
Danlin Weng is a postgraduate student at East China Normal University. Her research interests include coaching psychology, creativity and academic performance.
Lingxiuting Zhou has a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology from East China Normal University. Her research interests include industrial and organisational psychology, as well as the application of coaching psychology in entrepreneurial competence.
Jiayi Li is an undergraduate student majoring in Physics and minoring in Applied Psychology. Her research interests include positive psychology and coaching psychology.
Jing Yu is a postgraduate student in Applied Psychology at East China Normal University. She previously worked in finance before transitioning to psychology. Her research interests include coaching psychology, creativity and creative aging.