Better Student Leaders with Josh Farr

In this powerful episode of Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr sits down with Colm Gannon , CEO of ICMEC Australia, to explore what purpose-driven leadership looks like when the work is emotionally heavy and morally urgent. Drawing on his journey from counter-terrorism and victim identification to child protection advocacy, Colm shares how he leads teams through confronting realities without losin...

In this episode of Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr sits down with Corey Tutt , Founder and CEO of DeadlyScience, to unpack what ethical, community-led leadership really looks like when the stakes are real. “Every day is an opportunity to make tomorrow better.” From a childhood shaped by trauma and curiosity, to becoming the 2020 NSW Young Australian of the Year, an OAM recipient, and the first...

Today, on Better Student Leaders , I’m joined by Tayla Naicker. Tayla spent a decade in the modelling industry after being discovered at just 12 years old, working across Australia, Singapore, London, Milan and Los Angeles, signing with major agencies and building a large online following. From the outside, it looked like the dream. On the inside, it raised some confronting questions about identit...

Today on Better Student Leaders , I’m joined by Davy Roe , Events Officer at the University of Newcastle Students Association and the creator of UNSA Run Club. What started as a simple idea turned into a weekly ritual where students build friendships, confidence, and belonging through movement. No elite runners. No pressure. Just showing up, together. “There shouldn’t really be any barriers to bei...

Today, on Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr is joined by Sahel Mohammed , recipient of the UTS Student Life Medallion , the highest recognition the university awards for student leadership and legacy. From joining clubs in his very first week at university to leading award-winning programs impacting thousands of students, Sahel reflects on how curiosity, consistency, and proactivity shaped his fo...

Today, on Better Student Leaders , I’m joined by Paris Mordecai . Paris is a proud Widjabul woman, born and raised on Bundjalung Country. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies and Criminology from the University of Melbourne and is currently the Senior Coordinator, STEM Outreach (Indigenous) in the Faculty of Science. Through her work, Paris leads culturally grounded STEM outreach program...

Today on Better Student Leaders , I’m joined by Jared Tippets, Vice President for Student Affairs at Southern Utah University and co-author of Ascend to Higher Retention Rates. With more than two decades in student success, Jared shares how the ASCEND framework has helped lift retention by double-digit percentage points, not through silver bullets, but through hundreds of small, human-centred impr...

Today on Better Student Leaders , RDC.AI CEO Ada Guan reflects on a decade at the front edge of artificial intelligence and what that journey reveals about the future students and leaders are stepping into right now. From building AI before it was mainstream to helping organisations unlock billions in value, Ada breaks down why the real advantage is not technical mastery, but curiosity, judgment,...

Today, on Better Student Leaders , we’re joined by Leon Rebello MP, the youngest member of the coalition in the Australian Parliament and the Federal Member for McPherson. From starting his career in the parliamentary basement mailroom to delivering his maiden speech in the House of Representatives, Leon’s journey is a masterclass in civic engagement, values discovery, and leadership from the grou...

In this powerful episode of Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr is joined by Fabiola Campbell , founder of Professional Migrant Women and bestselling author of Own It , to unpack the hidden reality facing professional migrant women in Australia. Fabiola shares what happens when highly capable women arrive with qualifications, ambition, and experience, yet suddenly feel “like your identity has been...

In this episode of Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr is joined by Professor Duncan Bentley, Vice-Chancellor and President of Federation University Australia , for a wide-ranging and deeply human conversation about leadership, community, and the future of higher education. Duncan reflects on his earliest lessons in leadership growing up in Africa, including a formative Outward Bound experience at...

Today on Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr is joined by Nitzan Pelman, four-time social entrepreneur, Presidential Leadership Scholar, Aspen Fellow, former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at LinkedIn, and now CEO and Founder of Climb Together . In this actionable and insightful episode, Nitzan breaks down the research behind why 70% of jobs come from who you know, why weak ties outperform strong ties,...

Today on Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr is joined by researchers Tomasz Zają̨c and Professor Garth Stahl to unpack one of Australia’s most important equity studies: a national analysis of 440,000 young people revealing the profound access gap facing first-in-family students. Their work shows that while 59% of students with university-educated parents enter higher education by age 19, only 36%...

This is a new style of 'voice note to self' for Better Student Leaders . In this recording, I share a *hands-free* recording I took drafting out ideas for my next book , tentatively titled, "Leadership Lockbox: Cultivating Four Styles for Transformative Leadership" The audio is a bit shaky at the start, but then it evens out! Please let me know what you think about: This style of...

Today on Better Student Leaders , Josh sits down with Anita Brandt , STEM Outreach Manager at Griffith University and the powerhouse behind Science on the Go and the groundbreaking SuperGEMS program. For more than 20 years, Griffith’s outreach has supported teachers, excited young people from Prep to Year 12, and created authentic pathways into STEM. In this episode, Anita shares how the team blen...

Today on Better Student Leaders , Josh Farr sits down with Emma Boyd , founder of StickyAid , an accessible one-handed bandage dispenser inspired by her grandfather, an amputee who struggled with basic first-aid tasks. At just 19, Emma has already become a Teen Business Awards 2025 Finalist , an ACS Women of STEM Scholar , a Vice Chancellor Scholar , and a youth leader across Queensland. 3 Reasons...

In this explosive conversation of Better Student Leaders, renowned neuroscientist Dr Jared Cooney Horvath breaks down the evidence most people never hear. From emergency data showing that phones make students less safe , to the neuroscience of distraction, to why well-intentioned EdTech often harms learning, Jared lays out a compelling case for rethinking our entire relationship with technology in...

Today on Better Student Leaders, Josh is joined by Tim Hart, Chairman of the National Stock Exchange of Australia and long-time Chair of Enactus Australia, for a deep dive into the four principles that shaped his leadership across multiple billion-dollar organisations: mistakes, teams, resilience, and agility. “I think you’re going to make a lot of mistakes. Don’t expect it all to go right.” Three...

Today on Better Student Leaders, I’m joined by Dr Chamindika Weerakoon , Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Swinburne University of Technology, and John Downes , former President of the Institute of Management Consultants and long-time Deloitte partner. Together, they unpack how Swinburne’s Business Consulting Project. This episode is essential listening if you want to understand three things:...

Today on Better Student Leaders, Josh sits down with Dr Bridie Mulholland , a proud Jingili woman, Assistant Professor in First Nations Health at Bond University, and winner of the 2025 Queensland Woman in STEM First Nations Award . Bridie shares her unconventional path from postgraduate student leader to academic leader, explaining how her early days in GCAP shaped everything she does now. As she...

In this episode of Better Student Leaders , Josh sits down with Dhruva Bhattacharya , the 21 year old former President at UNSW, who led an 80 person committee and engaged more than 5,000 engineering students. “Working with them was the easiest thing I had to do. Carrying that big rock together made everything possible.” Dhruva breaks down how he stepped into the role, what he learned from leading...

Today, on Better Student Leaders , we jump into a live Q&A at Monash University where Josh answers one powerful question students are quietly asking: “How do we help exhausted students build real community on campus?” What follows is a rapid fire session on empathy based marketing, naming the real villain of loneliness, and a bold proposal for 2026 called No Phones Allowed , a weekly hour on c...

Today on Better Student Leaders , Josh sits down with Emily Pich , the 2025 Executive of the Year at ActivateUTS and the Engagements Director behind UTS Women in Business being named Club of the Year. Emily shares the strategy, the culture, and the heart that transformed a student club into one of the most connected communities on campus. With honesty, warmth, and the perspective of someone who ne...

Today on Better Student Leaders , meet James Wilson , Clubs Manager at Arc UNSW and the architect behind the largest university clubs program in the entire Southern Hemisphere. Under his leadership, Arc has grown to more than 413 clubs, grown to over 80,000 new memberships , overhauled governance and compliance, reinvented training for 850 club executives, and transformed campus culture through ev...

Today on Better Student Leaders , we’re doing something different. This episode was recorded live at UNSW with leaders from across a dozen clubs, where Josh spent the final ten minutes of the workshop taking completely unfiltered, anything-goes audience questions on one theme: how student clubs can build stronger, smarter, more valuable industry partnerships. “You’re not trying to get one up on a...