Professor Lea Waters

Professor Lea Waters, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on positive education, positive organisations and strength based parenting and teaching. As a university researcher, Lea turns her science into strategies to help organisations, educators and parents around the world build resilience in their employees and children, helping them to thrive. She holds affiliate positions at Cambridge University’s Well-being Institute and the University of Michigan’s Center for Positive Organizations.

Lea has been a research supervisor and co-creator of the trauma-informed positive education approach for teacher pedagogy, which underpins education practice at Berry Street.

Her Positive Detective and Visible Wellbeing programs are being used by schools in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Finland, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Ghana, New Zealand and Australia.

Lea’s book The Strength Switch has been translated into Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, Japanese, Hungarian, Arabic and French. It was also named one of the top reads for 2017 by Greater Good Magazine, one of the top 5 best books on happiness for children by Five Books and was the top new release in the parenting category on Amazon.

In 2015, Lea was listed as one of Australia’s Top 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review and Westpac.