Professor Dawn Freshwater was appointed Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia on 16 January 2017.

Prior to that, she served as the University’s Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (SDVC) and Registrar for a three-year period, followed by few months as Acting Vice-Chancellor.

Before moving to Western Australia to take up the SDVC position, she was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Staff and Organizational Effectiveness, Professor of Mental Health and Head of the School of Healthcare at the University of Leeds. Professor Freshwater received her doctorate at the University of Nottingham in 1998 and has been the recipient of numerous awards. She was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 2001.

As an active academic Professor Freshwater serves on the HEFCE Research Excellence Framework (REF) panel in the UK; reviews and acts in an advisory capacity for the National Institute for Health Research and MRC and to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. She contributes to clinical academic fellowship panels and to awards of doctoral training centres. Her most recent research in the area of women’s leadership was funded by the British Council and led to a Global Education Dialogue in Hong Kong.

In her leadership capacity, Professor Freshwater has championed and led a number of initiatives, including leading the University’s major reform. She has also led the recruitment of 50 leadership Chairs, implemented a zoning approach to professorial careers, has been responsible for the successful achievement of a University Athena Swan award and for creating a strategy for equality and inclusion.