Leading universities focused on collaborative research impact

Professor Freshwater took up the role of WUN Executive Director in February 2026.

She has worked in 3 world leading Universities, all of which have been members of WUN. Professor Freshwater served as Chair of the Partnership Board (2020-2022), plus two years as Vice-Chair, and hosted the WUN Annual General Meeting in 2018 during her tenure at the University of Western Australia. She also served as Chair, WUN Global Challenge Steering Group for Public Health and Understanding Cultures between 2014-2017 during her tenure as Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Leeds. She has been an active member of the WUN Partnership Board since 2017, and a member of the Steering Group since 2020. With over 15 years of personal engagement with WUN she has a keen interest in the evolution of the network and its future strategy and focus.

Professor Freshwater is a globally recognized leader in Higher Education. She became the University of Auckland’s first female Vice-Chancellor in March 2020, after serving at the University of Western Australia as Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Go8 in Australia.  She has been Chair of the Asia Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Steering Committee, and Presidential Champion for the Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL), Deputy Chair of Research Australia, and Chair of Universities New Zealand Research Committee. Dawn has been elected to the Academia Europaea (MAE), is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland (FRCSI) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN). She is listed in the top 2% of researchers in Stanford-Elsevier List 2024 in Public Health, Clinical Psychology and Nursing.

Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo is the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana and Professor of African Linguistics. She is an internationally respected scholar, academic leader, and advocate for equitable and globally connected higher education systems. Her work spans linguistics, higher education leadership, research collaboration, and the role of African universities in shaping global knowledge production and societal transformation.

A specialist in pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and discourse analysis, Professor Amfo’s scholarship has contributed significantly to advancing African perspectives within global linguistic and humanities scholarship. Her academic and public engagements increasingly focus on questions of language, voice, epistemic inclusion, and the place of African knowledge systems within evolving global and technological futures.

Professor Amfo currently serves in several major international higher education leadership roles. She is President of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM), Vice-Chair of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), a member of the Administrative Board of the International Association of Universities (IAU), and Chair of Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). She also serves as Founding President of the African Humanities Association (AHA), reflecting her longstanding commitment to strengthening African scholarship and intellectual leadership. In recognition of her contributions to inclusive leadership in higher education, she was named Ambassador for Gender Equity and Social Inclusion by the Association of African Universities (AAU) in 2025.

Under her leadership, the University of Ghana has pursued a vision of being both technology-driven and people-centred, with strategic emphasis on impactful research, innovation, student experience, sustainability, and global engagement. She has championed initiatives that strengthen research collaboration, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, and inclusive access to higher education, while positioning the University as a leading voice within African and global higher education conversations.

As Chair of the Worldwide Universities Network Partnership Board, Professor Amfo brings a strong commitment to deepening global research collaboration, advancing equitable international partnerships, and strengthening the public and societal value of higher education. She is particularly interested in positioning university networks as platforms for collective action, knowledge co-creation, and innovative responses to complex global challenges.