Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Professor Shirley Leitch

Biography

Ph.D. (1987) M.A. 1st Class Honours (1983) B.A. Senior Prize (1981), University of Auckland

Professor Shirley Leitch has been the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Swinburne University of Technology since January 2010. She is the founding chair of Online Education Services Ltd, a joint venture with SEEK Ltd, and serves on the boards of Swinburne Sarawak Holdings SDN BHD (a joint venture with Sarawak State Government) and Swinburne College.

Professor Leitch was previously Dean of Commerce at the University of Wollongong and Pro Vice-Chancellor of Public Affairs at the University of Waikato, where she held a personal chair in corporate communication. She has held academic posts at the University of Auckland, Massey University and Victoria University of Wellington and is an A-ranked scholar under New Zealand’s PBRF research assessment system.

Professor Leitch and her co-researchers have received more than $4M in national competitive grants. She has more than 100 refereed papers in publications including the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Human Relations, Discourse Studies, Australian Journal of Communication, Public Relations Review, Science and Public Policy and International Studies in Management and Organization. Her research is focused on public discourse and change, including science-society engagement in relation to controversial science.