Professor Verity Firth AM

Professor the Hon. Verity Firth AM is the inaugural Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).  She is a Professor of Practice at the School of Education, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture.  Prof. Firth has over twenty years’ experience at the very highest levels of government and education sectors in Australia.  She has strong public policy experience and a proven capacity to drive large-scale reform across a range of organisations. 

Prior to her role at UNSW, Prof. Firth was the Pro Vice-Chancellor Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney (2015-2022).  She developed and delivered the UTS Social Impact Framework, a first of its kind for the Australian university sector and founded the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion.  She was instrumental in the establishment of the UTS Human Technology Institute.

Prof. Firth is a Board Director for Teachers Mutual Bank and The Front Project; Chair of Engagement Australia and Deputy Chair of the James Martin Institute.  In 2023 she served on the Universities Accord Ministerial Reference Group and is currently a panellist for the NSW Vocational Education and Training Review.

Prof. Firth was NSW Minister for Education and Training from 2008 – 2011, where she focused on equity in education, and how to best address educational disadvantage in low socio-economic communities, including rural and remote Indigenous communities. 

As NSW Minister for Women (2007-2009) Prof. Firth implemented sector wide strategies to improve women’s recruitment, development and employment in the NSW public sector, and delivered the NSW Government’s first Domestic Violence Strategy. 

As Chief Executive of the Public Education Foundation (2011-2014), Prof. Firth led the Foundation’s transformation from a fledgling organisation into a major provider of scholarships and support for teachers and students in public education. 

Prof. Firth was the Member for the state seat of Balmain from 2007 - 2011. Before her parliamentary career, Ms Firth worked as a lawyer and was Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney.