About Us

NovumAVI is a specialist consultancy based in Queensland, Australia. Our corporate philosophy is summed up in four words: simplicity, evidence, rigour, and fun:

• Simplicity - clients want us to produce simple, elegant solutions, not to confuse them, or baffle them with complex jargon. Our skill is to take complexity and make it simple to deal with.
• Evidence - our work is based on the best evidence available, not opinions or ideology - we gather the evidence and apply our brains to produce intelligent solutions that are robust and defensible.
• Rigour - our hallmark. Rigour means getting it right, and that means checking and re-checking, it means getting the right evidence, it means questioning ourselves, and it means looking for the uncomfortable answers.
• Fun - for us fun is working on intellectually stimulating questions, and coming up with smart answers. It's working with clients to solve problems. We aim to have fun because we're going to do a better job when we're enjoying ourselves. And we hope you'll have fun too.

Robert Lake - Principal

Robert brings over 20 years experience in research, program evaluation and performance management across a broad range of public sector areas including the military. He is an experienced leader and manager of multi-disciplinary research teams and has significant experience in consulting within a range of large organisations on performance management, organisational interventions and change facilitation. He is a recognised expert in program evaluation, and has won two awards from the Australasian Evaluation Society – itself a rare achievement – including the prestigious Evaluation Study Award. He also has considerable expertise in a wide range of statistical analyses including structural equation modelling. He has undergraduate and post-graduate qualifications in psychology from the Australian National University and a PhD in psychology from the University of Queensland.

Andrew Ward - associate

Andrew has a very strong background in statistical analysis and modelling. His PhD from the University of Queensland was in the field of computational fluid dynamics. He has expertise in psychometric modelling, including Rasch measurement models, and extensive experience in educational measurement.

Ann Vitale - associate

Ann is an experienced educator and administrator. She has worked extensively in overseas educational aid in recent years, constructing an education system with the UN in Kosovo and re-establishing the tertiary education system in Iraq.

David Kelly - associate

David is a highly regarded educational transformer and researcher, with many years experience implementing and guiding innovation in education.

John Twomey - associate

John is a medical practitioner with considerable experience in general practice, occupational medicine, remote area medical services ranging from mountain rescue and treatment to medical evacuation in developing countries. He has also worked in practice quality systems, management and accreditation.

Lesley Friend - associate

Lesley is an experienced educator, change agent and educational researcher with over 35 years experience working within the contexts of education and the arts where she has initiated, led and managed significant change. As researcher she has lead innovative research, including monitoring and evaluation, for national and international governments in cutting edge educational reform projects. She spent two years working in the Arabian Gulf where she assisted government to raise the capacity of teachers and school leaders in order to enhance student outcomes. As a manager she has sustained and supported a large number of schools, including their principals and teachers, who have participated in a challenging and research-supported innovation. She has interests in sustainability and education.