Professor Glyn Davis AC

Professor Glyn Davis AC was appointed Interim Vice-Chancellor of The University of Melbourne in January 2026, following the passing of Vice-Chancellor Professor Emma Johnston AO. After having served as the University’s 19th Vice-Chancellor from 2005-2018, Professor Davis is once again serving in the role while the University undertakes a search for the next permanent Vice-Chancellor.

Prior to this appointment, Professor Davis served as the 22nd Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from June 2022 to June 2025, and as Chief Executive Officer of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia's largest charitable foundation with a mission to break the cycle of disadvantage. He also previously served as Vice-Chancellor of Griffith University in Queensland.

Until recently, he was Distinguished Professor of Political Science in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. He remains a Visiting Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and a Visiting Fellow at Exeter College. He also holds visiting professorial appointments at King's College London, The University of Manchester and the Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne.

Professor Davis is a public policy specialist, with experience in government and higher education, who delivered in 2010 the Boyer Lectures on the theme 'The Republic of Learning'. His community work includes partnering with Indigenous programs in the Goulburn–Murray Valley and Cape York, and service on a range of arts boards, including the Queensland and Melbourne Theatre Companies. He was Chair of Opera Australia from November 2021 to September 2022 – a role he returned to in 2025.

Professor Davis holds a first-class honours degree in Political Science from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a PhD from the Australian National University (ANU). In 1988, Professor Davis undertook a post-doctoral appointment as a Harkness Fellow, spending time at the University of California, Berkeley, the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Professor Davis is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and received a Centenary Medal in recognition of his contribution to public service in Australia. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2002 for service to public administration and governance and to education.

His most recent book is On Life's Lottery (Hachette, 2021), an essay on our moral responsibility toward those less well off.