Professor Dewar Is the Vice-Chancellor and President of La Trobe University, a position he has held since January 2012.

Professor Dewar is an internationally-known family law specialist and researcher. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where he was also a Fellow of Hertford College from 1990 to 1995. He taught at the Universities of Lancaster and Warwick in the UK and worked for the London law firms Allen & Overy and Farrer & Co.

Professor Dewar came to Australia in 1995 and held senior leadership positions at Griffith University and the University of Melbourne, where he was Provost, before taking up the position of Vice‐Chancellor of La Trobe.

Professor Dewar is a past Deputy Chair of Universities Australia and UA Lead Vice-Chancellor on Health Professions Education; a member of the AHEIA Executive Committee; a Director of Education Australia Pty Ltd; a Director of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute; and a Director of AARNet.

He is an Adjunct Professor in the Melbourne Law School, an Honorary Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford and an Adjunct Professor in the La Trobe Law School.

His previous appointments include member of the Attorney-General’s Family Law Pathways Advisory Group (2000-1), Chair of the Family Law Council (2001-4), Chair of the Queensland College of Teachers (2006-9), member of the Advisory Council of the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2007-11), Chair of the Victorian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (2014-5), Chair of the Innovative Research Universities (2014-6), and Chair of the Victorian Student Planning Advisory Group for the Victorian Department of Health (2016-7). He was a member of the Advisory Board for the Centre for Ethical Leadership at the Melbourne Business School and Ormond College from 2010-2016. In 2014, he chaired the Legislation and Finance Working Group for the Federal Education Minister.

Professor Margaret Sheil AO was appointed Vice-Chancellor and President of QUT in February 2018, having previously been Provost at The University of Melbourne (2012-2017) and Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council (2007-2012).

Professor Sheil has been an academic in chemistry and held a number of senior roles at the University of Wollongong, including as Dean of Science and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research). She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS), the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), and the Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry (ANZSMS).

Professor Sheil is Chair of the Board of the Queensland Museum Network, Deputy Chair of the Board of Universities Australia, the lead Vice Chancellor for Research for Universities Australia, and a member of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Group. She was a Director of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) from 2015-2019, and the Advisory Board for Coursera from 2013-2016. She was a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Engineering Council, the National Research Infrastructure Council, and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee from 2007-2012.

In 2017 Professor Sheil was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her distinguished service to science and higher education as an academic and administrator, through significant contributions to the national research landscape, and to performance standards. Professor Sheil holds a Bachelor of Science and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from The University of New South Wales and was presented with the Science and Technology Alumni Award from UNSW in 2016.

David Lloyd is the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia. A Dublin-born and educated chemist who specialises in computer-aided drug design, Professor Lloyd joined the university at the beginning of 2013, re-focusing it as Australia’s university of enterprise and shaping its activities to better meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Professor Lloyd was a member of the South Australia Economic Development Board (EDB) from 2014 to 2018. A past Chair of the Australian Technology Network group of technology-focused universities, he now sits on the board of Universities Australia, the peak body representing the university sector where he is the lead Vice-Chancellor for research and innovation. He was also recently appointed to the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Advisory Council to provide advice to the ARC on key research policy issues, to lend independent strategic guidance and experience that will strengthen the ARC’s ability to support research and innovation in Australia.

Before joining the University of South Australia, Professor Lloyd was Vice-President for Research and later Bursar and Director of Strategic Innovation at Trinity College Dublin. Professor Lloyd was Chair of the Irish Research Council and prior to academia, worked in the pharmaceutical industry in the UK. He holds an honorary Professorship from Tianjin University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Professor Lloyd qualified with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Applied Chemistry and a PhD in Medicinal Organic Chemistry from Dublin City University. He additionally holds an MA (j.o.) from Trinity College and an Honorary Doctorate from the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s Unseen University.

Professor Brian Schmidt was appointed Vice-Chancellor of The Australian National University (ANU) in January 2016.

Professor Schmidt is the 12th Vice-Chancellor of The Australian National University (ANU). Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, Professor Schmidt was an astrophysicist at the ANU Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics before becoming Vice-Chancellor.

Professor Schmidt received undergraduate degrees in Astronomy and Physics from the University of Arizona in 1989 and completed his Astronomy Master’s degree (1992) and PhD (1993) from Harvard University. Under his leadership, in 1998, the High-Z Supernova Search team made the startling discovery that the expansion rate of the Universe is accelerating. Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, The United States Academy of Science, and the Royal Society, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2013.

Professor Steve Chapman commenced his role as Vice-Chancellor and President of Edith Cowan University (ECU) in April 2015.

Prior to joining ECU, Professor Chapman was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University from 2009, and Vice-Principal at the University of Edinburgh from 2006.

In 2001 he received the Interdisciplinary Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry, for his ground-breaking work at the interface of Chemistry and Biology. He has published over 200 scientific papers in prestigious journals and has given numerous Plenary Lectures at International Conferences. Professor Chapman was one of the founders of ScotCHEM, the research “pooling” exercise in Chemistry across Scotland.

Among his board and committee memberships while Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, Professor Chapman chaired the Funding Policy Committee of Universities Scotland, and was member of the Board of the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association.

As a proud supporter of workplace gender equality, Professor Chapman is a member of CEOs for Gender Equity, a Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Pay Equity Ambassador and a signatory to the WGEA Pay Equity Pledge.

Professor Chapman holds the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from Newcastle University. In 2005 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Edinburgh in 2011.

In 2016 Professor Chapman was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to higher education.

Professor Geraldine Mackenzie is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland. Prior to joining the University in September 2017 she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Southern Cross University.

Professor Mackenzie returns to USQ having been Foundation Head of the University’s School of Law in 2007 and 2008, before she took up senior executive positions at Bond University: Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Community Engagement), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research), and Executive Dean, Faculty of Law.  Prior to joining USQ in 2007 she held various senior roles at QUT, and served on QUT Council for nine years. She has had a strong commitment throughout her career to widening participation in higher education, particularly in Australia’s regional areas, flexible learning opportunities and encouraging a strong link between the University and business, government, industry and the community.

In addition to her extensive organisational leadership experience, Professor Mackenzie has an international reputation in her own academic background in law, with a PhD in sentencing law from the University of New South Wales. Her research interests are in law and public policy.  A Barrister-at-Law and lawyer since 1985, she is a member of the Queensland Bar Association, American Bar Association and the International Bar Association.

Professor Mackenzie has held a number of senior positions at State and Federal level including Deputy Chair, Universities Australia DVC (Research) Committee;  Co-Chair, Universities Australia Executive Women; Chair, NSW DVC (Research) Committee; Chair, RUN Research group; Chair, Humanities and Creative Arts panel, Australian Research Council College of Experts; Chair, Queensland Selection Panel American/Australian Fulbright Commission, and was an executive member of the Council of Australian Law Deans.

Professor Attila Brungs is the Vice-Chancellor of UNSW. He was previously Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Technology Sydney and has held senior positions with CSIRO and McKinsey & Company.

Professor Brungs is a Rhodes Scholar with a Doctorate in Inorganic Chemistry from Oxford University and a University Medal in Industrial Chemistry from the University of New South Wales.

Some of Professor Brungs’ present key appointments include ATN Chair; Chair of the National Priorities and Industry Linkage Fund Working Group, member of the NSW Government Tech Central Industry Advisory Group; the NSW Innovation and Productivity Council; the Committee for Sydney Board; and ATSE fellow. His experience includes many distinguished past board and committee memberships, including not-for-profit organisations, in addition to numerous state and federal government and institutional appointments.

Professor Duncan Maskell became the 20^th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne in 2018.

Before this, Professor Maskell was Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cambridge, responsible for its overall planning and resources, with an annual turnover of approximately £2 billion.

A Cambridge graduate and research specialist in infectious diseases, Professor Maskell’s career also includes the University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and Wellcome Biotech.

In addition to this, Professor Maskell has co-founded four biotech companies. One of his goals as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne is to further advance the translation and commercialisation of its extensive research program, for the benefit of society.

BA (Monash & La Trobe), Grad Dip in Politics (La Trobe), MA Prelim in Politics (La Trobe), GAICD

Ms Catriona Jackson is Chief Executive and Director of Universities Australia, the peak body representing the Australian higher education sector nationally and internationally.

Ms Jackson joined Universities Australia in 2016 as Deputy Chief Executive to lead the policy team that develops sectoral policy. She has over three decades working in government, universities, advocacy, policy analysis and development, strategic communication and media at the highest levels.

Prior to joining Universities Australia, Ms Jackson was the Chief Executive Officer of peak lobby group Science and Technology Australia, senior adviser to a federal government cabinet minister, director of government relations and communications at the Australian National University and a newspaper and radio journalist.