International Centre for Mental Toughness Research & Development

Dana has over 12 years of experience in team management, telesales, customer care, and 10 years in project management. Her professional evolution highlights the desire for development and continuous learning, as well as the diversification of fields and experiences. 

Her management experience correlated with her involvement in training and developing people are found in results and partnerships with some of the largest companies such as: Oracle, IBM, VDF, HP, Siemens, Luxoft, JTI, BAT, etc. 

She is specialised in management and business development, graduating from the courses of Excellence in Management from Asebuss, Master in Multimodal Management, Faculty of European Studies, specialization in Management at Univ. Babes Bolyai. She specializes in Project Management; she has completed courses in PMI and Business Analysis. In regard to people management and negotiation she has graduated the courses “Principles of Master in Negotiation” in Stamford, “AGILE”, “Manager as Coach” and she is a certified trainer in “Process Communication Model ” and “Mental Toughness”. 

Dr Brent Macdonald is a registered psychologist and educator who has worked with individuals with complex learning needs for over 25 years.  He maintains an active psychological services practice with a focus on counselling and assessment.  He is also a sessional instructor, adjunct associate professor, clinical supervisor, and sought-after public speaker who has appeared on CBC, CTV, Global, CITY TV, and has presented at national and international conferences. Dr Macdonald has served with the Psychologist’s Association of Alberta, the Canadian Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, among others.   

Dr Macdonald has worked extensively with children, adolescents, young adults, their parents, educators, administrators, and executives in a wide range of contexts including public, private, and charter schools, universities and other post-secondary institutions, corporate teams, and community parent groups. He is a passionate believer in human psychological wellness and the need for public awareness to enhance communities and reduce stigma associated with psychological challenges. 

Based in Phoenix, Arizona, All Things Performance LLC work across the Education and the Sports sectors specialising in preparing for and improving performance. Josiah Igono is the President and Chief Performance Strategist for All Things Performance LLC, where he helps high-level performers establish foundations and frameworks for a powerful mindset. 

Over the last 15 years, Josiah Igono has been knee-deep in the world of athletics, serving as a Strength Coach, Performance Psychology professional, and as a chaplain. His reach has impacted athletes in the NFL, MLB, and the NCAA. Most recently, he was responsible for the implementation of mental skills programs for professional athletes and coaches for the Texas Rangers as Major League Director of Peak Performance.  

Prior to Texas Rangers, Igono was the Lead Performance Specialist at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ, working directly with the baseball team, along with five other athletic programs. Igono played football for Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University as a defensive back.  

Fascinated by how individuals respond to stressors, Josiah has dedicated years to researching mental toughness and its impact on athletes and high performers. He holds his Doctorate in Performance Psychology and is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. 

Dr Suzy Green is a Clinical and Coaching Psychologist (MAPS) and Founder & CEO of The Positivity Institute, a Sydney-based positively deviant organisation dedicated to the research and application of the science of optimal human functioning in organisations and schools. She is a leader in the complementary fields of Coaching Psychology and Positive Psychology having conducted a world-first study on evidence-based coaching as an Applied Positive Psychology. Suzy has published over twenty academic chapters and peer reviewed journal articles including the Journal of Positive Psychology. She is the co-editor of “Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice” (Green & Palmer, 2018), “Positive Psychology Coaching in the Workplace” (Smith, Boniwell & Green, 2021) and “The Positivity Prescription” (Green, 2019). Suzy lectured on Applied Positive Psychology as a Senior Adjunct Lecturer in the Coaching Psychology Unit, University of Sydney for ten years and is an Honorary Vice President of the International Society for Coaching Psychology. Suzy is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of East London and holds Honorary Academic positions at the Centre for Wellbeing Science, University of Melbourne, the Black Dog Institute and she is an Affiliate of the Institute for Well-Being, Cambridge University. Suzy is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Coach Hub, a leading global coaching technology platform. Suzy is an official ambassador for the Starlight Children’s Foundation and she maintains a strong media profile appearing on television, radio and in print. 

Information coming soon…

Lucy is a Partner within Deloitte’s UK practise. As well as being client-facing, Lucy has a passion for talent management and has a Leadership role to drive the Thrive agenda for c2000 employees within Financial Advisory as well as sitting on the UK firm’s Wellbeing Advisory Board.  Mental Toughness assessments and training have been a material investment in the people development journey over recent years and continue to be leveraged to help with both individual and team development. Lucy is a qualified MT Coach and has a keen interest in exploring how MT can be enhanced in conjunction with other talent management initiatives. 

Paul Lyons is an experienced Australian-based mental toughness and leadership practitioner who advises and coaches business owners and leaders and their organisations on making better decisions to achieve happiness, good health and high performance.  

Neither an academic nor psychologist his practical, everyday approach to Mental Toughness comes from an extensive career in business as a founder and leader for over 25 years with two international companies, Michael Page International and Ambition which he co-founded in 1999 and jointly built to be a global ASX listed recruitment group employing 300 people.  

In 2015 he co-founded Mental Toughness Partners, the leading specialist mental toughness and MTQ psychometric company in the southern hemisphere and provides sales and support of AQR International products to coaches, leaders and their organisations throughout Australia, New Zealand and the SE Asia region. 

Toni is a Business Psychologist at AQR International. Toni holds an MSc in Organisational Psychology from Alliance Manchester Business School and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Chester. Toni has worked with AQR on a variety of project-based roles since 2014. She is currently project lead on a number of development programmes focusing on improving performance, wellbeing and retention of employees and students. She is also responsible for providing a full support service to the users of AQR measures, as well as the delivery of MTQ Licensed User and Master Training Programmes. 

A seasoned professional with a keen focus on Mental Toughness, they have left an indelible mark on the field through various impactful initiatives. Demonstrating linguistic versatility, they successfully spearheaded the publication of a Korean translation of “Developing Mental Toughness” in collaboration with a business partner. Committed to knowledge dissemination, their efforts extended to organizing a Speaker Tour alongside Doug S., captivating 450 audiences over 5 days in Korea.

In the domain of assessment, they established AQR Korea and conducted over 600 MTQPLUS tests, showcasing a dedication to understanding and enhancing mental toughness. Their role in Learning and Development included organizing two Licensed User Training sessions in Korea, contributing to the development of 34 licensed users. Actively engaging in continuous learning, they participated in Mental Toughness workshops in Manchester (2019) and Shanghai (2020). Currently, they are immersed in crafting a compelling article exploring the relationship between mental toughness, adaptability to change, and sustainable performance, with a focus on the mediating effect of a sense of ownership.

Their professional journey, predominantly within global MNCs in Korea, spans over a decade of overseas experiences in the USA, Singapore, and Malaysia. Serving as a director across diverse industries—pharmaceuticals, car parts’ manufacturing, F&B, seeds, and crop protection agent manufacturing—they bring a unique and holistic perspective to their coaching role. Actively contributing to the Korea Coaching Association as a director and licensed coach, they are dedicated to advancing mental toughness in both theory and practice.

Doug is the CEO of AQR International – Founded in 1989, AQR is now recognised as one of the most innovative test publishers in the world working in more than 80 countries. AQR has established its reputation as a thought leader in mental toughness. Doug has worked with Professor Peter Clough and Dr John Perry for 25+ years to define Mental Toughness and to create the world’s leading measure of Mental Toughness, the MTQ. 

He is co-author of the leading text on the concept and its applications – Developing Mental Toughness (Kogan Page 2015).  

Doug is now recognised as a leading authority on the application of the framework to the worlds of work, education, social mobility and coaching. He speaks regularly at major conferences and events on the importance of Mental Toughness in improving wellbeing, agility, performance and managing aspirations.  

Helen St Clair-Thompson is a Reader in Psychology at Newcastle University. She has several teaching and leadership responsibilities, including being the Director of Education for Psychology. When time allows, she maintains a scholarly interest in mental toughness, particularly its role in educational settings. She has published work concerned with the role of mental toughness in both school and university settings, and along with undergraduate and postgraduate students has also published work on the role of mental toughness in mental health and wellbeing. Helen is keen on developing collaborations and contributing to projects that further develop our understanding of the mental toughness concept across a range of settings.

Dr Kostas Papageorgiou is a lecturer at Queens University Belfast where he has established the InteRRaCt Lab, which collaborates closely with AQR International as well as Peter Clough and John Perry. He is also Associate Professor in Personality Psychology at Tomsk State University in Russia. His interests include understanding the biological factors that contribute to differences in mental toughness. His most recent work has identified the connections between the 4Cs Mental Toughness Concept and the Big 5 personality model. Kostas has also carried out pioneering work to re-examine the so-called Dark Triad and Mental Toughness – particularly on the relationship between Subclinical Narcissism and Mental Toughness. This is bringing new and very relevant insights into our understanding of leadership.  

Fadi is the Executive Director of Al Tafaouq Al Elmi, a training and consulting provider that has been established in 2004 in Abu Dhabi. He is also a Board of Trustees Member at Ajyal International School and a Regional Director for the Global Innovation Institute MENA Center. Prior to that, he was the head of recruitment services at the Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group. He has over 13 years of progressive experience in leading, mentoring, and coaching teams and individuals as well as supporting organizations in designing, implementing and driving individual and group assessment, business innovation and corporate training. 

Successfully established a credible partnership with the Global Innovation Institute & AQR International that resulted in becoming one of the first providers to delivered innovation certifications and Mental Toughness assessments in the Arabic language.  

Forward-thinking and focused professional holding a Master’s degree in Strategic Human Resources Management from the University of Wollongong in Dubai, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the American University in Dubai. A certified Level A & B in Occupational Testing and Personality Assessment, certified in the use of Mental Toughness measure, and hold a Level 4 BTEC Professional Diploma in Careers Advice and Counselling. 

Information coming soon…

Meet Ms. MK Lee, a seasoned HR professional with 15 years of experience in HRD. Currently, she leads a team of HR experts at one of the major pharmaceutical companies in Korea. Her team focuses on recruitment, assessment center, and education center. Ms. Lee has also made notable contributions to the field of HR, including co-translating “Developing Mental Toughness” into Korean and publishing an academic article titled “Effect of Employees’ Mental Toughness on Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction: Mediating Effect of Psychological Well-Being” in the Administrative Sciences Journal in May 2023. With her impressive achievements, we believe Ms. Lee’s work will spark interest in the importance of mental toughness in the workplace. 

Whilst at the University of Hull, Peter initiated a programme of work which led to the development of the 4Cs framework of Mental Toughness – published in 2002 and now comfortably the most widely adopted description of Mental Toughness globally. Since that time, he has collaborated with researchers all over the world to examine the concept further and to identify links to important aspects of work and life – his name appears on around 50 peer-reviewed papers. 

By inclination an applied psychologist, his work has always focused on real-world issues. In recent times, together with long term collaborator Doug Strycharczyk, Peter has been instrumental in taking the Mental Toughness concept to the next level. 

Zoe Sweet is the Divisional Director Organisational Effectiveness, People Group, at the Ministry of Justice. This MoJ Centre of Expertise drives system-wide effectiveness through the use of organisational development, design, improvement and behaviour change. With over 20 years of experience in people and organisational development in the public and private sector, Zoe has a particular interest in leadership and its relationships with resilience and mental toughness. An experienced practitioner, Zoe is completing a doctorate on leadership experiences of mental toughness. An Advisory Board member for ‘Community Gateway’, a Cardiff University initiative working with community groups to share expertise to achieve common public goals, Zoe is keen on how we connect research, practice and community. Zoe has represented Wales at the Behavioural Exchange Conference at Harvard University and spoken at the Organisational Development Network Europe (ODNE) and the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD) UK National Conferences. A member and reviewer for the British Academy of Management (BAM) and a published contributing author, mostly notably ‘Developing Resilient Organizations (Kogan Page, 2014), ‘Developing Mental Toughness’ (Kogan Page, 2015) and most recently ‘Public Value – Purpose, Passion and Perseverance: creating public value through public sector leadership’ (Routledge, 2019).