Sir Roland Wilson Foundation 2020 Annual Report
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ANU SIR ROLAND WILSON FOUNDATION Annual Report 2020 SIR ROLAND WILSON 1904–1996 Sir Roland Wilson CBE, KBE was an economist, acclaimed academic and had a remarkable career as a public servant. Born in 1904, Roland Wilson was the first Rhodes Scholar from Tasmania. He completed two PhD’s, one at Oxford University and one at the University of Chicago. After a short academic career, Wilson joined the public service in 1932 and was quickly appointed Commonwealth Statistician. He then served as founding Secretary of the Department of Labour and National Service where he coordinated Australia’s economic approach to WWII. In 1951, he was appointed Secretary of Treasury – he remains Australia’s longest serving Treasury Secretary, with almost 16 years of service. He was remembered in this role as an intellectual force, giving expert advice that shaped economic policy. After retiring from the public service, Wilson was Chairman on the boards of the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas Airways. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to public service, Wilson was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1941; a Knight Bachelor in 1955; and, a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in 1965. CONTENTS Highlights................................................................................... 2 Who we are ............................................................................... 3 Message from the Chair...................................................... 4 Message from the Executive Director ................................... 5 Impact ...............................................................................6 Sir Roland Wilson Pat Turner Scholarship ............................8 Scholars ......................................................................... 10 Board ....................................................................................... 19 Alumni Activities .............................................................. 20 Alumni ............................................................................ 22 Engagement and Events ................................................... 26 Commencement Dinner ............................................ 26 Wilson Dialogue ....................................................... 26 Scholar Symposium .................................................. 27 Secretaries Dinner .................................................... 27 Sir Roland Wilson Foundation 2020 Annual Report 1 HIGHLIGHTS 56 Scholarships awarded to date SIR ROLAND WILSON SCHOLARSHIP SIR ROLAND WILSON PAT TURNER SCHOLARSHIP 4 4 Scholars commence in 2021 Scholars commence in 2021 24 9 Current scholars Current scholars 12 3 Alumni Alumni 16 9 Australian Public Service agencies Australian Public Service agencies 17 7 Research schools Research schools Current as of 31 January 2021 2 Sir Roland Wilson Foundation 2020 Annual Report WHO WE ARE The Sir Roland Wilson Foundation is a partnership The Sir Roland Wilson scholarship is a 3–year full between The Australian National University, pay scholarship for PhD research at The Australian Charles Darwin University and the Australian Public National University (ANU) for high performing EL1 Service. and EL2 APS employees. Honouring the legacy of Sir Roland Wilson KBE The Sir Roland Wilson Pat Turner Scholarship is CBE, we build research and leadership capability a 1–3 year, full pay scholarship for any level of in the Australian Public Service (APS) and embed postgraduate study at ANU or Charles Darwin connections between policymaking and academia University (CDU) for APS 4 to SES Band 1 APS through postgraduate scholarships. employees. Our scholars are future leaders, building connections between academia and the APS, and driving evidence-based public policy. Sir Roland Wilson Foundation 2020 Annual Report 3 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Dr Ken Henry AC 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, but The Foundation held a professional through crisis there is opportunity. Realising the development event for Pat Turner Foundation’s vision of equipping the public service with scholars in November 2020 as part the best knowledge, expertise and skills to navigate of our commitment to developing challenges of national and global significance is more Indigenous capability and leadership in the public important than ever. I am extremely proud of our service. At the event, jointly organised with CDU, we were achievements and am exceptionally grateful for the honoured to welcome Pat Turner AM and the Minister for continuing support of our partners - ANU, CDU and the Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt AM MP, as keynote APS. speakers. Pat and Ken shared great wisdom with our scholars, speaking about the importance of Indigenous- This year the Foundation welcomed 12 new scholars, led research for improving public policy outcomes. double the number of scholars in previous years. This The Advisory Group for the Pat Turner Scholarship brings our community to 48 scholars and alumni with continues to drive the program’s development and provide another eight commencing in 2021. These 56 scholars recommendations to the Foundation and the Board to and alumni represent 20 APS agencies, reflecting the achieve the objectives of the program. Foundation’s broad reach across the public service. I look forward to welcoming scholars from the Department I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Office of National leadership of our Sir Roland Wilson Chair of Economics, Intelligence for the first time in 2021. Professor Bruce Chapman AO, who stepped down from the Foundation Board in April 2020. Bruce made As the cohort grows, I am pleased to see more scholars an enormous contribution to the Foundation and our and alumni promoting their ideas and research, building scholars. I am pleased that Bruce has accepted a role as their networks and maintaining connections across a patron of the Foundation and that we could recognise academia and the public service. In 2020, five alumni his service at our Secretaries Dinner. continued their academic work as fellows at ANU, while working in the public service. The establishment of the As we look at the challenges facing the nation, I am Alumni Advisory Group and appointment of an alumni confident that the Foundation is well positioned to help the representative on the Board will further strengthen the APS build the capabilities it needs. I am thrilled to see the use of evidence and research across the public service. impact of our work continue to deepen and expand, and I look forward to the opportunity to build on our success in a very exciting year ahead. 4 Sir Roland Wilson Foundation 2020 Annual Report MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Sally-Anne Henfry It is hard to believe we are one year In October, we were honoured to welcome the into our Strategic Plan (2020-2025) Hon. Kevin Rudd AC as our keynote speaker for the yet we have already achieved so annual Wilson Dialogue. Mr Rudd spoke about the much. This year has been immensely importance of action on climate change as a pathway to challenging but also extremely rewarding. The Foundation recovery from COVID-19. and our scholars have shown enormous resilience in the face of crisis. I am proud of the Foundation team and our Our recently established Alumni Advisory Group are scholars who have adapted and overcome the barriers already making great progress having developed a presented through lockdowns, and inability to travel and to clear vision to build APS capability and leadership. It is connect in the usual ways. wonderful to see more Foundation alumni undertaking fellowships and maintaining links with academia after they Despite these challenges, the Foundation continues to return to public service. make progress on our strategic objectives. This year the Foundation launched a new Knowledge Mobilisation I would like to congratulate our 2020 Award winners: and Communications Strategy to support work already Cris Castro, Lisa Conway, Siddharth Shirodkar and underway to develop and embed activities that will Dr Nathan Deutscher. You join a prestigious group of strengthen the use of evidence and research across the Foundation prize winners for your contribution to academia public sector. and public policy. This includes stepping up our professional development As I reflect on the challenges of the past year, I am and training for scholars. Over June and July, the exceptionally grateful for the continuing support of our Foundation hosted a series of virtual sessions in lieu partners, our dedicated Board and Chair Dr Ken Henry AC, of our face-to-face symposium. Topics ranged from and the hard work of my team and our scholars and alumni. leadership to big data and analytics in policymaking, As the Foundation matures, we are starting to realise our with high level speakers from across the APS and vision. With another successful year for our scholars and academia. I am pleased to report exceptional alumni, I am excited to see what else we can achieve over engagement across the series. the coming years. Sir Roland Wilson Foundation 2020 Annual Report 5 IMPACT Peter Bligh, 2020 Helen Benassi, 2017 SRW Pat Turner Scholar, Australian Institute of Sir Roland Wilson PhD scholar Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies Department of Defence Peter (PJ) Bligh is the first scholar to graduate from the Helen is a SRW scholar from the Department of Defence. Pat Turner Scholarship program, having completed a Her PhD examines the stigma of and