Universities name their new leaders

Professor Emma Johnston appointed new University of Melbourne VC as South Australian mega university reveals leadership team.

A picture of Professor Johnston with the University of Melbourne Chancellor, Jane Hansen. Picture credit: Peter Casamento/University of Melbourne.

Two of Australia’s biggest universities have announced leadership shake-ups this week.

Marine biologist, Emma Johnston, who once led the University of Melbourne student union, was named as its first female vice-chancellor; while in Adelaide, eight prominent university staff were named as deputy vice-chancellors for the new merged South Australian university.

Professor Johnston, a former dean of science at the University of NSW, whose research specialises in the human impacts on marine ecosystems, will take over from Duncan Maskell at the ­University of Melbourne in February 2025.

She said, as a sixth-generation Melburnian and a proud alumnus of the University of Melbourne, “I am excited to be coming home for the next chapter of an academic career, that in many ways spawned from my childhood ­curiosity in the wonders of Port Philip Bay”.

She gained both her undergraduate science degree and her PhD from the University of Melbourne. In a statement, the university said Professor Johnston was ­appointed after an extensive global search.

In Adelaide, co-vice-chancellors, Professor Peter Hoj and Professor David Lloyd, named the eight deputy vice-chancellors who would lead the transition and transformation of the South Australian university this week, and said they looked forward to “continuing our important work in creating a world-class contemporary and comprehensive institution and member of Australia’s prestigious and research-intensive Group of Eight”.

University of Adelaide law professor and provost John Williams was named deputy vice-chancellor, academic, while University of South Australia provost and chief academic officer Professor Joanne Cys will remain in the provost position for the merged university. The appointments followed a recruitment process conducted independently by Boyden Australia, and the deputy vice-chancellors will start their roles on October 1, 2024.

Adelaide University will begin operations on January 1, 2026.