January 20, 2022

New senior leadership roles will support UOW’s strategic priorities

Sean Brawley appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Strategy and Planning); Louise Hickman appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health – Sydney campuses)

The University of Wollongong (UOW) has made two new appointments to its senior leadership team, to support the progress of strategic priorities.

Professor Sean Brawley has been appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Strategy and Planning), reporting directly to Vice-Chancellor Professor Patricia M. Davidson.

Professor Louise Hickman has been appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health – Sydney campuses), reporting to Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Innovation, Enterprise and External Relations) Professor Alex Frino.

Professor Sean Brawley

As Pro Vice-Chancellor (Strategy and Planning) Professor Brawley will assist the University Executive in achieving of UOW’s academic objectives through the provision of strategic planning and vision setting across the academic functions of the University.

Professor Brawley comes to UOW from Macquarie University, where he was Professor of History and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Programs and Pathways).

Professor Brawley was previously Professor of History and Associate Dean (Education) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UNSW and has also taught at the Australian Catholic University, Massey University (New Zealand), and Georgetown University (USA), as well as at UOW.

In addition to his research into Australia's Asian context, Professor Brawley has built a distinguished career in the field of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. He is a former Asia-Pacific Director and Vice-President of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). He is also a Principal Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

At Macquarie University, Professor Brawley led two major institutional strategic projects; one on curriculum architecture and the other on Quality Assurance, Enhancement and Improvement (QAE&I) processes. Much of Professor Brawley focus in 2020 and 2021 was around contingency and recovery planning related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Brawley will commence at UOW on 31 January.

Professor Louise Hickman

Professor Louise Hickman will lead the engagement with Faculties and Divisions to develop strategies for expanding UOW’s health-focused Sydney Metropolitan Campuses at Liverpool and Loftus.

The position ensures the delivery of a growing and sustainable portfolio of innovative and industry engaged courses responsive to the current and future needs of the region and a strong research environment that is collaborative, interdisciplinary and focused on research translation.

UOW has a strong commitment to deep engagement with communities and industry in metropolitan Sydney, especially the growing South Western and Sutherland regions, and Professor Hickman will lead the development of Community and Industry Engagement strategies, consulting with key stakeholders to ensure that UOW’s vision of being a leading provider of health programs aligns with the needs of the community.

Professor Hickman joins UOW from UTS where she is currently in an interdisciplinary role as Director of Palliative Care Programs, responsible for improving palliative, aged and chronic care through clinical research and translation (IMPACCT).

She is an internationally recognised nurse-scientist with expertise in translational health research focused on older people, improving communities and access to care.

Professor Hickman brings to the role an in-depth knowledge of the health care industry combined with a significant understanding of curriculum, pedagogy and the drivers of learning. Professor Hickman has a strong track record of building and delivering programs built in partnership with communities and health.

Alongside Professor Hickman’s curriculum leadership she has a sustained funded research program which builds upon the crucial urgency to address unmet chronic health care needs in our ageing population, and moving care from a traditional acute episodic care model of treating one patient, one disease, to a person-centred, culturally safe care continuum model across care settings.

Professor Hickman has authored more than 100 publications including international engagement with 228 co-authors across 14 countries.

Professor Hickman will join UOW in March.