Professor Stirling is a highly awarded academic with an extensive record of leadership and innovation in higher education. He is President & Vice-Chancellor of Flinders University, in South Australia.

Scottish-born, he holds a PhD in genetics from the University of Glasgow, and was a NATO Research Fellow of the University of California, Berkeley, before developing his distinguished academic career as Professor of Genetics at the University of Manchester. He has been awarded several prestigious research fellowships and prizes including the Lister Institute Jenner Fellowship and the Fleming Award.

He has held a range of leadership positions including Vice-President at the University of Manchester, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic and later Provost & Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Curtin University.

Professor Stirling serves on various Boards and Committees including, Education Australia Ltd and Innovative Research Universities and is currently a Non-Executive Director of the ASX 200 company, IDP Education Ltd.

Following a career in destination marketing that included executive roles with the South Australian Tourism Commission in Adelaide and Tourism Australia in Singapore, Karyn Kent joined StudyAdelaide in 2014 as its Chief Executive. StudyAdelaide’s role is to increase awareness of Adelaide as a study destination, and deliver programs to support international students in Adelaide.

In 2016, Karyn was appointed to the national Council for International Education, which was formed to oversee the implementation of Australia’s first National Strategy for International Education. In 2021 she was appointed to the Reimagining the Visitor Economy Panel, to help chart a course for sustainable long-term growth of the visitor economy after the devastating impact of COVID-19.

As Principal at Glenunga International High School in Adelaide, Wendy Johnson has taken an school that was ‘stuck’ to one regularly listed among the nation’s top 100 schools and one which is internationally accredited by the Council of International Schools and the International Baccalaureate Organisation as world-leading.

Prior to her appointment to Glenunga, Wendy held a number of positions as Principal at Victor Harbor High School, as District Superintendent in two highly disadvantaged metropolitan areas, as Regional Services Manager across Adelaide’s northern suburbs (some of the most disadvantaged in Australia) and as a policy developer responsible for phasing out corporal punishment and introducing a new School Discipline policy in South Australia which was cited by OECD as best practice.

She has a Masters Degree in Educational Administration and her research on the effectiveness of an interagency referral process that she developed won the university’s gold medal and was recognised by OECD as world’s best practice.