Our Story
Founded by a team of dedicated social scientists at CSIRO in 2019, and led by CEO Dr Kieren Moffat, Voconiq was built on 10 years of research, industry practice and commercialisation milestones to provide an innovative solution to improve social performance.
The Voconiq team has redefined the meaning of social licence to operate, helping customers to harness the relational mechanisms that underpin it: our methods reflect the dynamic nature of these relationships and build trust with the communities we work with. Following their spin-out from CSIRO, Voconiq has expanded its data science and analytics capability as well as its community engagement capacity, both on the ground and digitally.
The Team
Dr Kieren Moffat
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Kieren is a social scientist committed to building deeper, more reflective relationships between communities, companies, industries and governments. Prior to co-founding Voconiq he was a Senior Research Scientist with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Over the last fifteen years he has worked across a broad range of industries in more than twenty countries using quantitative social psychological research methods to reveal the pathways to deeper community trust for companies and industries, and to provide a voice for community members in decisions that affect their lives. Kieren was awarded a PhD from The University of Queensland in social and organisational psychology in 2008.
Maia Bicknell
Junior Researcher
Maia is a junior researcher with a background in qualitative research. Prior to joining Voconiq, she worked as a Design Analyst at the Department of Statistics New Zealand, where she designed surveys, conducted qualitative research, and summarised findings to inform decision-making. Maia holds a Bachelor of Science with majors in Psychology and Criminology from Victoria University of Wellington, providing her with a strong understanding of human behaviour. At Voconiq, she supports the survey design process, helping to maintain quality and efficiency.
Yasna Amar Marini
Project Support Officer
Yasna is a researcher with an extensive background in the agriculture industry in Latin America and Australia. Prior to joining to Voconiq, she was working for a multinational market research company reporting for customers and supporting a range of research functions in the crop protection area. She also has experience coordinating projects for small producers and farmers in Latin America. Yasna has bachelor’s degree in agriculture (Agronomist) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and a Master of Agribusiness from the University of Queensland. At Voconiq, she supports all project stages from end to end with a strong focus on reporting.
Ben Wright
Program Manager
Ben is a seasoned market researcher with twenty years of experience across research agencies, Top 4 consultancies, and communications firms. He previously led the research and insights team at the ASX; provided strategic advisory services as the Australian Director of CX at IPSOS; and undertook global thought leadership research in relation to the future of fuels and future of health as a research manager at EY. Drawing on his decades of experience working at the nexus of market research, strategic communications and community engagement around complex issues, Ben’s role as Program Manager is to deliver a global rollout of Voconiq’s Local Voices Program for a multi-national mining company. Ben is Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) degree qualified, with professional industry training in community engagement and advanced quantitative methods.
Naomi Boughen
Co-founder and Service Director
Naomi has substantial research experience in a range of areas that explore the intersections between public perceptions, industries, and the environment. Before she co-founded Voconiq, Naomi was a Senior Research Technician with CSIRO in the Resources in Society program of social and economic research in the Mineral Resources Business Unit. She has developed a vast set of research and project management skills over almost a decade working to bring world-class science to both communities and corporations. Naomi leads the development and deployment of our end-to-end software solution and oversees both staff and client services. Previously, Naomi earned her Bachelor of Environmental Management (Rural Systems) and Graduate Certificate in Research Methods (Social Science) from The University of Queensland and uses her extensive skills to seamlessly deliver our service directives.
Dr Rolf Fandrich
Co-founder and Business Development Director
Rolf is a minerals industry specialist with 25 years of professional experience across corporate, operations, consulting, technology commercialisation and applied research. Before he co-founded Voconiq, Rolf worked within CSIRO to plan and execute Voconiq’s commercialisation journey and industry engagement activities. He also trained as an engineer at The University of Adelaide and earned a PhD in Mineral Processing from The University of Queensland and an MBA in Technology Management from Chiefly Business School. Now, as an executive director of the independent entity, Rolf helps our company scale its delivery of trust building opportunities to community and industry globally, creates sustained client value, and guides us to achieve our strategic and operational objectives.
Dr Sean Murphy
Chief Data Scientist
Sean is a data scientist with a background in social psychology, who specialises in extracting psychological insight from rich and complex datasets. Prior to joining Voconiq, he was a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Melbourne, where he led an international collaboration studying emotional variability using smartphone data and investigated cultural change by applying machine learning to historical linguistic datasets. He earned his PhD from The University of Queensland. Sean uses his passion for unique insights and for pulling tangible value out of big data sets to provide us with cutting-edge and timely analytical outputs. He uses a wide variety of sophisticated techniques including multilevel modelling, random forest models, structural equation modelling, and segmentation analysis to deliver state-of-the-art value and innovative insights for our clients.
Stephanie Sparks
Project Manager
Stephanie is a community and stakeholder relations specialist with over 20 years’ experience in community consultation, event management, social investment and partnerships, media and public relations. She also has a strong background in administration, procurement, compliance and risk management. Prior to joining Voconiq, Stephanie worked in local government and led various consulting and infrastructure projects; working with the community and stakeholders to develop strategies and initiatives to enhance community liveability. Stephanie holds a Diploma in Project Management. With her unique background of law enforcement and local government, Stephanie is an inclusive communicator who uses her impressive skills and experience to develop and maintain strong working relationships within the community to maximise participation in Voconiq’s Local Voices program and to translate the Local Voices feedback into meaningful and actionable insights for our customers and the community.
Dr Ashleigh Kelly
Business Improvement and Process Integration Lead
Ashleigh is a social psychologist and digital content specialist with a background in scientific research, information technology and business. Before joining Voconiq, she was working in an empathic computing laboratory at The University of Queensland designing and implementing a research program to use wearable technology to detect mood. She has also been working as a front-end website developer in the academic and real estate sectors for nearly a decade. Her extensive business experience provides her with ample project management skills; along with administration, business development, website design and management, graphic design, copy writing, and social media management skills. Ashleigh earned her PhD in social psychology from The University of Queensland and uses her diverse range of abilities to assist our team with efficiency analyses and automation, community and business to business engagement, research, reporting, technical support, website management, and content creation.
Dr Ana-Lucia Frezzatti Santiago
Latin America Coordinator
Ana-Lucia is a mining social performance professional based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has fifteen years of community relations, humanitarian emergency response and community development experience. Ana-Lucia has a degree in law and a PhD in mining and communities/sociology from Alicante University Spain and another in sustainability/business administration from FEI University in São Paulo Brazil. Her former research work focused on strategy development for earning and maintaining a social licence to operate in the international mining industry and methods for effective community engagement. Her vast experience and specialist knowledge allow her to oversee the implementation of our Local Voices programs throughout Latin America and to develop our outreach objectives globally.
Emma Tuchin
Project Manager
Emma is a marketing coordinator and community engagement specialist with a background in production management for television and media. Before joining Voconiq, Emma was creating captivating digital content and producing a wide range of videos and stories for the travel marketing industry, with a focus on subscriber and community engagement. Emma brings years of experience in content coordination and storytelling to her role as Marketing and Communications Coordinator with Voconiq. She earned a Graduate Diploma in Media Production from the University of Technology Sydney and worked extensively in arts administration, marketing and coordinating for television productions for over a decade. Emma uses her impressive range of skills to lead the implementation of our community rewards program, to coordinate our community group outreach, to analyse our community engagement content and to innovate in all of these spaces.
Dr Nelson Solan Chipangamate
African Markets Coordinator
Nelson is a social scientist with expertise in crafting and implementing transformational stakeholder engagement strategies for sustainable trust-based relationships involving governments, communities and corporations. He has a degree in economics, a master’s in business administration and a PhD in community engagement and social licence from the esteemed Gordon Institute of Business Science, in South Africa. Prior to joining Voconiq, he gained extensive stakeholder engagement experience spanning over 20 years in diverse industries including telecommunications, agri-processing and mining in volatile, uncertain, controversial and ambiguous emerging markets. Nelson’s vast experience and sensitivity to socio-historical contexts will help us effectively implement our wide range of science-based services including but not limited to Local Voices and Citizen Voices in Africa and beyond.
Sefton Darby
Strategy and Advisory Lead
Sefton specialises in navigating the space between communities, companies and government agencies. He previously lead the social impact service line for KPMG Banarra; worked as a senior mining sector regulator in New Zealand; as a site-based community relations manager for a large mining company; and for the World Bank, the UK government, and various NGOs in overseas aid and development. He has worked with governments, companies and NGOs in the UK, West Africa, US, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. He has a bachelor’s degree in politics from the University of Otago (NZ), and a master’s degree in international security from University of St Andrews (Scotland). Sefton advises our clients on how to use community data to improve their social performance practices through capacity building, risk assessments, community engagement strategy development, and social impact assessment.
Dr Rosie Leclair
Senior Research Analyst
Rosie is a multidisciplinary researcher with an extensive background in public health. Prior to joining Voconiq, Rosie completed her PhD at Swinburne University of Technology, combining natural science and social science data collected from surveys to enrich understanding of public health outcomes relating to consumer practices and food safety. Rosie has also worked extensively in both government and university sectors and has developed her experience in regulation and compliance, research service delivery and science education. Rosie utilises her research analysis and communication skills with Voconiq by working together with our clients to develop survey instruments, write reports and to assist in translating data science outcomes into constructive insights for all our stakeholders.
Chad Cyrzon
Data Scientist
Chad is a data scientist with a background in psychology and computational cognition, specialising in the analysis of digital sensors, longitudinal psychological surveys, and social media data, to detect subtle signals of mental illness or distress. Prior to joining Voconiq, he worked as a data scientist in both academic and technical start-up settings, predicting the relative risk of mental illness and chronic disease from passively obtained sensor data collected from smartphones and wearable devices. He has a passion for psychology and directly engaging with the community through online and digital channels to help end users understand their data and mental health. Chad has the ability to leverage a cutting-edge-algorithms using machine learning to find linear and non-linear patterns hidden within the data and transform it into unique insights that can directly benefit clients and key stakeholders.
Dr Thomas McIlroy
Senior Research Analyst
Tom specialises in social and organisational psychology and has extensive experience conducting quantitative and qualitative research. Prior to joining Voconiq, Tom completed his PhD at The University of Queensland, where he examined how leaders can support employees to maximise well-being and performance. Tom has also held numerous research positions in both academic and industry contexts. Projects he has worked on include examining safety culture in the maritime industry, reviewing best practice recruitment and selection techniques, evaluating the national trials for the My Health Record, and developing a Massive Open Online Course. In his role at Voconiq, Tom uses his analytical skills to develop survey instruments, conduct desktop research, and help translate outcomes into meaningful insights for our clients.
Dr Deborah Lin
Data Scientist
Deborah is a data scientist with a background in cognitive psychology and economics, who specialises in using statistical methods to identify meaningful patterns from noisy data. Prior to joining Voconiq, she conducted research with The University of New South Wales and The University of Melbourne, developing novel computational cognitive models and applying Bayesian methods to large choice and response time data sets in order to better understand how people learn and make decisions. Her PhD research at The University of Melbourne elucidated how difficulty, reward, and performance influence people's decisions to explore alternative options. At Voconiq, she employs a range of statistical techniques and data visualisation tools to deliver clear and tangible insights for our clients.
Marcos Kemp
Project Support Officer
Marcos is a social scientist with a background in sustainability. Prior to beginning at Voconiq, he completed his Bachelor of Arts (Majoring in Sociology) at La Trobe University, a Graduate Certificate in Environmental Management at UNSW and is close to finishing his Masters of Environments and Sustainability (Majoring in governance) at Monash University. Marcos’ previous work experience was in logistics, which predominantly involved the relocation of vulnerable individuals from crisis situations. Marcos’ noteworthy educational path, along with his experience assisting a diverse range of stakeholders in his previous roles, puts him in a position to be an influential member of the Service Delivery Team at Voconiq.
Adel Pitcaithly
Research Officer - Social Impact
Adel specialises in providing tailored social impact research for our clients. Prior to joining Voconiq, Adel completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in political science from The University of Queensland, where she conducted research on Australia’s democratic health through analysing the ways in which different parties of government respond to and interact with petitions. Also majoring in ancient history, Adel attended a research intensive program as an exchange student at The University of Cambridge. Adel has previously done policy work on trust and social licence to operate in a community services context, giving her a unique perspective on social impact. With her distinguished academic career and almost a decade in face-to-face customer service experience, Adel’s skills position her greatly in supporting the Advisory team.
Vince Albert Espanola
Graphic Designer
Vince is a graphic designer with an extensive background in branding/visual identity, advertising, social media, photography, web & multimedia. Prior to joining Voconiq, he worked as a graphic designer connecting different cultures and languages across retail, marketing, real estate, exports, consumer goods, advertising, financial services, and entertainment industries. Vince uses his extensive expertise in visual communication to create designs from ideas and data and convert them into digestible visual content.
Cristian Schell
Senior Project Manager
Cristian is a lawyer with a background in financial management and project management, both in Australia and Latin America. Prior to joining Voconiq, he was coordinating projects for industry and state government for engaging local communities in energy efficiency and sustainable practices. He also has experience in the FMCG, Construction, Retail and Tech sectors as a legal advisor. Cristian has a Bachelor of Law with a Major in Business from the University of Buenos Aires and is passionate about renewable energy and energy transition. At Voconiq, he coordinates our Local Voices programs throughout Latin America and worldwide.
Courtney Bailey
Agriculture Sector Lead
Courtney specialises in development, implementation, and evaluation of training programs, project management and provision of specialist advisory services.
Prior to joining Voconiq, Courtney worked in education and community engagement across various sectors. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Agribusiness, Bachelor of Applied Science, Bachelor of Psychology (Honours), Graduate Diploma of Teaching and Learning (secondary), and she is a qualified Trainer and Assessor.
With her deep understanding of the intricacies of education and the adoption of new programs and her passion for the Agricultural sector, Courtney plays a vital role in ensuring our clients' success.
Jonathan Martinez
Financial Controller
Jonathan is a CPA with an extensive background in both Accounting, Audit and Finance and has been working for more than 15 years in Australian, Philippines and USA settings. Prior to joining Voconiq, he has been a Team Leader for an Australian Accounting Firm, doing both Tax & Accounting and Advisory functions. As a financial controller, Jonathan’s primary goal is to help maintain and improve the financial systems and processes of Voconiq and develop new effective and efficient ways of doing financial and accounting functions.
Nicholas Ivanovic
Communications Coordinator
Nicholas is communications coordinator with background in disability coordination, aged care and non-for-profit sectors. Prior to joining Volconiq, Nicholas developed written communications for a multitude of audiences which aimed to simplify or explain complex concepts in terms that could be more easily understood. He also has experience in stakeholder engagement, social media strategy and coordinating teams. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Griffith University in addition to a Diploma of Screen & Media and a Certificate III Individual Support from TAFE QLD. Drawing on his experience across a range of industries and demographics, Nick is able to bring unique perspectives and innovative ideas to broaden the reach of Voconiq into the wider community.
Dr Julian Fox
Data Scientist
Julian is a data scientist with a background in cognitive psychology, who specializes in using computational modelling techniques to derive understanding from experimental data. Prior to joining Voconiq, he completed a PhD at The University of Melbourne, investigating the cognitive mechanisms that underly recognition and source memory. At Voconiq, he uses a variety of statistical and data visualisation methods to identify key patterns within large datasets and translate these into valuable insights for our clients.
Impressum
Reflexivity Pty Ltd t/as Voconiq
Level 6, 25 King Street,
Bowen Hills, Q 4006
Australia
Phone: +61 1800 232 836
Email: info@voconiq.com
Represented by our Managing Directors: Dr Kieren Moffat, Naomi Boughen, Dr Rolf Fandrich.
Reflexivity Pty Ltd is a company registered under the laws of the state of Queensland, Australia. Our ABN is 66 631 143 578.
Voconiq is a service provider that helps our customer organisations improve their social performance and acceptance of their operations within their community.
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