Dawn Freshwater

Biography

Professor Freshwater is a globally recognised leader, having worked in world-class universities for almost three decades. She became the University of Auckland’s first female Vice-Chancellor in March 2020, after serving at the University of Western Australia as Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Go8 in Australia. She is recent past Chair for Asia Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Steering Committee, and Presidential Champion for the Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL); Current Chair of Research Australia and recently appointed Chief Executive of the Worldwide University Network (WUN). Dawn has been elected to the Academia Europaea (MAE), is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland (FRCSI) and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN). She was listed in the top 2% of researchers in Stanford-Elsevier List 2024 in Public Health, Clinical Psychology and Nursing. She is a global commentator on higher education and an international advisor to several governments.