Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

See also: Previous Boards

Professor Linda Rosenman: President

Linda Rosenman is Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Provost at Victoria University in Melbourne. Her academic background is in economics, social work and social policy. From 1997 to 2006, she was Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Queensland, and before that President of the University of Queensland Academic Board and Head of School of Social Work and Social Policy. Linda studied and worked in the United States, returning to Australia in 1987 from a position as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Missouri. Linda has served as President of the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH) and of the Association for Social Work and Welfare Education. She has served on and chaired a number of Boards, Commissions and advisory councils across the education and human and community services sectors. She has a long background with CHASS since its foundation and served as Vice-president until stepping down from the CHASS Board in 2007.

Michael Crayford

Michael Crayford is the Assistant Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Australian National Maritime Museum and is responsible for a number of key functions of the museum including research, collections, preservation, curatorial, library, design, registration, exhibitions, USA Gallery, and Indigenous programs. Other accomplishments are planning and managing major museum/heritage sites with primary responsibilities in strategic planning, exhibition development and project management, financial management, advocacy and liaison. Michael has been involved in a range of cultural activities and initiatives outside of museums including music copyright, contemporary craft, public art and community cultural development. He is a board member of AusHeritage and has been a member of numerous cultural committees over a 25 year period. Michael is committed to capacity building between university research in the humanities and research applications in cultural agencies such as museums.

Professor Stuart Cunningham

Stuart Cunningham is Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, based at Queensland University of Technology. This centre draws on contributions across the humanities, creative arts and social sciences to help build a more dynamic and inclusive innovation system in Australia. Stuart is known for his contributions to media, communications and cultural studies and works to promote their relevance to industry practice and government policy. He is the author or editor of several books and major reports, the latest being The Media and Communications in Australia (edited with Graeme Turner) and What Price a Creative Economy? A collection of his key essays is forthcoming in 2008. He has served as a Commissioner of the Australian Film Commission, as Foundation Chair of QPIX, Queensland's Screen Development Centre, and as Treasurer of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He was elected to a Board position of CHASS in 2005 and served as President of CHASS from 2006 to 2008, and has chaired the Humanities and Creative Arts panel of the ARC's College of Experts during 2007.

Professor Meredith Edwards AM FASSA

Meredith Edwards is Emeritus Professor at the University of Canberra and a Senior Consultant for Courage Partners. She is an economist who has been a lecturer, researcher, policy analyst and administrator through her career. From 1983 to 1997, she advised on some major social policy, education and labour market issues in the Commonwealth Public Service, including in the role of Deputy Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1993. She served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra from 1997 to 2002, and set up the National Institute for Governance in 1999, of which she was Director until 2004. In 2001, Meredith published a book Social Policy, Public Policy: From Problem to Practice based on case studies she was involved in during her career in the Commonwealth Public Service. Her current major research interests are issues relating to the governance of public sector boards, the research-policy relationship, and community engagement. Meredith was a member of the Wran Committee on Higher Education Funding (1988-1989) and a member of the Australian Statistics Advisory Council (1988-90 and 1994-2001). She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA), and was President of the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand (ACT Branch) from 1994-1996. Meredith chaired a review of the research program of ANZSOG in 2007.

Professor Ross Homel

Professor Ross Homel is Foundation Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University, and Director of the University's Strategic Research Program in the Social and Behavioural Sciences. From 2004 till 2007 he was Director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance at Griffith, and he also served as Head of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice between 1993 and 96 and 2002 and 2003. He was editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology from 1992 to 1995, and was a part-time Commissioner of the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission from February 1994 to April 1999. In July 2003 he took on a half-time role for 12 months with the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, to help develop a set of national research priorities to advance the wellbeing of children and young people, and to set up a new Australian Research Council research network on behalf of the Alliance. In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. His career focus is the theoretical analysis of crime and associated problems, and the prevention of these problems through the application of the scientific method to problem analysis and the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions. He is particularly interested in prevention projects implemented through community development methods at the local level, and is co-director of a large project in a disadvantaged area of Brisbane (the Pathways to Prevention Project).

Professor Catharine Lumby

Catharine Lumby is the Director of the Journalism and Media Research Centre (JMRC) at UNSW where she works with a team of researchers seeding and prosecuting research across public, private and community sectors. She was the founding Chair of the Media and Communications Department at the University of Sydney. Her first degrees are in Fine Arts and Law and she has worked as a contemporary art critic, curated exhibitions and served on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Catharine also worked for two decades as a feature and opinion writer for a range of key Australian and international print media and is an experienced public commentator on research in the HASS sector. Catharine is the author and co-author of seven books and has been a Chief Investigator on seven ARC Grants. She has also worked extensively on applied research projects in the private and community sectors. Catharine served as a member of the Advertising Standards Board (1999-2008), is a member of the NSW Health Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board and is on the international editorial board of the International Journal of Cultural Studies. She is strongly committed to communicating the value of new humanities knowledge to the public, private and community sectors and to promoting interdisciplinary collaborations that build the research capacity of the HASS sector.

Professor Faith Trent AM FACE

Faith Trent is currently Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, Humanities, Law and Theology at Flinders University, Adelaide. She holds a Chair in Education in the field of Curriculum. She has been a member of the senior executive at Flinders since 1991. Faith was an inaugural member of the national Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching from 1992-1996 and is the immediate past President of the Australian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH), a position she held from 2006-2009. She has undertaken consultancies in higher education in curriculum design and implementation, teaching and learning and multicultural education, and provided advice to the governments of Brunei, Hong Kong and Canada. Faith was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003 for service to education as an academic, as a contributor in the area of educational reform, and to the community, particularly in the areas of Indigenous and Multicultural Affairs. In 2007 Faith was awarded a Fellowship of the Australian College of Educators for distinctive contributions to educational leadership at a national, state and institutional level. In 2009, Faith was approved as an AUQA auditor.

Dr Astrid Wootton

Astrid Wootton is Director of the Design Centre Tasmania. As a member of Australian Craft and Design Centres, the national peak body for craft and design, she brings to the Board a view of design (as it relates to craft, built objects and products) that is based upon continuing national discussions of developments and new ideas and methodologies in the sector. Astrid is interested in the embedding of design and creativity within the Government's remit. She was a participant in the Towards a Creative Australia stream at the recent 2020 Summit, and is involved in the ongoing discussion of this specific issue. In her role as Director of the Design Centre Tasmania, she has a sound industry perspective. Astrid is particularly aware of, and interested in, the practicalities of delivering to the industry sector any benefits that build from embedding creativity and design in public policy.

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