NZAPT CONFERENCE
BIG IDEAS, GREAT FOOD & EVEN BETTER COMPANY!
NZAPT Conference 2026 at Victoria University of Wellington is going to be next-level!
Join us for 2 epic days on the 19th and 20th November featuring 6 workshops, 7 lab rotations, keynotes from Sam Dudek, Clare-Ann Fortune, and Ryan Meachen, high-speed classroom strategy Spotlights from kaiako across Aotearoa, fully catered gourmet food, and a Thursday Night Pub Quiz at The Green Man Pub!
Don't sleep on this Registrations close October 27th! It’s not too late to secure your spot!
KEY NOTE SPEAKER
Clare-Ann Fortune's research focuses on youth offending, young people’s participation in the justice system and strength-based approaches to rehabilitation. She has published on a range of topics including on strength-based approaches to offender rehabilitation and the conceptualisation of risk factors. She teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in clinical and forensic psychology, as well as consults with and provides training for government agencies.
KEY NOTE SPEAKER
Ryan Meachen (Ngāti Te Wehi, Ngāti Raukawa) is a scholar-practitioner who studies workplace psychology, the good life, and leadership development. Ryan proudly calls Hastings and Flaxmere home and anywhere else you can see from the top of Te Mata o Rongokako.His research and teaching focus on how people find their path, fulfil their potential, and lead the lives they wish to live.
In 2024–2025 Ryan was a Fulbright Scholar and Associate Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Leadership and Happiness Laboratory under Professor Arthur Brooks. He recently appeared on Oprah Winfrey's podcast alongside Professor Brooks to discuss meaning in life. Alongside his academic work, Ryan is a certified positive psychology coach. As a consultant and executive coach, Ryan works with leaders across the public and private sectors to grow their leadership, lift wellbeing, and unlock the potential of their people.
Ryan's ambition is to build a science of human potential that is rigorous, practically useful, and culturally grounded- one that helps everyday people live the good life.
GUEST SPEAKER
Sam Dudek is a counsellor, consultant, and the CCO and co-founder of Kōwhai Therapeutic Services and Kōwhai Wellbeing Group. She holds a BSc in Counselling Psychology (obtained in 2001) and is registered as a provisional member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC).
Sam grew up as an army brat, living a nomadic life across Germany and Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s with the British Army. This formative experience shaped her deep understanding of how workplace culture ripples directly into personal wellbeing and family life. Shaped by this background, Sam went on to spend two decades in education, teaching psychology across the AQA and NZQA exam boards in both the UK and New Zealand from 2002 to 2022, including 15 years as Teacher in Charge of Psychology and was the Chair of the NZAPT from 2019-2023.
In her therapeutic practice, Sam works with a diverse range of clients using a pluralistic, client-centered approach that tailors support to each individual’s unique needs. Embracing life’s variety, she wholeheartedly subscribes to Carl Jung’s core principle: "If you resist, it will persist."
Beyond individual therapy, Sam co-founded Kōwhai Wellbeing Group to bridge the gap between corporate intention and real-world impact.
Combining evidence-based practice with practical application, she works with organisations across Aotearoa to build practical, brain-informed systems that foster psychosocial safety, resilience, and workplace growth. When she isn't counselling or consulting, Sam can be found spending quality time with family and friends.
WORKSHOP
Educational Psychology
Draws on cognitive psychology, social-cultural psychology, and biopsychology. Educational psychologists use a variety of quantitative and qualitative tools to look for patterns. This workshop will provide inspiration for how teachers can integrate content from multiple elements and strands to support coherent, engaging, and authentic stand-alone units or an entire teaching sequence for a Year 12 programme supporting delivery of The Social Sciences Years 11-13 curriculum published October 2026.
WORKSHOP
Clinical psychology
Draws on biopsychology, cognitive psychology, and sociocultural psychology. Clinical psychologists use a mix of qualitative and quantitative tools to assess, diagnose, and treat mental health conditions and psychological distress. This workshop will provide inspiration for how teachers can integrate content from across these core strands to support coherent, engaging, and authentic stand-alone units or an entire teaching sequence for a Year 12 programme supporting delivery of The Social Sciences Years 11-13 curriculum published October 2026.
WORKSHOP
Health Psychology
Ever wondered why two students facing the exact same high-stakes assessment experience completely different stress responses? Welcome to the power of Health Psychology! Designed around the new curriculum strands, this interactive, practical workshop explores Stress and Coping through Cognitive Psychology, Biopsychology, and Socio-Cultural Psychology. Bring your own personal reflections and teaching experiences to walk away with a ready-to-teach unit design and classroom-ready activities that help both you and your students navigate stress with confidence and resilience.
WORKSHOP
Research methodologies
In this workshop, we’ll dive into the Research Methodologies strand of the Phase 5 curriculum document, paying particular attention to Ethics, Indigenous/Kaupapa Māori methodology, and statistics. We’ll also have time to share best practice for our current research standards (91846 and 91874).
Workshop
Cohort A focuses on integrating the new 2026 NZ Psychology Curriculum across a two-year program by leveraging AI to draft structured unit plans, critical questions, and contextualised learning tasks across its core strands, while Cohort B provides practical, collaborative support for educators newer to the subject or teaching it for the first time in 2027, guiding them through curriculum demystification, year-plan development, and resource sharing in an approachable setting.
Lab rotations.
Each delegate will visit two 25-minute labs (in addition to Gina's intro session). You will be randomly assigned two labs you’ll visit on the day..
Virtual Reality (VR) David Carmel / Kay Reid
How immersive virtual reality can support research on perception, emotion, decision-making, and social behaviour in simulated environments.
Worms & Memory Bart Ellenbroek / Jiun Youn
How simple animal models and controlled experiments can help researchers investigate learning, memory, and behaviour.
fNIRS Brain Imaging Kate Witt
How functional near-infrared spectroscopy measures changes in brain blood oxygenation during learning, attention, and other cognitive tasks.
EEG / AfCriN Hedwig Eisenbarth
How EEG records electrical brain activity and how brain and body measures can be combined to study emotion, social interaction, personality, aggression, and antisocial behaviour.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Barbara Berger
How TMS uses non-invasive magnetic stimulation to influence brain activity and help researchers investigate working memory, attention, and executive function.
Clinical Psychology Research Kris Nielsen
What counts as a mental disorder? How should we best try to understand them? Members of Victoria University of Wellington's Conceptual Psychopathology Lab overview current research projects and interactive continuum-based classroom activities.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Meyrick Kidwell
How variation in the timing between heartbeats can be studied in relation to autonomic regulation, depression, and links between psychological and cardiovascular functioning.
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