Vice-Chancellor's Advisory Board

Pro Vice-Chancellor, Educational Partnerships and Quality
Dr Nicolene Murdoch

Nicolene Murdoch commenced as Chief Executive Officer at Western Sydney University, The College in July 2018. Prior to joining The College, Nicolene was the Vice President (Student Administration) at Laureate International Universities. She also held various executive roles at Monash South Africa, founded by Monash University (Go8) in 2001. The campus grew from about 200 students when she joined in 2004, to over 4000 in 2016, when she was Chief Operating Officer.

Nicolene is listed on the Princeton Global Network Top 100 Elite Professionals in the field of Education. This recognition is bestowed on distinguished individuals who demonstrates commitment to excellence in their careers and exemplary leadership in their communities. Nicolene completed her undergraduate degree in Education, honours degree in Human Resource Development and holds a Masters in Adult Education, all at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. She recently obtained her Doctorate in Education in the field of Higher Education Management and Governance at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

Pro Vice-Chancellor, Engagement and Advancement
Professor Alphia Possamai-Inesedy

Professor Alphia Possamai-Inesedy commenced as Pro Vice Chancellor of Engagement and Advancement in June 2021. Alphia is a Professor of Sociology at Western Sydney University, President of the Australian Sociological Association, outgoing Chair, Academic Senate and Director of Sydney City Campus WSU.

Alphia is responsible for leading strategic engagement work to shape the University’s commitment to co-producing solutions to the interconnected challenges facing society within and outside of the Western Sydney Region.

Her recent work includes: The Digital Social: Religion and Belief (deGruyter) and an edited volume on Health sociology (Pearson). Alphia is currently involved in ongoing research that focuses on higher education, risk society, religion, digital sociology and methodologies.

Pro Vice-Chancellor, International
Professor Linda Taylor

Professor Linda Taylor joined Western Sydney University in August 2014 as Pro Vice-Chancellor (International). Linda joins Western Sydney University at a critical time, when the University is looking to expand its international horizons and profile. A public policy expert with 20 years of experience working across industry, government and the education sectors, Linda brings a wealth of experience to the role. In her previous position, as Acting Director of StudyNSW, Linda was responsible for delivering key international education initiatives for NSW, including priorities identified in the International Education and Research Industry Action Plan.
In her previous position, as Acting Director of StudyNSW, Linda was responsible for delivering key international education initiatives for NSW, including priorities identified in the International Education and Research Industry Action Plan.

Pro Vice-Chancellor, Learning Futures
Professor Si Bedford

Professor Simon Bedford is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning Futures at Western Sydney University.  He is responsible for the leadership of strategic educational innovation and collaboration to shape the University's commitment to ensuring its students fulfil their potential to become influential global citizen-scholars in a new technology-enabled world.
His passion and expertise for curriculum transformation comes from his life-long belief in supporting students to create their own roadmap through courses of study that too often contain knowledge that is large and nebulous but, has to be learned in order for students to be successful in their chosen discipline area.  His contribution to curriculum transformation continues to expand as he leads Western Sydney University 21C Project and the collaborative delivery of new staff development programs to support the design and implementation of that curriculum with in new technology enabled learning spaces.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Research
Professor Kevin Dunn

Professor Kevin Dunn (FNGS; FRSN) is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Western Sydney University. He is responsible for global rankings, researcher development and WesternXeD. He was Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Psychology between 2012 and 2019. He joined Western Sydney University in 2008 as Professor of Human Geography and Urban Studies. His areas of research include the racism and anti-racism, immigration and settlement, Islam in Australia, and local government and multiculturalism. Recent books include Cyber Racism and Community Resilience and Landscapes: Ways of Imagining the World, and his recent articles are published in New Media and Society, Geoforum, Geographical Research, Australian Journal of Islamic Studies and the Urban Policy and Research. He is a Fellow of the New South Wales Geographical Society and past President. For fifteen years he has lead the national and multi-agency Challenging Racism Project.

Pro Vice-Chancellor, Strategy, Government and Alliances
Professor Andy Marks

Professor Andy Marks leads major NUW Alliance and Western Sydney University strategic and development initiatives with government, industry and the community.

He has a PhD and first-class honours in political science and literature.

Andy writes regular columns for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Daily Telegraph. He is also a panellist on ABC Sydney’s ‘political forum’.

Andy is the Director of the Centre for Western Sydney, Chair of the Western Sydney Community Forum and a Non-Executive Director with Wentworth Healthcare Ltd. He is also the founder of the CatalystWest interactive policy forum, and co-founder of the Launch Pad start-up incubator.

Prior to his current roles, Andy was a researcher in the social services sector, a Council member at the University of New England, and an ARIA nominated professional musician and composer.

Pro Vice-Chancellor, Student and University Planning
Debra Farrelly

Dean, School of Business
Professor Amir Mahmood

Professor Amir Mahmood joined Western Sydney University as Dean, School of Business in October 2018. He holds a Master and a PhD in Economics from the University of Manitoba, Canada. Before joining Western Sydney University, he was the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Newcastle (UON) in Singapore and the Chief Executive Officer of UON Singapore. With extensive experience in Australian and international higher education systems, Professor Mahmood is an established leader in the area of internationalisation of higher education. Professor Mahmood has an active research track record in the field of economics, business and management and comes with extensive experience in academic leadership.

Dean, School of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences
Professor Simeon Simoff

Professor Simeon Simoff is the Dean of the School of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences. He commenced this role 1 January 2020.

Simeon was appointed as Professor of Information Technology and Head of the School of Computing and Mathematics at Western Sydney University in 2007. From 1 January 2012, Simeon was the Dean of the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics. Simeon was previously a Professor of Information Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he was a co-founder and Director (2002-2007) of the e-Markets Research Lab. Prior to UTS he held academic positions at the University of Sydney, the Middle East Technical University, Ecole Polytechnique - University of Nantes, and Istanbul Technical University. In 2006 he was a BIT Professor at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen and the University of Trento. He is a founding Director and a Fellow of the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia and Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia. Since 2006 he is co-editor of the ACS Conferences in Research and Practice in Information Technology (CRPIT) series in Computer Science and ICT.

From 2000 to 2005 he was the associate editor (Australia) of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering. He has served on the ASCE Technical Committees on Data and Information Management, and on Intelligent Computing. He is member of the Australian Council of Deans of ICT, Australian Council of Engineering Deans, and Australian Deans of Built Environment.

Dean, School of Education
Professor Michele Simons

Professor Simons joined Western Sydney University from the University of South Australia where she had worked in a number of leadership roles in the School of Education, including a three and half year term as Dean and Head of School. She has qualifications in Human Services and Adult and Community Education and a PhD from the University of South Australia.

Professor Simons is an active researcher, having won a number of Category 1 grants from the ARC and from the National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation Program. Her research interests include workforce development in education, learning in workplaces; educational leadership and policy and practice in vocational education and training.

Professor Simons is President of the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA) and Treasurer for the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and the Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS), Professor Simons is also a member of the Academic Board for Le Cordon Bleu. She has had experience serving on a range of government committees including the South Australian Teacher Education Taskforce and various state and federal government advisory groups for education and family services.

Dean, School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment
Professor Mike Kagiolgou

Professor Mike Kagioglou became the Dean of Engineering at Western Sydney University on the 9^th of March 2020. The School consists of Civil, Electrical and Electronic, Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering. Previous to that he was the Dean of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Huddersfield in the UK from the 4th of November 2013. The School consisted of three innovative departments: Art and Communications; Fashion and Textiles; and Architecture and 3D design. He was previously at the University of Salford in the UK where he was the Head of the School of Built Environment since 2009, the No.1 Research Power School in the 2008 RAE for Architecture and the Built Environment.

Dean, School of Health Sciences
Professor Gregory Kolt

Professor Gregory Kolt is the Dean of Health Sciences, Professor of Health Science, Provost - Campbelltown Campus, and Lead Dean - Foreign Relations at Western Sydney University, Australia.

Professor Kolt has an academic background that spans several disciplines including psychology, physiotherapy, and education. He holds a PhD in Psychology, is a Registered Psychologist, and has worked extensively in academic, research, and practice settings in Australia and New Zealand. His research achievements are recognised internationally with around $5.75 million of external research grant funding and the publication of several books and book chapters, and over 180 journal publications (Scopus H-Index 40, Google H-Index 56).

Professor Kolt has been awarded Fellowships of the Royal Society of New South Wales, the American College of Sports Medicine, the Australian Sports Medicine Federation, and the Asian-South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology.

Professor Kolt is a recognised senior academic leader and manager with extensive experience in University settings, including achievements in significant change and growth processes. He has leadership experience spanning the broad health science, human science, and other science disciplines. He is Chair of the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia, an Executive Member of the Australian Council of Deans of Health Sciences, and Chair of the Board of Directors for Sports Medicine Australia.

Dean, School of Humanities and Communication Arts
Professor Matt McGuire

Professor Matt McGuire is the Dean of School of Humanities and Communication Arts and Provost of Bankstown Campus, Milperra. He is a Professor of English Literature. Professor McGuire has 20 years' of work experience in the tertiary education sector in the UK and Australia, including at the University of Glasgow. He has published widely on various aspects of Irish and Scottish literature and authored two novels Dark Dawn (2012) and When Sorrows Come (2014). Professor McGuire’s qualifications include Master of Arts, Honours and a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh. Recently he has completed the Executive MBA at the Sydney Graduate School of Management.

Dean, School of Law
Professor Anna Cody

Professor Anna Cody is a Harvard graduate with a distinguished background in human rights law and legal education. She joined Western Sydney University as Dean of the School of Law from the University of New South Wales, where she was an Associate Professor and Director of the Kingsford Legal Centre, responsible for the Centre’s management and teaching programs as well as other law courses in the Faculty.

Professor Cody also holds Board appointments with the National Association of Community Legal Centres and Legal Aid Commission NSW, and has previously held roles as Chair, Community Legal Centres NSW and Deputy Chair, NSW Legal Assistance Forum. She has won numerous awards including: for teaching and research from UNSW; an Australian Universities Teaching award in the Law and Legal Studies section; a citation for Outstanding contribution to Student Learning in the Australian Awards for University Teaching; the 2007 NSW Women Lawyers’ Association community lawyer award; and the 2016 Australian Human Rights Commission Law award.

Dean, School of Medicine
Distinguished Professor Annemarie Hennessy AM

Distinguished Professor Annemarie Hennessy is the Dean of Medicine at the School of Medicine and currently holds the position of Foundation Professor of Medicine as well. She is an active obstetric and renal physician based at the Campbelltown Hospital.

Annemarie has a research interest in high blood pressure in pregnancy and has active research collaborations with Universities and hospitals in Sydney, Canada and the USA.

Annemarie graduated from the University of Queensland in 1985 (MBBS), the University of Sydney in 1997 (PhD) and she has Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (FRACP, 1992) and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (2004). She has held positions in hospital management, clinical service delivery planning and workforce and vocational training with the NSW Department of Health. Annemarie has been a long term advocate for quality post-graduate training and she has taught medical students since 1997.

Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery
Professor Deborah Hatcher

RN Dip.Teach(Phys.Ed) B.HlthSc MHPEd PhD

Professor Deborah Hatcher is the Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University. Her prior roles in the School include Deputy Dean, Operations and Strategy and Director of Academic Workforce, Parramatta.  Deborah is a registered nurse and experienced academic with over 20 years of program co-ordination and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level, in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Deborah is currently leading the curriculum renewal process for the Bachelor of Nursing, one of the largest undergraduate pre-registration nursing degree programs in Australia.

Deborah has worked at the University since 1987 in a number of governance roles including Head of Program Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing), Head of Program Bachelor of Nursing (Graduate Entry) and joint Head of Program Bachelor of Nursing. Her teaching and research interests are in aged care and primary health care. She currently supervises BN (Honours) and PhD students in aged care.

Dean, School of Psychology
Professor Tanya Meade

Professor Tanya Meade is the Dean of the School of Psychology and Professor of Clinical Psychology at Western Sydney University.

Professor Meade received her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2001 for research examining bio-psychological aspects of rheumatoid arthritis. Her clinical and research expertise is in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of complex co-morbidities (pain, depression, anxiety, cognitive function, and motherhood in the context of a chronic condition) and complex presentations (depression and cognitive function in older adults; bi-polar disorder; deliberate self-harm).

Professor Meade holds dual area of practice endorsements in clinical psychology and health psychology; is a Fellow of the College of Clinical Psychologists and the College of Health Psychologists; and is a former Chair of the NSW College of Health Psychologists.

Interim Dean, School of Science
Associate Professor Gary Dennis

Associate Professor Gary Dennis has had lecturing positions at the University of Sydney, University of New England and Western Sydney University. He has made significant contributions to understanding the chromatography and surface chemistry of polymers and block-copolymers. His use of anionic and RAFT techniques for the controlled synthesis of polymers has allowed a) measurement of the Gibbs Free Energy of interaction in chromatographic systems, b) diffusion of polymers, c) dispersion of nano-particles and d) stability of monolayers at the air-water interface.

He has published 110 journal papers as well as 22 technical proceedings. Associate Professor Dennis has a significant track record of interaction with Industry, principally involving projects on polymer, surface and analytical chemistries and he has completed over 150 industrial projects. He has successfully completed projects for many companies including BP, Dow Corning, Cable Makers, BHP and 3M. He has supervised 28 Honours, 4 MSc and 24 PhD students.

Dean, School of Social Sciences
Professor Brian Stout

Professor Brian Stout is Dean, School of Social Sciences, Provost, Liverpool Campus and Professor of Social Work.

Professor Stout has a long history of research, teaching and practice in Australia, Europe and South Africa. His most recent book is ‘Community Justice in Australia’ and has carried out research in Australia into interventions with children and young people facilitated by Juvenile Justice, FACS and other agencies. He has a long record of teaching and research in criminal justice, youth justice, probation and social work. Professor Stout has been involved in developing and delivering training and education for criminal justice professionals in the UK and South Africa and participated in a number of European criminal justice social work projects. His research has included child justice diversion in South Africa and sex offender public disclosure schemes in the UK.

Professor Stout is an experienced academic leader, recently holding the roles of Deputy Dean and Director Academic Programs for Social Work. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK.

Dean of Graduate Studies and Researcher Development
Professor Clive Baldock

Clive Baldock graduated with a BSc (hons) in Physics from the University of Sussex, an MSc in Radiation Physics from St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, University of London, and a PhD in Medical Physics from King's College London. He subsequently worked in a number of UK hospitals providing scientific support to clinical nuclear medicine, magnetic resonance imaging and biomedical engineering services. In 1997 he moved to Australia to Queensland University of Technology (QUT) as Lecturer in Medical Physics. He was subsequently founding director of the Institute of Medical Physics at the University of Sydney. His other roles have included Head of the School of Physics at the University of Sydney; Executive Dean of Science at Macquarie University; Executive Director for Physical Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Information Sciences at the Australian Research Council (ARC); Dean of Graduate Research and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Researcher Development at the University of Tasmania; and Dean of Graduate Research at the University of Wollongong. His research interests continue to be in the fields of gel dosimetry, radiation therapy, dosimetry, medical imaging and scientometrics. He has been awarded Fellowships of the Royal Society of New South Wales, the Australian Institute of Physics, the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine, the Institute of Physics (UK) and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (UK). His other professional activities include membership of the Executive Committee of the Australian Council for Graduate Research.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Global Development)
Professor Yi-Chen Lan

Professor Yi-Chen Lan is the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Global Development and Professor of Information Management at the Western Sydney University. Yi-Chen holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree and a PhD degree from the same institution.

Yi-Chen is responsible for developing high value international partnerships through maintaining close relationships with government agencies and flagship institutions across the world particularly in the East and South East Asia. In recognition of Yi-Chen’s contributions to the international and cross border education development in Vietnam, the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City conferred an Honorary Doctor of Economics degree to him in May 2014. Yi-Chen’s main research fields include knowledge management, e-marketing, global transition process, business process reengineering, green ICT, carbon emissions in business processes and production, big data strategies and life cycle assessment.

Executive Director, Strategic Projects Implementation and Improvement
Peter Tow

Director, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment
Professor Ian Anderson

Director, Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture
Professor Jing Han

Professor Jing Han is the Director of Institute for Australia and Chinese Arts and Culture and also teaches literary translation and audiovisual translation and supervises PhD candidates.
Jing received her PhD in English literature from the University of Sydney in 1995. She joined SBS TV Australia in 1996 and served as the Chief Subtitler and Head of the SBS Subtitling Department till 2019. Jing has subtitled over 300 Chinese films and was the leading subtitler of the Chinese TV show If You Are The One, the longest showing non-English series in Australian broadcasting history. Jing is an internationally recognised leading expert in translating Chinese culture, intercultural communication, audiovisual translation and media accessibility. Jing is the English translator of a modern Chinese classic Educated Youth by Ye Xin and Chinese translator of the Miles Franklin Award winning novel Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko.

Director, Institute for Culture and Society
Professor Heather Horst

Director, MARCS Institute
Professor Kate Stevens

Professor Kate Stevens, a cognitive scientist, is the STEM Cluster Pro Vice-Chancellor and Director of MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development at Western Sydney University. MARCS, a flagship research institute at Western, investigates humans interacting with each other, their environment, and with technology. She holds BA (Hons) and PhD degrees from the University of Sydney and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.
Kate conducts basic and applied research into the learning, perception, creation, and cognition of complex actions. She also applies methods from experimental psychology to investigate human-machine interaction (e.g., design/evaluation of auditory warnings; human-avatar and human-robot interaction).
Kate is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. She is Editor-in-Chief, Music Perception (University of California Press) and Professor in Psychology at Western Sydney University

Director, NICM Health Research Institute
Professor Dennis Chang

Director, THRI
Professor Janette Perz

Chief Executive Officer, The College
Anthony Mitri

With executive education leadership experience in both Higher Education and Vocational Education, Anthony specialises in business and government development initiatives and transforming education through strategic partnerships and digital innovation. With a proven track record in Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Government (B2G) engagement, Anthony is able to combine his expertise in digital marketing, online curriculum design, educational leadership, and commercial and financial modelling, to deliver sustainable and viable outcomes for large, complex education challenges. An experienced Board member in commercial, industry, government, and education settings. Anthony completed a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in 2015.

Chief Information and Digital Officer
Scott Snyder

Chief People Officer
Amy Morris

Chief Student Experience Officer
Michael Burgess

Michael Burgess joined Western Sydney University in February 2016 as the Chief Student Experience Officer and brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in complex consumer environments. Michael is a creative innovator with extensive experience in business strategy, customer experience, marketing communications, digital strategy, brand development and data analytics. From 2008-2015 he was the General Manager, Marketing at Weight Watchers Australia and New Zealand and between 2005-2008, Head of Corporate Strategy at NRMA Motoring and Services, initially starting as Head of Marketing in 2001. These roles provided Michael with invaluable insights into the marketing sector and business leadership.

Michael joins the University at a critical time, when the core goal underpinning the University's Securing Success 2015-2020 Strategic Plan is to be a distinctively student-centred University. Michael will champion this goal and help provide the vision and leadership to transform and enhance our students' experience.