The PwC Skilled Service Hub is Australia’s national onshore delivery centre based in Adelaide, it supports clients across Australia to solve their most important problems. Having already hired over 100 new staff since July, the Skilled Service Hub team is continuing to grow and they now have more job opportunities available. The Skilled Service Hub is already in operation across Cybersecurity and Cloud capabilities to help drive economic growth for the South Australian and national economy across a wide range of industries.

PwC is currently hiring 150+ roles through the PwC Australia Skilled Service Hub in the following teams:

• Cloud
• Cybersecurity
• Trust & Risk
• Analytics
• Integrated Infrastructure
• Customer & Experience
• Program and Project Management
• Proposals
• Risk & Independence

Whether you are an intern / recent graduate, Associate, Senior Associate, Manager or Senior Manager there are a range of jobs currently available to grow and develop in the sector. If you know someone interested in a role in the above disciplines, then click the link to find out more information.

You can also read about the PwC Australia Skilled Service Hub launch in May 2021 here >

How can we help communities avoid misinformation and disinformation?

How worried should we be about pervasive data collection and its impacts on our citizens’ privacy and ways of life?

 Is cyber mischief dividing society and threatening trust in government… and even our democracy?

Our lives are becoming more entwined with, and dependent upon, digital technologies.  These technologies are presenting exciting opportunities to improve our citizens’ quality of life, but there are also risks to individuals, society, trust in government and our democracy that need to be addressed.

To better understand how prepared the South Australian Public Sector is for these challenges, Flinders University is conducting a survey.  The responses collected will be used to develop training to equip public servants with the knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to help South Australia thrive in the digital age. This is a vital piece of research that will help support our sector grow and develop, and with your input we can make a real difference in how we move forward into the future. Complete the survey here >

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and responses are confidential.  It closes at midnight on 1 October 2021.

Once the survey is complete, you have the option to participate in a prize draw to win 1 of 3 Bunnings gift cards worth $40.

The survey is being undertaken by Flinders University and is part of a research project which investigates social cyber awareness in public sector leaders and if it improves through an education program.  Full details of the research project (including confidentiality, privacy, use of the data and contact details for the research team) can be found here. The project has been approved by Flinders University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (Project Number: 4686).

If you have questions about the survey, please contact Tammy Joachin, Lead – Executive Education, Jeff Bleich Centre (Flinders University) on 0401002719 or tammy.joachin@flinders.edu.au

The Institute of Public Administration Australia is pleased to announce that funding has been awarded to three new public administration research projects.

The grants from the Public Administration Research Trust Fund — which IPAA manages in partnership with the University of Canberra’s Centre for Change Governance —  will support research into the ethical application of artificial intelligence, the career pathways of Federal ministerial staff once they leave a minister’s office, and the capabilities associated with the implementation of social procurement.

Caroline Walsh, IPAA’s National Executive Director, said that the three research projects will deliver real-world insights for public servants and those involved in the wider public purpose sector.

“We are really pleased to be able to support these research projects into areas of public administration that are topical and important to the profession, not only now but into the future.”

Grants were awarded to:

• Associate Professor Joshua Newman (Better Governance and Policy, Faculty of Arts, Monash University) for the project ‘Supporting the Ethical Application of Artificial Intelligence in Australian Public Administration’ ($6,000)
• Dr Maria Maley (School of Politics and International Relations, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences for the project ‘Leaving the Ministerial Office: career steps following work as a ministerial adviser’ ($3,000)
• Dr Warren Staples and Dr John Howe (University of Melbourne) and Dr Diep Nguyen and Professor Stephen Teo (Edith Cowan University) for the project ‘ Understanding Capabilities in Social Procurement Implementation’ ($6,000).

Professor Darren Sinclair, Director of the Centre for Change Governance at the University, said that the partnership demonstrated the benefits of university collaboration with a member-based organisation like IPAA that promotes excellence and pride in public service across Australia.

“Public administration is undergoing a period of rapid transformation, with the advent of digitisation and big data, together with new and demanding challenges such as COVID-19, and the need to addresses integrity, diversity and inclusion.

 

It is more important than ever, therefore, for academics to provide research insights to practitioners — this can only happen with funding, which the IPAA has generously provided to three excellent projects”.

The research findings from these projects will be made available by IPAA and the University of Canberra in due course.

More information on the research fund is available from the Public Administration Research Trust Fund page on IPAA’s national website.

To see original article, visit the IPAA National website here.

The term ‘Emotional Intelligence’ entered our management vocabulary in the late 90s and is now part of the vernacular in most workplaces. Despite this 20 year ‘history’, there is still much debate about what it is…and isn’t.

Emotional Intelligence (EI), also known as Emotional Quotient (EQ) is a person’s ability to understand and manage their own emotions. Having this understanding will help to better manage stress, communicate effectively, empathise with others and defuse conflict by having better social awareness. There are 5 key elements which help to define emotional intelligence:

1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation
3. Motivation
4. Empathy
5. Social Skills

According to the Global Talent Trends 2020-21 Report by Mercer (2021), the Top 3 Critical Skills for Future Resilience are Adaptability, Collaboration and Inclusive / Empathetic Management. It will therefore be vital for managers to develop their own emotional intelligence to better manage their own decisions and actions. By having greater self-awareness, managers are better equipped to support their team and foster stronger relationships.

It is important to have relevant technical skills to perform your work role effectively , however as we become less physically connected it has become even more important to have strong interpersonal skills.

To learn more about Emotional Intelligence and how you can create a positive EQ/EI workplace, register for our Emotional Intelligence course which is part of our our Emerging Executive Development Series. This half day program will review the dominant theories and explore the agreed aspects of EI/EQ and how participants can enhance their competence in this critical business skill.

References

Janove, J 2020, ‘Leaders and Employees Need Soft Skills Now More than Ever’, SHRM, viewed 17 August 2021, <https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/humanity-into-hr/pages/covid-19-soft-skills-at-work.aspx>.

Mercer 2021, ‘2021 Global Talent Trends Study’, Mercer, viewed 17 August 2021, <https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/career/global-talent-hr-trends.html#contactForm>.

Dr Alex Antic is a leader, consultant and advisor on analytics, data science and artificial intelligence, and will speak at the 2021 IPAA National Conference, Riding the Wave of Service Transformation, being held in Brisbane on 14–15 October 2021.

Alex has more then 18 years post-PhD experience and knowledge in areas that include advanced analytics, machine learning, artifical intelligence, mathematics, statistics and quantitative analysis, developed across multiple domains: Australian and State Government, Asset Management, Insurance, Academia, Banking (Investment and Retail) & Consulting.

In 2021 Alex was recognised as one of the Top 5 Analytics Leaders in Australian by the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia. He also holds several senior advisory roles across industry, government, start-ups and academia.

Alex has a PhD in Applied Mathematics, First Class Honours in Pure Mathematics, and a double-degree in Mathematics and Computer Science.

The 2021 IPAA National Conference will be delivered at Brisbane’s Hilton Hotel, with live stream tickets available for those unable to attend in person.

Early bird tickets are available until 31 August 2021. For tickets and more information, visit the 2021 IPAA National Conference website.

Original article from IPAA National Website.

In April 2021 IPAA SA were thrilled to be supporting the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) in the delivery of the 2021 EPA Board Summit on the topic of ‘Climate Change: Risks, Liabilities and Remedies’.

This online event was co-hosted with the EPA in collaboration with AiGroup, and was held over 2 sessions.

Growing our understanding of Climate Change and its impacts on our state is valuable and relevant to every South Australian state government department and organisation. This event presented some fascinating and insightful reports and presentations that are now accessible to the public.

Some of the key topics of discussion and presentation at this event included:

• Climate change as a financial and liability risk and opportunities for small to medium businesses - with keynote speaker Sarah Barker, Head of Climate Risk Governance, Minter Ellison
• Climate risk and what it means for businesses - with Tennant Reed, Principal National Adviser – Public Policy, Australian Industry Group
• Climate change in SA – what does the data tell us?  – with Dr Graham Green,
  Principal Advisor Climate Change Science, Department for Environment and Water

This event also included the opportunity for Q&A with the above speakers and exploration of two case studies from AGL and City of Adelaide on how they are adapting to climate change.

You can access the full event resources and recordings here.