Sarah Pearson has been Chief Scientist and Chief Innovation Officer at DFAT, headed up ANU Enterprise and has a PhD in particle physics from Oxford.
Is it too superficial though, that despite those achievements, the title that jumps out to me most in the CV of new UNE Chancellor Sarah Pearson is Global Head of Open Innovation at Cadbury?
Facing the devastating impact of MD107 on regional universities, the rise of ATEC, calls for reviews of university governance and some of the most significant shifts in HE policy in decades, it is not just the job title of a latter-day Willy Wonka that is important, but critically, the infusion of private sector insights carried by a sector insider. UNE is set to practice approaches to governance that are not seen at many other institutions – yet.
“When you come from a commercial model you have a very clear idea of the role of the Council,” Dr Pearson said.
“The Board (Council) is there not just to provide guard rails – each member comes with expertise, knowledge and networks that you should be using to further the organisation.
“I also feel very strongly about having a closer relationship between the Council and the staff, not just the executive. We absolutely have to make sure that Council does not become operational… but a university is a business and it’s also a charity – there is a purpose and a heart of it that you have to balance with the commerciality of the organisation. You’ve got to remember the heart of a university and what it’s there for.”
Dr Pearson met her then-husband, Armidale émigré David Pearson at Oxford, while she was completing her PhD in particle physics, but she cheerfully set career aside for children soon after. “I was one of those mothers that just fell hopelessly in love with my children and so I as a full-time mum for a while,” she said.
After moving to Armidale, the children were just starting school when she took on the chance to start demonstrating in the physics labs at UNE, “which sometimes meant physically demonstrating a wave,” she says, waving arms in the air, clearly still ready to engage students at any moment.
The following year, she was asked to do a bit of lecturing’ and within two weeks of starting, pretty much everybody else left, leaving her in solo charge of the physics department. Undaunted (apparently, by anything), Dr Pearson rolled up her sleeves and rewrote the curriculum, contracted in some teaching support and essentially resurrected Physics at the university she now presides over. “I had the physics department to myself which meant I didn’t have crotchety old men saying, ‘we don’t do it that way!’ and we moved from chalk and talk to PowerPoint, got books in for each course and rewrote the materials,” Dr Pearson said.
Her research career blossomed in between teaching, and after taking an interest in breast cancer, spotted an opportunity to improve diagnosis by analysing collagen. “I called up an expert on collagen and he said “no, I wouldn’t do that, there’s not enough collagen in the breast,” but I thought there was enough to give it a go and within four seconds I am (looking at collagen analysis) saying ‘Yep, tumour’, ‘no, healthy’ – so I patented that.” She said.
After building a career in innovation, teaching and advocacy for STEM, what can UNE expect from their new Chancellor?
“I don’t like the term low SES, it’s so degrading, but people who are new to the uni concept, UNE has a big role to play in attracting more of them. The govt wants to do more of that, and UNE is such a great place with capacity to reach more people in Australia,” Dr Pearson said.
“Financially, many universities are in situations they would rather not be in. I am not going to point the finger at governance, let’s not be too harsh on councils, unis didn’t completely collapse during COVID and they didn’t get a lot of help. I think people are putting different sorts of people on Councils now.
“We are going to have to have a greater focus on financial capability, and that’s not just related to Council, you have Deans and others – that financial capacity has to go further down into the organisation.”
