Speakers

Dr Richard Turner is an innovation strategist and psychologist focused on advancing safety, mental health, and workforce capability across the resources sector. His career spans frontline service in the Australian Defence Force, underground mining as an operator, and Mines Rescue, giving him deep operational insight into high-risk, high-performance environments. Building on his frontline experience, he completed a PhD in Psychology specialising in safety, wellbeing, and organisational performance in mining.

This unique combination of lived experience, industry immersion, and academic expertise positions him as a trusted leader in designing and deploying workforce capability programs that resonate with resource-sector personnel. He has guided the development and implementation of Mental Health Response Training (MHRT), an industry-specific program now being adopted across major mining operations. His work bridges evidence-based practice with operational realities, ensuring psychological health initiatives are practical, culturally relevant, and commercially scalable across Australia’s evolving mining landscape