Why learn with The Australian Centre for Social Innovation?

Our learning experiences are built from 15 years of real-world social innovation: in services, policy, and systems across Australia.

Our values

  • We work in allyship with First Nations People, Knowledges and Country

  • We think and act systemically

  • We are rigorous in imagination and experimentation

  • We draw on diversity to make better decisions

  • We continually learn and grow ourselves and those around us

Our people

Our facilitators are social innovation practitioners working in diverse contexts

TACSI facilitators

Chris Vanstone

Chief Innovation Officer & co-CEO, TACSI

Chris started his career designing biscuits and razors before transitioning into social innovation over 20 years ago. As TACSI co-CEO, he’s responsible for keeping TACSI at the cutting edge of social innovation, playing a big role in the development of our practice, major initiatives and strategy. Chris’ goal is to democratise social innovation. He’s always striving to get important concepts into the world in ways that are clear.

Danielle Abbott

Peer Practices Lead, TACSI

A champion and advocate for the voice of the people, Danielle’s spent the last 20 years working on the ground with youth, families and in community development. For the last decade she’s worked at TACSI on designing, delivering and implementing peer-to-peer solutions, including Family by Family in Australia and the UK.

Barbara Binns

Senior Social Innovator, TACSI

Quietly persistent with an empathetic approach, Barbara strives to see the world through other people’s eyes. For the last four years, her focus has been supporting the spread and implementation of ‘Weavers’, a peer-to-peer support model that helps carers manage the ongoing challenges of caring, reducing the stress of caring and increasing wellbeing.

Carla Clarence

Future of Mental Health, TACSI

Carla is passionate about supporting mental health practitioners and transforming how we approach mental health as a society. Over the last five years, she has led over 30 co-design and co-planning projects in mental health settings including with not-for-profits, private health networks, and government, as well as philanthropically-funded work. With a practice-based background of case work, coaching, and working with people experiencing extremely complex life challenges, she understands the realities of making ‘co’ work across the service-system.

Dr Lucy Maynard

Our Town Initative Lead, TACSI

Lucy works on the Our Town initiative, helping develop inclusive, community-led approaches to change. Lucy is a PhD-qualified researcher in the area of youth, family and community empowerment and agency, and has co-authored three books that share theory and insights from practice based research, focusing on practitioner research and evaluation with groups and communities. Lucy’s previous experience is focused around working with the social sector to measure their impact and develop social R&D with the goal to to support people and communities facing inequality to become empowered and develop agency. Lucy has a knack for listening to people in a way that supports them to hear themselves think, which she believes helps people better understand themselves amid the complexities of life: the starting place of any social impact. When she’s not at work, you’ll find her off on an adventure in the great outdoors, either riding her bike in the Adelaide Hills or walking with her dogs.

Tasman Munro

Senior Social Innovator, TACSI

Tasman has a background in woodworking and social design practice. In his work he collaborates with communities, through design and creativity, to build social movements, promoting social justice and evolve the social and physical structures that shape our lives. Tas is known for forming deep connections with communities and is a firm believer in the transformative potential of collaborative making. He is an advocate of using making as a way to understand, connect with, and reshape the world around us. When he’s not at work, Tasman enjoys woodworking, surfing, hanging with friends and family, and dancing with the arts community in Marrickville.

Martin Ford

Senior Social Innovator, TACSI

Martin brings energy, hope and motivation to the people and teams he works with and seeks to unify others in a common passion and purpose to achieve long term outcomes. Martin spent fifteen years helping purpose-led organisations achieve their ambitions through strategic brand, web and communication design - supporting organisations to develop clearer articulations of purpose, process and frameworks for better design, collaboration and decision-making. Martin's work at TACSI includes research and co-design projects in the education and mental health sectors working alongside people with lived experience to elevate their voices in services and systems.

lauren anseline (she/they)

Senior Social Innovator, TACSI

With a background in design anthropology, experience and spatial design, visual design, photography, and fashion design, lauren explores how human experience can be translated into design, and how to support people with lived experience to be co-leading the design process. lauren is committed to actively decolonising design research and practices and being led by the innovation of First Nations Peoples. Building networks to support systemic change has become one of lauren’s passions. Together with her colleagues, they have built networks focused on changing the Australian end-of-life system, creating better outcomes for people with chronic conditions, connecting change makers in the home and housing space and, most recently, supporting bushfire affected communities to grow their resilience through a strength-based, community-led approach.

Euan Black (he/they)

Lead, TACSI

At TACSI, Euan combines three of their passions — design, networks and social justice — to find better ways of working together to create real change. For him, the best part of the job is connecting the deep wisdom of people with lived experience with other rich evidence, and using the insights that emerge to imagine new possibilities for people and systems. Empathetic yet strategic, Euan naturally thinks in systems, and uses that ability to help other people build their own systems awareness and practice. Never one to rest on their laurels, Euan loves leaning into the discomfort of being a beginner, and strives to learn about the world through the eyes of others.

Learning Hub Associates

Jade Brook

First Peoples Associate, Third Camp

Jade Kartanya Brook is the firstborn daughter of the Brook family, her fathers namesake and proudly Kaurna, Nharangga, with cultural ties to Ngarrindjeri and Barkindji Country.

Jade is a passionate storyteller, facilitator, and cultural connector who fosters relationships and cultural integrity in every space she walks. Her art, teachings, and presence reflect a bold and vibrant commitment to healing, truth, and story. In 2024, Jade was awarded with South Australia’s Active Citizenship Award for her leadership and impact and currently holds positions as Founder and Director of Third Camp, Head of Strategy and Aboriginal Engagement for the new Women's and Children's Hospital Build, Tier 1 Consumer and Engagement Strategy Committee member BHFLHN, and sit on the Adelaide Hills Reconciliation Working Group.

Jade loves growing Indigenous foods and fresh vegetables, often spending her time in her garden on Peramangk Watta, where she lives with her son Jacob, cheeky chickens, and their loyal red dog, Alice.

Kirsty Rosie

Lived Expertise Associate, TACSI

Kirsty’s lived and professional experiences include being a carer to family members living through complex challenges, working as a lived-experience Family/Carer consultant advising on mental health reform, participating in co-design projects, and co-developing this learning experience. She holds a Bachelor of Business (Management and Economics) and a Masters in Public Policy.

Amie Johnson

Mid Murray Our Town Lead

Amie is the Town Lead at Mid Murray Our Town and has been working within the Our Town initiative since 2019. She is a qualified Youth Worker, Community Development Worker and Zoo Keeper! Bringing 25 years of experience working with a diverse range of communities, in advocacy, support and empowerment roles, Amie is passionate about community led innovations that create positive change for regional communities. In her spare time Amie is a mum to five children has a menagerie of animals and is a wildlife carer to kangaroo joeys.

Peter Kennedy

Lived Expertise Associate, TACSI. Peer Worker, Ballarat Community Care.

A proud Narungga and Wotjobaluk Aboriginal man. Peter’s lived and professional experiences include peer work, participating in co‑design activities as a lived‑experience participant, the criminal justice system and connecting isolated people with community supports.

Parul Jagdish

IMAGI-NATION Ko-Founder and Head of Impact, AIME

Parul is a Gondi-Khatri man fashioned along the lines of Malala, Mandela & Gandhi. PJs life and work is rooted in the wisdom traditions of India, that acknowledge the unity & diversity of our world-family - humans & more-than-humans. His experience includes prestigious university scholarships, working with corporates, politicians, as a not-for-profit board director, making movies, co-founding social change movements and living in ashrams. At AIME he works around the world building partnerships, and a global systems-change Indigenous-led movement spanning 52+ countries creating a fairer world using imagination & mentoring.

Stephanie Beck

IMAGI-NATION Ko-Founder and {University} Vice Chancellor, AIME

Stephani Beck is a Wongatha Ngadju woman from Western Australia and the current Vice Chancellor of IMAGI-NATION {University}. Steph is currently playing a lead role in shepherding the IMAGI-NATION Platform, she is an artist and a custodian of knowledge who serves as a translator to the Professors, the systems change projects and toolmakers within the network. Steph’s core focus is exploring avenues to centre Indigenous Systems Thinking in all aspects of design, development and implementation through impact and storytelling.

Our learners

Over 2,000 enrolments including universities, foundations, service providers, government, cultural institutions and individuals.

What our learners say

“I cannot recommend TACSI’s Co-Design Learning Network highly enough. Brilliantly presented and worked through, I have gained valuable information and tools to seriously bring about true teamwork and co-design to my workplace.”

Participant, Co-Design for Mental Health

“Chris casts the net of this course broad enough that both Social Innovators and people from adjacent fields will find new value and stretch within the diverse content but also deep enough that it will likely provoke revelations for all. The group dialogues accompanying each module allow the time to explore topics deeply and draw parallels with your own practice. I also don't know of another course that more comprehensively weaves First Nations storytelling throughout.”

Participant, Foundations in Social Innovation

“I loved the session, the conversational nature was different to the format of sessions I've previously been involved with and what made it great! Also - so many terrific resources referenced and shared and this is always, always, always what attendees are looking for!”

Hayley Angell, Senior Manager DEI, Chartered Accountants ANZ, Many Threads of Allyship Webinar

“I'm definitely going to be more aware of power imbalances, and of the unique kinds of power people hold.”

Participant, Co-Design for Mental Health

“FINSI creates a much needed space for those practicing and interested in social innovation to explore in depth the current practices and methods in Australia and the world. The course foregrounds First Nations wisdom and masterfully weaves stories and practice with what these concepts mean for your context. Highly recommended for those looking for a well rounded, carefully crafted experience that prioritises learning, reflection and connection.”

Participant, Foundations in Social Innovation

“The co-facilitation was fantastic, enabling many additional aspects or ideas to be gently presented.”

Participant, Co-Design for Mental Health

“The course supported me to understand the co-design process and to apply it in practice.”

Participant, Co-Design for Mental Health