Being Glyn Davis’s deputy was a quick route to the top

Five deputies of University of Melbourne chief Glyn Davis have gone on to be appointed vice-chancellors themselves.

Five of Glyn Davis’s former deputies have gone on to be appointed vice-chancellors themselves.

In today’s Higher Ed Daily Brief: Glyn Davis’s broader impact, Australia’s top researchers

The vice-chancellor factory

No less than five people who served outgoing University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis as one of his deputies in the nearly 14 years he has been in the post, have gone on to be appointed vice-chancellors themselves. Former deputy vice-chancellor (research) Peter Rathjen became went on to be head of, first, the University of Tasmania and now the University of Adelaide.

Warren Bebbington, at one time Davis’s deputy vice-chancellor (university affairs) went on to be the vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide, prior to Rathjen.

Two former provosts, John Dewar and Margaret Sheil, are now vice-chancellors of La Trobe University and Queensland University of Technology respectively. And Melbourne’s deputy vice-chancellor (international and graduate) Carolyn Evans has been appointed the next head of Davis’s former university, Griffith. She will start there next year.

They say that leadership is about making room for others to grow.

Davis’s new appointment at the Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy will see him both doing research and teaching as well as taking part in engagement and outreach. He will focus on leadership and public service ethics.

Top researchers

Australia’s top researchers are revealed in The Australian’s Research magazine — published this week — which is now online for all to access. The excellence of Australian researchers, universities and other research institutions is detailed, using big data techniques, in a way which has not previously been possible. We identify leading researchers and institutions in over 250 individual fields of research. The data is backed by profiles of leading Australian researchers which show what lies behind their success. Read the Research magazine here.