Appointment of Provost and Senior Vice-President
Professor Tim Dunne joins Monash as Provost and Senior Vice-President on Tuesday 27 January 2026.
Following a competitive international search, Monash University has announced the appointment of Professor Tim Dunne as Provost and Senior Vice-President, effective Tuesday 27 January 2026.
Professor Dunne joins Monash from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, where he has served as Provost and Senior Vice-President since April 2022 and as Interim President and Vice-Chancellor between May and September 2025.
An accomplished global academic leader
As Provost and Senior Vice-President at the University of Surrey, Professor Dunne collaborated with faculty leaders to develop and deliver an integrated suite of policies that enhanced academic performance. He subsequently took on responsibility for improving Surrey’s global rankings, steering the university to an immediate uplift of 23 places in the QS league table. He was also instrumental in implementing stronger budgetary controls, resulting in a significant financial turnaround for the institution over the last two years.
Throughout his tenure, Professor Dunne served as deputy to then President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Max Lu AO, providing strategic advice and leadership across the academic portfolio. He chaired the University of Surrey Senate – strengthening the academic representation of this key governance body – and also served on several prominent university committees and boards.
Before joining the University of Surrey, Professor Dunne held executive leadership roles at the University of Queensland (UQ) for more than ten years. There he served as Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (2010-2013). Executive Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (2014-2017), and Deputy Provost (2018-2021). Previously he held leadership roles at the University of Exeter where he had the opportunity to work closely with his long-standing mentor Sir Steve Smith during his presidency of the university.
A distinguished researcher and social scientist
An eminent global authority in the field of international relations, Professor Dunne has achieved global recognition for his research in human rights protection and foreign policymaking in a changing world order. He has written and co-authored 17 books in collaboration with leading international scholars and has achieved a h-index of 44 (Google Scholar), placing him in the top tier of researchers in his field. Professor Dunne has co-edited two major journals of global significance in the Review of International Studies and the European Journal of International Relations, and also co-edited two of the world’s best-selling textbooks across multiple editions: Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases and International Relations Theories – both published by Oxford University Press.
In recognition of his significant scholarly contributions, Professor Dunne has been honoured as an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (United Kingdom), the Academy of Social Sciences (Australia), and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is an Oxford graduate, holding both a master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations.
With a successful track record in university leadership and academia across the United Kingdom and Australia, Professor Dunne will be a valuable addition to the senior leadership team and the Monash community as a whole. He brings expertise that will advance our foundational purpose of realising social and technological transformation to meet the challenges of the age for the communities and industries around us. Professor Dunne’s commitment to internationalism and the transformative power of education reflects the spirit of Monash.
We congratulate Professor Dunne and welcome him to the Monash community as he commences his new role in January. He will work closely with Professor Susan Elliott AM during a handover period as she prepares to retire from Monash University in the middle of 2026. We thank Professor Elliott for her outstanding contributions to Monash over almost a decade of service, including as Interim President and Vice-Chancellor, and wish her the best for her retirement.