Keynote Speakers

Erika Fischer-Lichte studied Theatre Studies, Slavic Languages and Literatures, German Philology, Philosophy and Psychology at Freie Universität Berlin and Hamburg University. From 1973 to 1996 she was a professor of modern German Literature, Comparative Literature and Theatre Studies at the universities of Frankfurt am Main, Bayreuth and Mainz. In 1996 she joined the faculty of the Theatre and Performance Studies Department at Freie Universität Berlin and is currently the director of the International Research Center “Interweaving Performance Cultures”, also at Freie Universität Berlin. Between 1995 and 1999 she served as president of the International Federation for Theatre Research. 

She has published more than 30 books in the fields of aesthetics, art and theatre, presence, semiotics and performativity, theatre history and contemporary theatre. 

Rachael Jacobs lectures in Creative Arts Education at Western Sydney University and is a former secondary arts teacher (Dance, Drama and Music). 

Her PhD focussed on creativity and assessment and has informed Australian and international policy. Her research focusses socially engaged art, language development and anti-racist education through the arts. Rachael has facilitated art projects in community settings all over Australia, mostly working in migrant and refugee communities. 

She is also a community activist, aerial artist, South Asian choreographer and runs her own intercultural dance company.  

She was a founding member of Teachers for Refugees, is on the boards of climate action organisation, Sweltering Cities, and youth theatre company, PYT Fairfield, Sydney, Australia.  

Sukhesh's work explores a diverse web of interests spanning film, audio, theater and  education.

He trained with the TAG TIE Co. in New Delhi, focusing on performance and theater pedagogy, and in 2000, was awarded the Charles Wallace Fellowship to study Physical Theater at Royal Holloway, London. 

He was artistic director of the Imago TIE Company, Delhi, where he began making theater for young audiences. In 2005 he founded Yellowcat Theater as an interdisciplinary space to bring together actors, artists and educators to create fresh, new work for both young and adult audiences. His work as an actor on stage, & in film spans a wide range of genres.

In 2022, he received a TESF research grant which aims at generating new knowledge and build capacities via interdisciplinary research that can contribute to equitable, socially just environmentally sustainable futures.