A heartfelt thank you to Larissa Ahoy, Elder in-residence Dr Colin Ahoy, Uncle Steve Widders, Aunty Rose Lovelock and Callum Clayton-Dixon, who have so generously shared their language and welcomed me to this country. I wish you everything you need to reclaim and grow your language and culture here in Anaiwan country. I acknowledge your millennia of custodianship of this land, and pay my respects to elders past and present, and especially to those here today.
Your Excellency, The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales; UNE Vice-Chancellor and CEO Professor Chris Moran and members of the UNE Senior Executive; former Chancellor James Harris; Elder in-residence Dr Colin Ahoy and other elders here today; Deputy Chancellor Jan McClelland and my fellow council members; Deputy Mayor Armidale Regional Council, Mr Todd Redwood; and distinguished guests from our alumni and community.
Welcome to those celebrating with us here and online.
I’d like to acknowledge and thank family and friends here with me today. Some of whom helped me when I worked at UNE many moons ago. Some I spent many hours with on the frozen sidelines of soccer pitches. And some of whom have travelled a long way to be here – many thanks for your friendship and support.
Many of you are strong, successful women, out in the world quietly and – not so quietly – driving change. Thank you for standing beside me today.
A special shout out to my husband, the most supportive, wonderful man alive, who hates to be the centre of attention so I’ll just say Thanks, sweetheart. Another special shout out to my son Rory James. Keep shooting for the stars darling, so proud of you. And my son Tommy – watching online from New Zealand – proud of you too sweetheart. I’d also like to recognise my mother-in-law, Dorothy, who graduated with a Dip Ed at UNE’s very first graduation ceremony and again with a Masters in education at the twenty-fifth graduation – lovely to celebrate with you and other Pearson family members. And, lastly, to family unable to be here, especially my grandchildren Nina, Georgie, Victor, Ned and George, who are already making the world a much nicer place. So much love and thanks to you, too.
Many thanks also to the superstar organisers of this event, noting this is on top of arranging two days of graduation this week. To UNE staff for making the university what it is, and to our students – past and present – for choosing to become part of our extended family.
Finally, to Chris Moran: you are an inspiration, and I look forward to many years working together to achieve the big dreams we share. And Mandana, thank you for your support for Chris and everyone you encounter – we are so lucky to have you on our side.
It is a great joy to become UNE’stenth Chancellor. A privilege to be walking alongside those who are changing the world through learning, teaching, research and powerful partnerships. People who care deeply about our students, our communities, our regions, and the future of Australia. Who believe that no one should be left behind.
We need you.
I said ‘yes’ to this position because I believe UNE is crucial. To regional development, our way of life, global diplomacy, and – importantly to me – to ensuring universal access to tertiary education.
My global career has been dedicated to growing new knowledge, products, industries and economies based on science, technology and innovation. Be that as a physics lecturer here at UNE attempting to treat cancer using AI and lasers, or as Chief Scientist and Chief Innovation Officer at DFAT, an ambassador for entrepreneurialism in the Asia-Pacific. I served as global head of innovation at Cadbury and I’ve been known to rock up to ministers’ offices to promote innovation programs, some of which survive to this day. Working with foundations and social impact organisations has fuelled my passion for equity, and I currently find myself, somehow, embedded in investment roles, as a member of the Federal Treasurer’s Foreign Investment Review Board, and on the investment committee of a one billion dollar venture capital firm investing in deeptech.
I have held positions inside and outside academia. I think this is my fifth role in the university sector. Some would say that’s a sign of madness, but I maintain that universities are essential.
Our economy, security and wellbeing, our industries and the living standards and natural environments we cherish, even our standing as a global leader, depend on tertiary learning. So, too, do the rights and values we uphold. Knowledge underpins our democracy.
It’s unquestionably a challenging time for the sector, here in Australia and internationally, courtesy of financial pressures within and without, policy shifts and increasing competition. Alongside this, the rate of geopolitical, technological, social, environmental and economic change is unprecedented.
Some seventy-five percent of future high-growth jobs, for instance, will require STEM skills and products derived from scientific and technological breakthroughs. Yet the number of Australian school students engaging in a STEM education continues to fall. It’s a similar story in higher education, where declining investment in Australian science and the humanities threatens to stifle the very analysis and imagination that sustains our society.
If we do not act immediately, we seriously risk falling behind. According to ChatGPT, India graduated 1.35 million engineers in 2023/24, whereas the number for the USA was 134,000. India now boasts 6.7 million tertiary students – a figure that has climbed 18 percent in just five years – as they grow their entrepreneurial muscle at a rapid rate. Vietnam plans to leapfrog Australia’s economy through its robotics and AI outlays – an ambition matched only by its impressive IT facilities. Visiting startup spaces in China, I’ve seen first-hand investment that is eye-watering. Australia simply cannot afford to stand still.
UNE’s mandate for stimulating education, cutting-edge research and its practical application is more crucial than ever. And we will have to be creative with our funding models, by necessity. Support from industry, private investors and philanthropy will be increasingly important to universities like ours to deliver the outcomes our industries, cultures, regions and nation need.
It will also require partners who appreciate that UNE is not only a powerhouse of knowledge and research. That we are also peacebuilders, with a part to play in the economic and national security of the Asia-Pacific and beyond. Partners who agree that educating international students, and providing Australian students with international experiences, is key to future safety, prosperity and solidarity in the face of potential threats.
UNE has been engaging in international diplomacy quietly but effectively since our earliest Colombo Plan students arrived in Armidale in the 1950s. We continue to welcome students from all corners of the globe. Remote villages in Bhutan and Nepal, India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
Our staff warmly welcome these ambassadors and, in turn, contribute to growing knowledge-based economies around the world.
With the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, UNE International has a proud history of developing people and research projects in communities from Thailand to Tanzania and Papua New Guinea to Pakistan. Our long-standing Nauru Teacher Education Project has produced generations of early childhood, primary and secondary educators – a program so successful that it has been extended to Tuvalu and now the Federated States of Micronesia. Modern-day diplomacy that transforms lives.
Importantly, UNE brings all this within the reach of Australians. As our visionary first Vice-Chancellor Robert Madgwick stressed at the genesis of UNE, “University education should be available in a democratic society to all who can benefit from it”.
This ambition is just as meaningful 70 years later in an institution I regard as the university of the universal opportunity.
I have spent decades striving to help women of all ages engage in leadership and STEM. When I first worked here as a Physics lecturer, UNE supported my then novel idea for a hands-on program called Science in the Bush. It also backed the establishment of the Armidale branch of the Science and Engineering Challenge, which flourishes to this day.
It’s heartening to see steady gains in the number of women enrolling in university STEM courses nationally – and to have wonderful women leaders at UNE regularly recognised. I tip my hat to you and will continue to celebrate women at UNE at every opportunity.
I’m equally committed to walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who have historically faced systemic barriers to education, and I’m extremely proud of what the wonderful Oorala Aboriginal Centre has achieved. Last year, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students achieved success rates of almost seventy percent and we cheered on a record one hundred and thirty-five graduates. This year, enrolments have increased by twenty-seven percent. All strong indicators of UNE’s progress toward educational equity.
Of course, encouraging diversity and inclusion is not just the right thing to do. It is fundamental in a disrupted world that demands new thinking and original solutions. It’s one thing to be a lucky country, but we must dedicate ourselves to being a smart country, too.
So, what does all this mean for UNE?
It means we must continue to experiment, connect and innovate – locally, nationally and on the world stage. To develop new business models and foster new partnerships.
It also demands innovation in how we give our students a broad, global, mind-expanding education. It means rethinking every process to ensure we leverage technological advances to drive efficiencies and assure student success.
And we must achieve this while taking our place in an ecosystem of stakeholders equally committed to the development of our region. As the Regional Australia Institute highlights, educators like us serve as “anchor institutions”, capable of fuelling the engine of regional productivity growth, to power vibrant populations and fulfilling careers.
The school principals, community and business leaders I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in recent months are certainly some of our greatest supporters. They value UNE and its unique place in the New England-North West landscape. They are determined to see this region prosper and, for that, they need UNE to be modern, relevant and unconventional.
That’s why we are asking some big questions right now about the UNE we want to be in the next seventy years. Indeed, the UNE we need to be.
And I can assure you, we are up to the challenge.
UNE has been breaking ground for decades – to become the first regional university in Australia and pioneer online education. Our talented researchers, educators and staff have been and continue to push boundaries here and abroad.
We are already leveraging technology to recharge the way we work. Observe our Lab Next 70 innovation hub, spearheading world-first AI applications to revolutionise the way students learn, academics teach and staff engage. See our dynamic Smart Region Incubator, turning ground-breaking ideas into new businesses and jobs.
We are doubling down to help existing industries within the region to grow and succeed – and to protect the landscapes and species we hold dear. Changing the face of Australian livestock production through AGBU’s pioneering genetic work, and seeking to curb methane emissions in facilities that rank among the world’s finest, and largest. By saving endangered turtles, we are helping to maintain natural environments for all to enjoy.
UNE is ensuring that the people of our region have the very best opportunity for a healthy and fulfilling life, too. Through the virtual Manna Institute we lead, to protect the mental health of rural, regional and remote Australians, and our support for First Nations communities experiencing climate change anxiety. Or our excellent Sydney-based music program. Together with our palaeontological digs in far-flung deserts, and our superb Museum of Antiquities – a regional treasure in itself – UNE is bringing culture and history to life and prominence.
Our alumni community demonstrate every day the profound impact such a UNE education can have. Grappling with our greatest challenges we have premiers, government ministers, Reserve Bank governors, police commissioners, world-leading conservationists, United Nations envoys, social justice advocates, poets, composers and business leaders. All pushing boundaries.
I hope your relationship with your alma mater continues to thrive and that we can call on you to engage with our students, our research, our staff, and the dreams we have for UNE’s future growth.
I have great affection for this place – my children were raised in the New England and I restarted my career here – and I believe strongly that UNE is vital to the prosperity of this region and regions further afield.
A fresh, bold vision for our university is taking shape, developed in collaboration with our stakeholder groups – a vision that I embrace with enthusiasm and commit to delivering with kindness. It sees UNE becoming a world-leading regional university, with all the powerful flow-on effects that promises.
Imagine a New England at the forefront of cutting-edge businesses and careers. An economy that is the envy of regions around the world.
I see students flocking to our campus to experience learning like nowhere else. Then leading change around the world. Graduates for whom tertiary study might not otherwise have been possible.
I see people across Australia learning online with us, preparing for unfathomable challenges. And international students swelling our ranks, then returning home equipped with modern thinking and expertise. Building global trust and peace.
I see UNE’s awesome research taking the world by storm. A beacon for exploration and real-world problem-solving.
I see UNE’s staff emboldened to bring their best creative selves to the tasks at hand. And cultural activity energising lives and reinvigorating our regional city.
This is a university that is integral to Australia. A university where world-class knowledge and respect for our past generates endless possibilities tomorrow.
There is much to do. It’s going to be hard, it will take time, and we cannot achieve it alone.
And if there is one thing I have learnt during the course of my career, it’s that it will all come down to people.
So, I’m seeking your patience, your support, your partnership, your passion and energy – every resource you can muster – to help us design and create this unconventional future, together.
We are the authors of the next thrilling chapter in the history of this extraordinary institution.
Now is our moment.
Thank you.
