Researcher biography

Professor Heather Zwicker (BA Hons UAlberta 1988, PhD Stanford 1993) holds three roles concurrently.

  1. As Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at The University of Queensland, Professor Zwicker leads seven schools and one reserach institute across fields including communications, political science, history, education, languages, sociology, criminology, anthropology, archaeology, classics, western civilisation, applied social sciences, policy, literature, and music.
  2. As President of the Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH), Heather leads the peak body of deans in humanities, social sciences and the arts from across Australia and Aotearoa/NZ.
  3. As Pro Vice Chancellor for Campus Culture and Leadership (PVC CCL), Professor Zwicker has three main responsibilities: management of UQ's cultural assets, overseeing and improving social cohesion on campus, and developing leadership programs and opportunities for academic staff.

Professor Zwicker's background as a cultural studies researcher enables her to bring postcolonial and feminist theories to bear on problems such as stereotypes, universities, classrooms, cities and grief. She is the winner of several teaching awards including the 3M Fellowship (2013).

She is available to speak on sector-wide issues facing the humanities, arts and social sciences including Job Ready Graduates, the skills agenda, the future of languages, equity access to higher education, EDI, and racism on campus.