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.