Rebekah Brown
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Professor Rebekah Brown | |
|---|---|
| Interim Vice-Chancellor and President of the Australian National University | |
| Assumed office September 2025 | |
| Chancellor | Julie Bishop |
| Preceded by | Genevieve Bell |
| Provost and Senior Vice-President of the Australian National University | |
| Assumed office June 2024 | |
| Chancellor | Julie Bishop |
| Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Senior Vice-President at Monash University | |
| In office June 2021 – May 2024 | |
| Senior Vice-Provost (Research) at Monash University | |
| In office January 2018 – June 2021 | |
| Personal details | |
| Education | Monash University (BE (Hons)), University of New South Wales (PhD) |
| Occupation | Academic |
| Academic background | |
| Thesis | Institutionalisation of integrated urban stormwater management: multiple-case analysis of local management reform across metropolitan Sydney (2003) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Environmental Studies |
| Institutions | |
Main interests | Urban water management, sustainable development, water-sensitive cities, transdisciplinary research |
Rebekah Ruth Brown is an Australian academic and fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, who has served as interim vice-chancellor and president of the Australian National University since September 2025. Brown's research in environmental studies specializes in urban water management, sustainable development, and transdisciplinary methods.[1]
Brown holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree with honors from Monash University.[2] A PhD in Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales in 2003, with a doctoral thesis titled "Institutionalization of integrated urban stormwater management: multiple-case analysis of local management reform across metropolitan Sydney."[3]
Before going into academia, Brown worked as a civil engineer on major infrastructure projects across the United Kingdom, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa.[1]
Academic career
Early career and research leadership
Internationally recognized for introducing a socio-technical dimension to what had previously been an almost exclusively engineering-focused approach to urban water management, Brown has been a figure in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the social and biophysical sciences in sustainable water management since the early 2000s. [4]
Brown co-founded the water-sensitive cities research platform at Monash University as a sustainable development solution to urban water challenges globally. She was active in establishing the $120 million (AUD) Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, comprising 86 partner organizations and over 170 researchers.[5] In this role, she served as Chief Research Officer, and inaugural Society-themed Program Leader, leading the integration of research outcomes from more than 100 researchers and 40 doctoral students across multiple institutions and 20 disciplines.[2]
Rebekah Brown's research has been influential in shaping urban water policy internationally. Her work has been cited in UN-Habitat's formulation of policy on urban drainage (2014–2017), in a major UNESCO analysis of 33 cities (2012), and by the Asian Development Bank to help frame water infrastructure investment strategies for its client nations.[4]
Australian National University (2024–present)
Provost and Senior Vice-President (2024–2025)
In June 2024, Brown was appointed Provost and Senior Vice-President of the Australian National University, serving as the senior deputy to the Vice-Chancellor.[6]
Interim Vice-Chancellor and President (2025–present)
Following the resignation of Genevieve Bell in September 2025, Brown was appointed interim Vice-Chancellor and President of ANU.[7] She has committed to serving in this role until at least the end of 2026.[7]
In her first weeks as interim Vice-Chancellor, Brown announced the end of the controversial "Renew ANU" restructuring program and committed to no forced redundancies, seeking to stabilize the university after a period of significant turmoil.[8] She has outlined a vision focused on three key objectives: creating stability, rebuilding trust, and developing a new strategic direction for the university.[9]
Brown is serving simultaneously as both provost and interim vice-chancellor during this period, with no separate interim provost appointed.[10]
Research and publications
Brown has published over 220 papers in journals, including Nature, Science, Global Environmental Change, and Water Research.[1] Her work has been highly cited, with an h-index of 50 and more than 12,800 citations.[1]
