Bronwyn Fox appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research & Enterprise at UNSW Sydney

After an extensive global search, Professor Fox will commence her role in July.

UNSW Sydney Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Attila Brungs has announced Professor Bronwyn Fox as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research & Enterprise (DVCR&E).

Prof. Fox will join UNSW from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, where she is currently Chief Scientist with responsibility for advocacy and oversight of science among its 6200 employees and 2000 affiliates. Prior to that she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Enterprise) at Swinburne University of Technology.

Prof. Brungs said Prof. Fox’s extensive experience, focus on unremitting excellence, and passion for bringing together multidisciplinary research teams to find solutions to real world problems align perfectly with UNSW’s commitment to transform lives through excellence in research.

“I’m delighted to welcome Prof. Fox to UNSW. With an outstanding background in research excellence, building community and industry partnerships and championing research with impact, she is ideally suited to shape and advance the strategic direction in research, innovation and enterprise at our University,” Prof. Brungs said.

“Prof. Fox is a global leader in advanced manufacturing, materials science and Industry 4.0 (smart technologies). Her priorities at CSIRO have been broad and varied, including robotics and automation, digitalisation, data spaces, interoperability, quantum technologies, climate and energy.

“She also led a large-scale recruitment campaign to promote diversity in STEM, the development of the organisation’s new Future Science and Technology Plan and had the honour of being the executive sponsor for the Indigenous Science and Engagement team.

“Our community will greatly benefit from Prof. Fox’s international connections and wide-ranging experience. We are very excited to have such an eminent leader join the University.”

Prof. Fox said she’s delighted to be joining UNSW as the DVCR&E.

“UNSW is recognised as one of Australia’s premier universities for the quality and impact of its research, and also for being the nation’s most entrepreneurial tertiary institution.

“I look forward to working with colleagues at all levels of research to innovate and help tackle Australia and the world’s current and future challenges.

“I am also excited to contribute to the continued success of UNSW’s world-renowned research, from climate change to quantum computing, to building smarter cities to health systems,” she said.

World leading materials scientist and engineer

Prof. Fox’s expertise as a researcher is as a materials scientist and engineer. Her research has explored how to synthesise and exploit the novel properties of carbon fibres, carbon nanotubes, graphene and carbon quantum dots. The challenges in making materials such as carbon fibre composites led to her developing new approaches to manufacturing them to use robotics, digitalisation and automation. She was one of the founders of the Carbon Nexus facility at Deakin University in Geelong, which recently celebrated its 10th birthday and led to the creation of more than 1400 jobs in the region.

She was recently nominated by the Minister for Science and Industry Ed Husic to represent Australia on an international working group on artificial intelligence (AI), chaired the National Robotics Advisory Committee and was a member of the National Quantum Advisory Committee.

Prof. Fox was a 2021 Victorian Australian of the Year finalist and recipient of the 2020 Royal Society of Victoria Medal for Excellence in Scientific Research. She is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and Engineers Australia.

Prof. Fox will start her new role mid-July.

Prof. Brungs acknowledged the work of Professor Merlin Crossley, who is acting in the role of DVCR&E until Prof. Fox joins the University, while also continuing his substantive role as Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Quality.

“I am very grateful to Prof. Crossley for his characteristic enthusiasm and diligence in leading UNSW Research and Enterprise during this time of transition,” Prof. Brungs said.