Voices from the Edge

Andreas Landwehr

Andreas Landwehr is a German journalist who worked for 30 years as Beijing Bureau Chief and also as Head of the Asia-Pacific region for dpa, the German Press Agency (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), until 2023. Since 2005, he has been covering G7 and G20 summits, focusing on trade and development issues, climate policy, and Asia.

The former US correspondent began reporting from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mongolia in 1993. In 2011, he received the Liberty Award from the German Reemtsma Foundation for his journalistic work. After serving as regional head for East Asia from 2013, he took responsibility for the entire Asia-Pacific region in 2019. From 2023 to 2024, he joined the political desk in the newsroom in Berlin before leaving dpa after 40 years. He currently works as a China expert, a keynote speaker and an author for Table.Briefings and others.

His first encounter with China was during his studies in Taipei (1980–1982), when he also traveled extensively in mainland China. After graduating from Bonn University, he joined dpa in 1984 in Düsseldorf. At dpa headquarters, he worked as a copy editor at the foreign desk and then at the domestic desk during German unification in 1989. As a Washington correspondent from 1990, he specialized in defense policy, covering the Gulf War for the liberation of Kuwait in 1990 and Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign.

In 1993, he moved to China with his wife and three children to become Beijing Bureau Chief. Since then, he has witnessed China's rise to become the world's second-largest economy. He covered Deng Xiaoping's death, the return of Hong Kong and Macao, China's accession to the WTO, the first outbreak of SARS, the 2008 Olympic Games, Xi Jinping's rise to power since 2012, and the Covid-19 pandemic. He has interviewed various Chinese leaders such as Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, and Wen Jiabao. Since 2001, he has also traveled to North Korea several times.

 

Book Review - The Tyranny of Metrics

A book review of this book by Jerry Muller

John Cherrie

Professor John Cherrie graduated in Physics from Edinburgh University and went to work at the Institute of Occupational Medicine. His early career involved measuring exposure to airborne fibres, both asbestos and man-made mineral fibres. The latter work was in support of a large European epidemiology study coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

John developed an interest in occupational hygiene, and the science behind occupational exposure to harmful agents. In 1991 he joined the University of Aberdeen to set up a Masters course in occupational hygiene.

During this time John developed his interest in retrospective occupational exposure assessment for epidemiological studies, and this work formed the basis of his PhD, which he received in 1996. In 2003 John rejoined the IOM and took on the role of Research Director. During this time he broadened his research interested to encompass the “exposome”, human exposure assessment, occupational cancer, environmental and occupational epidemiology, natural and synthetic fibres, dermal exposure and air pollution. In 2015 John took up the chair in Human Health at Heriot Watt University.

John is a retired Chartered Fellow of the Faculty of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

Book Review - Bullshit Jobs

A book review of the book by David Graeber

Marc Miles - Difficult Conversations and Situations

In this episode Marc and I discuss those difficult conversations and situations that arise occasionally in training. 

 

Marc Miles is a career presenter and trainer. He has written a book on Advanced Facilitation Skills, and for over a decade, has taught public speaking skills, and content from the Training and Education Training Package for Australian Vocational Education and Training.

During his time in the Vocational Education and Training sector, Marc has taught the TAE package over 500 times to people all around Australia in various industries. He has a been an instructional designer, training manager, and currently works as a senior facilitator for Spec Training.

Marc’s students know him as a dynamic and engaging facilitator in both the face-to-face and online environments, believing he has set a new standard for how online delivery can be done.
Marc’s book, Creating Transformation: Advanced Training Skills for Workshop Facilitators, was published in 2024. 

Marc has a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics, Natural language processing certifications, and has conducted numerous professional development workshops for various audiences across Vocation Education and Training, corporate and entrepreneurial sectors.

Book Review - Group Think

A book review of the book by Christopher Booker

Book Review - Difficult Conversations

 A book review of the book by Douglas Stone

Lisette Kanse

Dr Lisette Kanse is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Course Coordinator of UWA’s Master of and Graduate Certificate in Business Psychology. She has worked as an academic and as a consultant/practitioner in a variety of industrial settings across Europe and Australia, including chemical industry, oil and gas, mining, rail transport, and healthcare settings.

 

Having entered the field of work health and safety over 25 years ago convinced of the importance of this domain, Lisette’s mission across her entire working life has been to improve work environments, either directly, or through her students, to keep people safe, healthy, engaged, and productive. Occasionally she has been known to extend this mission to keeping people safe outside of the work environment as well.

 

She uses her dual background in industrial engineering and organisational psychology to identify and facilitate evidence-based improvements, and to warn against ineffective strategies. Her research interests include human factors, work design characteristics, procedures, norms, culture, and leadership, and how these impact on work practice and safety and health.