Dr Shelly Newstead
Managing Director
Dr Shelly Newstead created the PARS playwork model as part of her doctoral research at the UCL Institute of Education, London, and has been appointed as an Adjunct Research Fellow at Griffith University, Brisbane Australia. Shelly has worked in the playwork field for nearly thirty years as a practitioner, trainer, author, editor, publisher and researcher. She is the Series Editor for Advances in Playwork Research (Routledge) and the Managing Editor of International Journal of Playwork Practice. She is also currently the President of the International Council for Children’s Play (ICCP) and her research interests include the history of playwork and the development of empirical evidence about playwork practice. Shelly is also the author of the popular Busker’s Guide to Playwork which has sold over 12,000 copies worldwide and is now also available in Japanese.