Annick Janson

Researcher & psychologist developing leadership within vulnerable families

Annick is passionate about developing leadership within vulnerable families. She trained as a clinical psychologist and an educational psychologist with a special interest in families raising children with disability.

Annick has carried out disability research with the New Zealand Ministries of Education, Health and Social Development. She has authored over 50 peer-reviewed research publications including for UNESCO and the Human Rights Commission looking at the use of technology and storytelling to develop family leadership in the disability sector. She has received a NZ Ministry of Health (Te Pou) Knowledge Translation Fellowship for her research around the impact of capturing and disseminating stories to build capacity in the disability sector. She is a member of the New Zealand Positive Psychology Association.

Annick has partnered with Plumtree, a Sydney-based Early Intervention Centre to co-develop Now and Next, an award winning ground-breaking programme. Now and Next facilitates a leadership pipeline to take parents raising young children with disability or delays through a transformative journey and ultimately increase outcomes for their children and families. The programme trains (‘Train the trainer’) peer leaders who deliver the programme and develop sector leadership.

Annick is an Associate, Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research, Victoria University of Wellington. Prior to that she was the Inaugural Research Director at the New Zealand Leadership Institute, University of Auckland Business School and Research Director, Microsoft New Zealand, Partners in Learning. As the Principal Investigator of the New Zealand Leadership Pathway research for the Royal Society of New Zealand, she designed the first New Zealand leadership storytelling analysis and web-based dissemination facilitating tacit knowledge learning for upcoming leaders.

A visiting Research Associate at INSEAD and the Harvard School of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, she received a Gallup International Positive Psychology Award for research in Leadership Formative Experiences and represented New Zealand at the Global Leadership Summit, Gallup Leadership Institute, and at the European Commission Disability Service Providers Forum. She has served on Advisory Boards and Steering Committees such as the Community Public Health Advisory Committee of the Waikato District Health Board and the NZ Tertiary Commission.

Annick lives in Raglan, New Zealand. She strives to encourage her three children to take up, and design, life opportunities. Her lived experience includes coaching her youngest son Yaniv through his leadership journey as a successful international artist.

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