We acknowledge the Traditional Owners/Custodians of the lands and waters on which we work and live on across Australia. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We are committed to collaboration that furthers self-determination and creates a better future for all. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website contains images and names of deceased persons.

The Australian Centre for Social Innovation

Brugh O’Brien

Head of Consulting

Brugh O’Brien
he/him
LinkedIn

Working on Kaurna Land

Driven by a passion for social justice, Brugh has worked with many forms of government, NGOs, and businesses to help them reimagine their role in supporting better lives for the people and communities they are accountable to. Having worked as a professional innovation consultant for over 20 years, he has deep experience in the development of public policy, services, products, brands and communications, in over 20 countries.

At TACSI, Brugh leads the Consulting team, ensuring the right people are on the right work, and working within conditions that support the greatest impact for the people, communities and partners we work with. He also leads the Future of Home, an initiative focused on creating a future where all Australians can live and age well in a place they choose to call home. Key influences shaping his practice include systems, empowerment and trauma-informed perspectives.

For him, the most rewarding part of his role is the opportunity to lean into and work through complexity, in ways that support growth and transformation alongside people, communities and systems. A natural collaborator, Brugh appreciates any opportunity to bring together diverse perspectives to see each other’s challenges, work through tensions and re-group around reimagined futures.

Brugh spends his downtime with his family and loves spending time in nature.

Follow Brugh on Linkedin and Twitter

  • Bachelor in Psychology (Honours)
  • Masters of Social Work

Brugh's Message Stick

* A message stick is a public form of graphic communication first used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Peoples. The objects were carried by messengers over long distances and were used to support a verbal message.

Brugh O'Brien's message stick is a document titled '75 years since the Pilbara strike' and features an image of a man in the outback and another image of a notebook with a photo of a man.

Brugh's project highlights

Social R&D for Australia

Social R&D for Australia

Since 2019, a growing group of partners – including TACSI – have been exploring the potential of Social R&D systems as an alternate way to make progress on tough social challenges.

Supporting South Australians to age well

Supporting South Australians to age well

In 2019, TACSI wrote a report for the Office for Ageing Well on the theme ‘Listening to how we can support South Australians to age well’. In 2020, we engaged with a diverse range of government, non-government and community stakeholders to build on this work, the result of which was the South Australia’s Plan for Ageing Well 2020-2025.

Changing the way we think about ageing

Changing the way we think about ageing

With the highest proportion of older people on mainland Australia, South Australia is uniquely positioned to lead how we redesign ageing for better lives. In partnership with the Office for Ageing Well, we listened to thousands of older people and consolidated what we heard into three strategic priorities necessary to reinvent how we age.

Meet more of the team who make our work possible.