MAVlab Innovation Talks
MAVlab Innovation Talks is a new event series that will act like innovation acupuncture by showcasing inspirational public sector work and the extraordinary practitioners leading it.
Monthly events will be hosted online, convening a collection of international luminaries with leading local practitioners sharing work from around Victoria and the world.
Talks will focus on themes of community health & wellbeing, climate futures, future gen, connected places, tomorrow’s infrastructure, local leadership and emerging tech and data practices.
Upcoming events
Details of the next MAVlab Innovation Talk will be appearing soon!
Past events
MAVlab Innovation Talks #14: Health is a Design Outcome: Tools for Thriving Homes and Communities
- Date: Tuesday, 26 May 2026
Health is shaped by more than healthcare or lifestyle. It’s shaped by where we live. Access to daylight, walkable streets, green space and resilient infrastructure all influence how people connect, move and thrive. Every home, street and subdivision already shapes health outcomes, whether intentionally or not.
Building on years of practice and collaboration, locally developed tools are helping councils and industry lift ambition beyond baseline compliance. By strengthening how sustainability and indoor environment quality principles are applied from the earliest planning stages, they support better decisions upfront and more resilient, liveable communities.
Watch this recording to learn about work led by the Council Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment (CASBE), including research on daylight and health, enhancements to the Built Environment Sustainability Scorecard (BESS), and the new BESS Subdivisions tool. You’ll also hear how these tools are already informing work on council owned sites, including work underway at the City of Whittlesea.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #13: Weathering the Future: Local Leadership in Climate Resilience
- Date: Tuesday, 28 April 2026
Australia’s weather-related disasters are becoming more frequent, more intense and more costly, placing growing pressure on communities, local roads, community infrastructure and essential services. Since January 2015, Victoria has had 90 declared disaster events, with many councils impacted multiple times.
Local government sits at the frontline of this challenge. Councils are custodians of $140 billion in shared community assets, many of which were not designed for the scale or frequency of climate impacts now being experienced. Integrating climate risk into infrastructure planning, emergency management, land use and health is no longer optional. It is critical to ensuring communities remain safe, connected and able to thrive.
In this event we heard from the City of Greater Bendigo’s Manager Climate Change and Environment, Michelle Wyatt, on embedding climate change and emergency management through co-design and strengthened internal ways of working; and from Bass Coast Shire, Nick Grant-Collins, Chair of the Gippsland Regional Emergency Management Committee and Coordinator Community Safety and Resilience, and Simon Woodland, Manager of Sustainable Environment and President of SECCCA (South East Councils Climate Change Alliance), shared insights into the Energy Resilient Community Hubs and how collaboration is building regional resilience.
Together, we explored how councils can lead with foresight, collaborate across boundaries and weather the future with confidence.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #12: The Data Centre Surge: Getting Digital Infrastructure Right in Our Communities
- Date: Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Data centres power the digital systems we rely on every day - from social media and streaming to cloud computing and AI. They are increasingly recognised as critical digital infrastructure, but they are also resource intensive, land hungry and complex to plan for.
Across Victoria, councils are experiencing a surge in planning applications for new data centres. While state, federal and industry bodies are working to establish frameworks and guidance for clear minimum standards for planning, energy and water use, many local governments need practical direction now.
In this recording, join a discussion on how councils can stay ahead of this fast‑moving issue. Hear insights from local governments responding to rapid growth, alongside organisations shaping Victoria’s data centre rollout, and explore what best practice could look like to ensure digital infrastructure delivers community benefit while protecting the environment.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #11: Beyond Bias – Building Teams for the Future
- Date: Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Catch up on a conversation we hosted in February 2026, exploring two bold and practical council initiatives helping build more inclusive teams and environments.
Victoria’s communities are rich in diversity. To serve them well, our councils need teams that reflect that diversity, bringing different perspectives, lived experience, and ways of thinking into how we design and deliver places, projects, and services.
But inclusive and equal teams don’t just happen.
In this recording, you’ll learn more about a collaborative workplace program at Brimbank City Council, supporting the creation of gender-equal teams by building empathy and shared ownership, translating intent into tangible cultural change. You’ll also hear about the WINTR Program, a City of Greater Bendigo Initiative, supporting women in traditionally male-dominated roles through mentoring and connection-building initiatives, strengthening confidence, networks, and gender balance across local industries.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #10: Where Learning Builds Belonging
- Date: Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted in November, exploring how local councils are fostering early education engagement for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
The CALD Outreach Initiative, funded by the Victorian Government’s Department of Education and delivered in partnership with MAV, has helped over 6,000 CALD children access kindergarten across 26 councils in Victoria between March 2021 and September 2023.
In this recording, you’ll learn more about the program and hear insights and stories from Tania Sangiorgio and Madeeha Khalil, Kindergarten Outreach Officers, Merri-bek City Council and Jo Grima, Early Years CALD Outreach Worker, Hobsons Bay City Council to discover how they are building hope and connection in our diverse communities.
You can learn more about the CALD Outreach Initiative on the MAV website: CALD Kindergarten Participation Project.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #9: Prevention Through Connection - Council-led Wellbeing Initiatives
- Date: Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted on Wednesday 29 October, spotlighting the important – often invisible – work being done by local councils to lay the groundwork for better mental health and wellbeing in our communities.
You’ll hear about:
- Community Connectors Program – Wyndham City Council
- Grit and Resilience Program – Rural City of Wangaratta.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #8: Building Homes, Strengthening Communities
- Date: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted on Wednesday 24 September, spotlighting the finalists in the MAVlab Innovation Awards – The Refuge Award.
Join us as we dive into three incredible projects:
- Make Room, City of Melbourne
- The Harbour – Social Housing Pilot, Darebin City Council
- Safe Haven, Mornington Peninsula Shire.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #7: Library-Con: Pop Culture, Participation & Possibilities
- Date: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted in August, exploring three examples across the state where libraries are delivering an extraordinary Comic-Con style event.
You’ll hear about:
- Lib-Con at Mill Park Library, by Yarra Plenty Regional Libraries
- Dandy-Con, by the City of Greater Dandenong, and
- King-Con by the City of Kingston.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #6: Future Voices in Local Government
- Date: Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted in July, exploring two powerful examples of youth-led innovation in local government. Learn about The Young Mayors Program, run by the Foundation for Young Australians, an initiative that empowers youth councils with real budgets, mentoring, and the tools to deliver local projects. You'll also hear how the Maribyrnong Youth Hub, a vibrant online platform created by and for young people aged 12–25, is helping young people shape programs, share ideas, and take part in council life.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #5: Emerging Roles for Trials and Transformation
- Date: Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted in June, exploring the critical enablement roles we’re seeing emerge in our local councils. You’ll hear from Mandy O'Toole and Alireza Toran Pour at the City of Melbourne who will share insights from their newly created City Sensing Lead role, and Justin Daly, the Emerging Technologies Lead at Mornington Peninsula Shire, who has helped pilot a variety of new digital and AI tools, showing what’s possible when councils create space for experimentation.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #4: Beyond the Survey
- Date: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted in May with Michael Beattie, Community Engagement Coordinator at Banyule City Council, Pip Smith, Coordinator of Community Engagement and Sujayne Downie, Community Engagement Officer at Yarra Ranges Council. You’ll learn how they are leveraging a variety of tactics and tools, experimenting and innovating with community engagement methods beyond the survey, enabling rich community engagement to help drive more resilience, inclusive and thriving communities.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #3: AI Innovation in Local Government
- Date: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Catch up on a conversation we hosted in April with Lisa Ippolito, Continuous Improvement Project Specialist at Whitehorse City Council and Sahar Farzanfar, Project Lead for MAVlab’s AI in Planning project. You’ll hear about an example of creative AI adoption at Whitehorse City Council as well as get a sneak peak into the highly collaborative AI in Planning project led by MAVlab.
MAVlab Innovation Talks #2: Digital Storytelling for Community Conversations
- Date: Wednesday, 26 March 2025
Catch up on an exciting discussion we facilitated with Kelly Henderson, Team Leader Digital Innovation at City of Wellington and Helen Walpole, who leads a data design studio at City of Melbourne, exploring innovative examples of digital tools for storytelling to drive community trust and involvement with council projects.
See the Our Changing City video that was shared during Kelly Henderson’s presentation:
MAVlab Innovation Talks #1: Connected Places with Nathalie de Vries and Jocelyn Chiew
- Date: Wednesday, 28 August 2024
Catch up on a conversation we hosted between two living legends of public sector design, visionary architect Nathalie de Vries (the DV from the world-renowned Dutch architecture practice MVRDV) in conversation with Jocelyn Chiew, Director of City Design at the City of Melbourne.