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60 seconds with … Professor John Nieuwenhuysen AM

8 October 2008

Name: Professor John Nieuwenhuysen AM
Faculty: Education
Title: Director
Org Unit: Institute for the Study of Global Movements

How long have you been with Monash University?

Since July 2002.

Prior to working at Monash, where were you located and what was your role?

I was Chief Executive of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

What challenges are ahead in your current role?

Maintaining an inflow of funds for projects as the long period of government and private sector prosperity ceases.

What is it about your job that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying?

Combining ideas for projects with donors willing to back them and matching these with Monash University’s excellent research scholars. That and capitalising on the University’s outward-looking vision to integrate work with international scholars, especially through our international campuses.

What is your favourite place in the world and why?

London. My days at the London School of Economics opened my eyes to a new world of intellect, literature, diversity, history, architecture, parklands, pubs, restaurants, theatre, art and music which I have never tired of.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

At the University of Natal, a high school principal Stanley Osler, in an address to students, threw his hands up in the air and declared: "You must always grab new opportunities with open arms."

What is something about yourself that most of your colleagues wouldn't know?

I would willingly exchange the thirteen books and umpteen reports and articles I have written in a long academic life for authorship of a successful novel or autobiography.

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