Introduce yourself in three words or phrases.
- I come from a family of academics
- I want lead to a transformative change
- My mission is to expand higher education
What do you like most about your job?
Working with fabulous people.
I meet so many different people from all sorts of sectors and walks of life: students, stakeholders, politicians, businesspeople. Just the exchange of ideas and energy – it keeps you feeling great!
Best work trip?
It was my first visit to India as vice-chancellor last March.
I came away with an impression of so much energy and vibrancy. There’s so much entrepreneurship and possibilities to engage in purpose-driven opportunities with Indian partners.
If you could learn a language instantly, which would you pick and why?
Hindi. I expect I’m going to be spending a lot of time in India, actually, in the coming years, and that would give me much more depth of understanding of the policy that I want to do more.
What makes you get up in the morning?
My job. I wake up at 6 am in the morning – except on business trips, I wake up at three or four in the morning.
Champion/cheerleader which we should all follow and why?
Barack Obama.
If you read his autobiographies and his story, he’s person who came from a family where you wouldn’t normally rise to the top – his journey was an inspirational story. And as a President, he was a person that was incredibly thoughtful with what he did as a leader. He was a deeply strong leader.
Best international ed conference and why?
The QS India Summit on this trip [to India].
It was the opportunity to be in a conference with so many vice-chancellors and higher education leaders from Indian universities, but also with Australian and the UK vice-chancellors as well. The hubbub, the conversations that happen everywhere: the coffee shops and the beach. You get a sense that there’s a lot of energy around the engagement of foreign universities with India – it’s really taking off. It’s very exciting!
Worst conference food/beverage experience
Ice. In previous roles, I’ve been to the United States a lot. My one bugbear is that in the United States – mind you it’s a wonderful country, great universities – but they put ice in every single drink. There’s way too much ice in drinks in the United States.
So, on this trip, I had the pleasure of spending time in Shoolini University, where I’ve discovered the pleasure of having warm water properly.
During your trips to India, do you eat Indian food?
Always. I eat fantastically well. In fact, it’s a bit of a challenge because when I go back, I’m going to have to go on a diet.
Book or podcast recommendation for others in the sector?
I’m one of the people that believe that AI is going to revolutionise the world and, in fact, this happening. So I think we are experiencing something that is akin to the industrial revolution, only at 10 times the rate. And so, as senior leaders, we all have to get on top of understanding what’s happening with respect to AI.
There’s a fabulous podcast I’d recommend, which is The A. Daily Brief on Spotify. For around 20 minutes or half an hour a day, it gives you the latest news on AI. It’s an area that’s unfolding so fast and involves not just frontier technology, but also politics and policy. And for senior leaders, I think that’s great.
What sort of policy do you have at your university when it comes to students using AI?
Broadly speaking, we encourage students and staff to use AI. But, obviously, we have to put some safeguards in place. It’s really challenging us to change how we do assessments.
We are all about setting students for their futures, and that future will be defined by AI. We have to upskill students so when they leave the university and they go into the workforce, they’re able leverage AI.
Just before Christmas, we announced a responsible AI adoptions strategy. We announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft, and it’s to accelerate our use of AI. We’re going to drive it right across our education, our research and all of our business functions.
Do you encourage students using AI when working on their essays?
There are obviously some assessments where it’s inappropriate to use AI and there are clear guidelines around that.
But there are other areas where you can use it. I mean, it is supposed to be used. And so it’s [about] working with our academic staff actually to make sure that they have appropriate assessments in place that enable students to leverage it with regards to particular tools.
Describe a project or initiative you’re currently working on that excites you.
The one that really excites me is [something] we announced at just at the end of last year, in November – the Center for AI and Medical Innovation.
It’s really going to push the frontiers of treatments for very challenging diseases.
