High Resolves Australia

    We have been facilitating our signature workshops to school and university students around Australia for over 15 years, as well as delivering professional training for thousands of school and university teachers through seminars, conferences and in-school workshops.

    Our history

    Seeds of an idea

    In the 1980s, co-founder Mehrdad worked under the supervision of Nobel laureate Tom Schelling at the Harvard Kennedy School to study the emergence of cooperation using simulations. Mehrdad and a colleague developed a Climate Change negotiation simulation which became part of the negotiation courses offered at the Harvard Business School, Law School and Kennedy School.

    High Resolves is born

    In 2005, Mehrdad and Roya were looking to make a significant contribution to society. They recalled the simulation from the 80s and approached their son’s school, the International Grammar School in inner city Sydney, to pilot the approach for high school students. Students were engaged, and so work began to flesh out the activities into comprehensive curriculum.

    Expansion throughout Sydney

    The program grew quickly, with 20 schools across Sydney engaging High Resolves to deliver its high-quality learning experiences. We recruited educators and expert facilitators to deliver our programs and support Mehrdad in developing and refining curriculum. High Resolves was being recognised as a provider of high-quality learning experiences.

    New hubs are created

    During the next few years, High Resolves expanded to more than 100 schools, and opened new hubs in Melbourne and Brisbane, as demand for our services grew. With this scale, we made a strategic decision to introduce pricing for our services to continue to grow our impact and reach a wider range of schools. We were a fully self-funded social enterprise by 2017.

    Regional and Remote Australia

    In 2019, we reached 90,000 Australian students and opened new hubs in regional Australia. During the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, we created high-quality online offerings to engage students and teachers, through the Open Learning platform. These resources continue to be valued by schools where we do not have COVID restrictions, and allows us to scale our impact into the rest of Australia.

    woman wearing face mask

    Our vision

    The events of 2020 changed our lives. The global pandemic revealed to many of us, the limits of our own resilience and mental health, and in speaking with parents, educators and young Australians, we understand the shared concern for young people and their feelings of isolation and anxiety about the future.

    The sense of disconnect felt by young people as a result of the pandemic and the remote learning environment it created, means young Australians are increasingly searching for belonging in unregulated and often unsafe online spaces, which if left unchecked, provide fertile ground for division and manipulation. 

    The need to activate human responsibility lies at the heart of this challenge.

    Our global presence

    Since our start in Australia in 2005, we have continuously adapted our curriculum to the specific cultural contexts we work in. As part of our expansion into the U.S., Canada, China and Brazil, we are tailoring the language, examples and even facilitation style to fit with the cultural context.

    Select a state to learn more

    Back to Global map

    Northern Territory

    Email us

    Queensland

    Brisbane

    Gold Coast

    Sunshine Coast

    Far North Queensland

    Email us

    South Australia

    Email us

    New South Wales

    Sydney

    Newcastle

    Wollongong

    Email us

    Victoria

    Email us

    Tasmania

    Email us

    New Zealand

    Email us

    Western Australia

    Email us

    Learn more about High Resolves

    Sign up to stay in touch