Dr John Edwards is Managing Director of Edwards Explorations, an Australian-based company concerned with exploring and developing human potential. He has a long and distinguished career in research on thinking, and has been one of the major research grant recipients in cognitive science in Australia. He has worked in over twenty countries, and is internationally recognised for his research on thinking, leadership, organisational change, and professional growth and learning. John is one of the few top international researchers to have turned his research into award-winning practice in education, elite sport, business and industry. He is also a personal coach to a number of business, sport and educational leaders around the world. Our current action research and consulting is focussed mostly in High Performance Sport in New Zealand and Australia. Our work in this field started in 2004 with the West Coast Eagles, an Australian Football League team. Recently we started working with Essendon Football Club. We also work in the corporate sector and we have an international network of innovative schools, Schools That Deliver, across six countries: Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the U.K., Sweden and Norway. Our latest book: "Schools That Deliver" published by Corwin Press in 2016 outlines our process for helping schools transform themselves. The book also contains the core models we use in business and sport.

Researcher into how people think and the direct teaching of thinking. My early research was in education, my later research was into thinking in Australian Business and Industry. Published numerous research articles and chapters in books, and wrote/edited books as well. My early research looked at the direct teaching of thinking using Edward de Bono's thinking strategies. We also researched what children are thinking whilst teachers are teaching. This led us into research on what tests really test, which called into question the validity of paper and pencil tests. During my time at James Cook University I convened the Fifth International Conference on Thinking which brought together over 1,100 of the world's top people in the field. I spent six months as a visiting professor at Harvard University. My final academic research, funded by an Australian Research Council grant of one third of a million dollars, was into Thinking in Australian Business and Industry. This focused on two companies: Mount Isa Mines and Fisher & Paykel. This has since flowed into action research inside a range of organisations. Our work now centres on practical competence and professional artistry, and deep respect for the personal practical knowledge of workers at all levels. Our work generates innovative cultures of learning.On leaving James Cook University I became Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland.