Professor Freshwater joins the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) after a career spanning continents and disciplines, with significant contributions to higher-education leadership and public health scholarship. At the same time, she has been dedicated to sector collaboration, which has seen her actively involved with WUN for more than 15 years.
For Dawn, stepping into the role of executive director is a natural step after an extensive track record in senior leadership roles at prestigious universities in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
“Universities by their very nature are collaborative. This strength, developed and nurtured over centuries, is in greater demand than ever before both in terms of research responses to the world’s most challenging issues and during a time of global stability when our institutions can retain connections when national relationships are under pressure,” she says.
This powerful commitment to collaboration has its origins in a career pathway notable for its breadth and impact. Born and raised in Nottingham, UK, she initially trained as a nurse and later pursued higher education, becoming the first member of her family to attend university. She earned her PhD from the University of Nottingham in 1998, with her doctoral research focusing on transformative learning in nurse education. This was an early indicator of her enduring interest in how individuals and organisations learn and grow.
As Vice-Chancellor of New Zealand’s highest-ranked university, the University of Auckland, she steered the institution through the Covid-19 pandemic, fostering and building organisational resilience. Through a deep commitment to research excellence and sustainability, values-led and inclusive leadership, the student experience, and community and global partnerships, she strengthened the institution’s global standing and research profile.
Prior to joining the University of Auckland in 2020, Dawn was Vice-Chancellor at the University of Western Australia (UWA), where, as at Auckland, she led the development and implementation of a Vision and Strategic Plan. While in Australia, she led sector-wide initiatives and served as the first female Chair of the Group of Eight, Australia’s coalition of leading research universities.
Other roles have included Vice-Chair and Chair of the WUN Partnership Board, Chair of the Asia Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Steering Committee, Presidential Champion for APRU’s Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL), Chair and Deputy Chair of Research Australia and Chair of the Universities New Zealand Research Committee.
Speaking about her history of working with representative groups, Dawn says, “I have always believed in the strength, support and exchange of knowledge that comes with such groupings. We learn from each other, we empower each other, and together we can achieve much more.”
The public perception of universities and the diminished trust in them as foundational community institutions are also concerns for the new WUN Executive Director. “It is imperative that we claw back our reputation. We must do that by actions, effectively showing our communities that what we do is valuable and meaningful to them and improves lives. We do this through teaching, enabling people to change their lives, their families, their future families and their communities. We also do this through research, which is now more urgent than ever.”
Alongside her leadership roles, Professor Freshwater has maintained a strong research profile. Her academic expertise centres on public health, particularly mental health and forensic mental health, psychological therapies, and offender health research. This work often bridges clinical practice and scholarly inquiry, emphasising holistic responses to complex health and societal problems.
That she continues to be an active researcher is testimony to her dedication to the academy. “I am dedicated to research and what it offers our society. For me, it is an unrelenting drive to expand knowledge and a belief that knowledge improves lives, communities, and society. It is also a duty.”
Professor Freshwater has consistently been recognised as one of Stanford-Elsevier’s top 2% of Scientists worldwide in fields including public health, clinical psychology, and nursing. She was ranked in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Her research has also explored leadership practices, particularly values-led and inclusive leadership, reflecting her leadership philosophy.
It is therefore no surprise that she has been recognised with several honours, including Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN) and Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (FRCSI). She is also an elected Member of the Academia of Europaea (MAE), reflecting her standing among Europe’s leading scholars.
With a rare blend of strategic leadership and scholarly accomplishment, Dawn is ambitious for WUN as she works with members to shape the network for the next decade. In expressing delight at her appointment, WUN Partnership Board Chair and President of the University of Alberta Professor Bill Flanagan described her as “an accomplished leader to guide WUN at a moment of extraordinary challenge and opportunity for higher education globally. He says the Partnership Board looks forward to working with Dawn to maximise WUN’s impact for its members and the world.