In summary

  • Former Victorian Premier The Hon Ted Baillieu AO and business and marketing leader Simon Hammond have received Honorary Doctorates from Swinburne
  • Professor Peter Newton has received the title of Emeritus Professor
  • The awards were conferred at Swinburne’s 17 August graduation ceremony

Swinburne has recognised the outstanding contributions and leadership of The Hon Ted Baillieu AO and Simon Hammond, awarding them Honorary Doctorate degrees at Swinburne’s August graduation ceremony.

Professor Peter Newton was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor. 

The Hon Ted Baillieu AO

The Hon Ted Baillieu was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for community service, expertise and commitment to Swinburne.

Mr Baillieu was Premier of Victoria from 2010-2013 and the Member for Hawthorn in the Victorian Parliament from September 1999 to November 2014. He is a highly influential and community-oriented Melburnian, a Hawthorn resident, and a firmly established friend of Swinburne.

As Premier, Mr Baillieu led highly successful trade missions to India and China in 2012 to boost Victoria’s education business following a decline in international education enrolments.

Mr Baillieu is currently Chair of the Australian Heritage Council, a member of the Australia-India Council and a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club Committee.

For his service to both the Victorian Parliament and to international engagement, Mr Baillieu was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2020.

Simon Hammond

Simon Hammond was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Business for his contribution to business and his clear alignment with the university’s One Swinburne values.

Mr Hammond is the founder and executive chair of creative agency 50 Crates and founder of Hammond thinking. He previously co-founded and was chairman of The Be Counsel and co-founded Bastion Brands.

Mr Hammond is a leader in creative change in Australian business, identifying and defining drivers of social change and consumer behaviour.

Over a professional career spanning several decades, Mr Hammond has made a sustained and impactful contribution to marketing and business, particularly in branding and consumer behaviour.

He has been an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne since November 2020, where his contributions have included and will continue to include co-design and co-delivery of a postgraduate unit and provision of work-integrated learning for students.

Professor Peter Newton

Professor Peter Newton has been awarded the title of Professor Emeritus in recognition of his experience, commitment to Swinburne and expertise in several fields of socio-technical research related to sustainable urban development.

Professor Newton is the only academic in the field of built environment studies to have been a co-founder, senior manager, director and board member of all major national urban research centres in Australia, dating back to the 1990s.

He has made significant scholarly contributions through his extensive body of research and publishing, collaboration and leadership.

With his richness of experience, breadth and depth of expertise, he has generously mentored his peers at the Centre for Urban Transitions as well as its pre-cursor, the Institute for Social Research.

His transdisciplinary research has proved to be a major asset in his research leadership at Swinburne, meshing people, technology and disciplines. He continues to be active in research, publication and communications, recently co-authoring an article in The Conversation on how to renew our suburbs for more liveable, net-zero cities. 

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