Strategic plan

Faculty of Science Strategic Plan 2026 – 2030

UTS has a vision to be a leading public university of technology recognised for our global impact. The University’s commitment to, and energy for, teaching, innovating, and undertaking research that benefits society, is embodied by the Faculty of Science.

Today, our Faculty serves more than 4,300 students across our programs, and employs more than 400 staff across academic and professional roles. Our teaching and research seek to provide our students with a distinctive experience and a rich science education leading to diverse employment prospects. Our staff enjoy an inclusive, collaborative environment in which they can realise their personal and professional ambitions.

The Faculty of Science has been the home of a number of areas of research excellence, and has led many significant initiatives over the years. We have enjoyed a history of collaboration with external partners, and have been recognised nationally and internationally for outstanding performance in research and education, demonstrated by consistently high performance across rankings.

Our Strategic Plan for 2026 – 2030 charts a future course for Science at UTS to deepen the excellence and impact of our research, inspire our students, position our graduates for success, foster a diverse and inclusive science community, and broaden our partnerships for impact.

This plan could not have been completed without the active and passionate contribution of colleagues from across the Faculty. I thank all those who participated so enthusiastically.

Our future vision is both powerful and inspiring, and I invite you to join us in fulfilling it.

Professor James Wallman

Dean, UTS Faculty of Science

Starting Snapshot*

*As at August 2026

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3,400+

Undergraduate and postgraduate students (EFTSL)
editor_choice

210+

Academic staff (FTE)
lab_research

130+

Professional and technical staff (FTE)
payments

>$30 million

Annual research income
map

1st in Australia

Research citations per faculty (QS World University Rankings)
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320+

Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students

Vision

We will change the world for the better through our exceptional graduates, impactful scientific research, and innovative technology.

Principles

Integrity-driven

Continue to build on our culture of honesty and transparency across the Faculty, advancing science in the best interests of people and the planet.

Excellent

Deliver excellence by producing high quality, internationally respected research with positive impact.

Collaborative

Foster a culture of collaboration that leverages our diverse expertise and perspectives for greater impact.

Innovative

Be recognised for our cutting-edge technologies, passion for science, research, and teaching and learning approaches.

Inclusive

Nurture a supportive and inclusive environment where all people feel valued, respected, and empowered through a sense of community and belonging.

Case study

Science Extension at UTS

In 2023, the Faculty of Science began offering the Mentor Science+ Science Extension program.

Led by Dr Lisa Cabral, the program is a social justice initiative to address STEM subject access inequalities in NSW high schools. Mentor Science+ Science Extension offers HSC Science Extension opportunities to schools with populations that are underrepresented in STEM careers.

Mentor Science+ Science Extension enjoys working with a variety of high schools, including government and non-government schools. The program currently has dozens of schools participating. The schools include those from regional NSW, Western Sydney and all-girl schools. A number of our students identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students.

Find out more

UTS Science Strategic Priorities

UTS Science is committed to excellence across five interlinked strategic priorities, each with a view to changing the world for the better.

These strategic priorities are underpinned by a set of goals and initiatives, each of which will contribute to the faculty’s vision and broader UTS 2030 ambitions.

Success against these priorities will be driven by the faculty’s exceptional academic and professional staff, students, and partners, and supported by UTS central and faculty systems.

Priority 1

Leverage our research strengths to deepen the excellence and impact of our research

- Articulate and embody our research priorities and faculty research themes
- Build critical mass and impact in our fundamental research
- Increase the translation and commercialisation of our science research
- Attract, grow and retain talented researchers and research students
- Build existing strong and unique areas of research across the Faculty, and actively promote these internally and externally
- Critical mass and distinctiveness in our research through focused priority research areas
- Develop cross-cutting research themes for the Faculty to enhance impact and foster collaboration
- Grow the Faculty’s priority research areas
- Promote research achievements against the UN Sustainable Development Goals
- Recruit and develop exemplary researchers in selected fundamental research areas, as well as the staff required to support their success
- Achieve a stronger international focus as part of our growing global research impact
- Identify and pursue opportunities to lead major collaborative grants
  Clearly articulate and communicate our success in fundamental research, both internally and externally
- Proactively broaden and strengthen our partnerships for translational and commercial research*
- Foster the development of fundamental research towards higher Technology Readiness Levels
- Provide researchers with the support needed to proactively engage in business development and relationship-building, and to identify new opportunities for developing IP, patents and licences*
- Equip staff (professional and technical) with the skills required to engage proactively with external partners and support commercialisation activities*
- Enable career pathways to support and retain high-performing HDRs, ECRs and MCRs
- Develop a strong pipeline of future research students through the Faculty’s undergraduate and postgraduate programs
- Recruit high-quality HDR students from our international partners
- Provide peer-mentoring and peer-review opportunities for researchers to support high quality proposals and publications
- Enhance collaboration between researchers to encourage cross-disciplinary research and relationship-building through organised networking
- Celebrate, showcase and reward exemplary research
* see Partnership Priority

Priority 2

Provide a positive student-centred experience grounded in real-world application of science

- Provide excellent on-campus and flexible learning opportunities for our students
- Facilitate students’ success from their first to their final day
- Broaden inclusive pathways to enable all students to access and succeed in science
- Support our staff to be exemplary educators
- Deliver asynchronous and self-directed learning opportunities for students, providing them with the tools and support they need to engage in these forms of learning
- Leverage the Faculty’s exceptional facilities to support innovative,
- practical and research-inspired learning opportunities
- Engage with students as partners, incorporating the student voice in the design of the student experience
- Enhance the quality of formative student feedback across all courses
- Implement a comprehensive student leadership and mentoring program
- Increase staff responsibility for enhancing the student experience
- Increase Faculty engagement with, and promotion of, student clubs and societies
- Engage with students to provide access to advice for administration,
- course and discipline information as
- well as networking and professional development activities
- Instill a lifelong passion for science in every student
- Celebrate Indigenous excellence by promoting Indigenous opportunities and scholarships
- Celebrate, reward and showcase exemplary teaching
- Introduce mentoring, collaboration and coaching for academic and professional staff to support high quality education delivery
- Provide staff with development opportunities for, and in recognition of, high quality peer-reviewed and team teaching models
- Strengthen and expand peer-reviewed and team teaching models
- Commit to and facilitate school outreach and community science opportunities

Priority 3

Position our graduates for success as confident, resilient and adaptable scientists

- Equip our students with the skills and attributes they need to thrive in their future careers
- Deliver exceptional programs that provide strong academic, professional and societal value
- Create distinctive, confident, and responsible graduates who are exemplary scientific thinkers
- Co-design course content with industry and employers and ensure students are exposed to opportunities in creative and innovative scientific thinking
- Embed enterprise skills consistently across Science programs, fully integrating the Faculty’s employability framework
- Invest in exceptional WIL and professional placement experience, including SMEs and start-ups to provide students with hands-on, practical skills
- Ensure Indigenous graduates are highly competitive for a future in research, government or industry
- Ensure the continued evolution of Faculty’s portfolio of programs
- Provide students with scientific programs that provide the opportunity to develop their research, inquiry and critical thinking skills
- Continue to grow and diversify our international student cohort through active engagement in international recruitment
- Leverage our assets to drive international opportunities across both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) markets
- Embed social justice, inclusivity, sustainability, and Indigenous attributes across all degrees to foster critically ethical and inclusive scientific practices
- Provide opportunities for students to engage broadly across the university, including UTS Startups, volunteering opportunities and the UTS Sustainability Team
- Provide students with opportunities to engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration to deepen their learning and build their capacity to generate novel solutions to common challenges
- Map and showcase learning against the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Priority 4

Foster a diverse, empowered and inclusive science community

- Broaden and deepen our approach to gender equity, diversity and inclusion
- Increase the diversity of our staff and students for inclusion and innovation
- Foster an exceptional staff experience, and support staff to grow and contribute to the faculty strategy
- Broaden the Faculty’s definition of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) to include disability, neurodivergence, cultural and linguistic diversity (CALD) and carers.
- Improve the Faculty’s understanding of the diversity of its students and staff by increasing data collection and reporting
- Develop an EDI strategy, with specific goals to be actioned by the Science Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (SIDE) Committee, and provide adequate support and resources to achieve inclusion outcomes
- Increase diversity across the Faculty, including across levels, schools and disciplines
- Amplify opportunities and support career pathways for progressing both academic and professional women to senior roles, with continued support for Academic Women in Science (AWIS)
- Improve gender equity in STEMM through SAGE Accreditation projects
- Increase Indigenous representation, including through student recruitment and outreach
- Coordinate efforts with EDI teams across and outside of the university for maximum impact
- Identify and implement distinctive ways to enhance the Faculty’s employee value proposition (within the broader UTS employee value proposition)
- Support the local implementation of the UTS People Strategy initiatives
- Provide targeted leadership training to support current leaders and develop those with leadership potential, creating a strong pipeline
- Ensure career development is available to all Faculty staff
- Celebrate, reward and showcase the exemplary contributions of all Faculty staff

Priority 5

Broaden and strengthen our partnerships as a key element of our unique identity

- Increase and diversify external research funding through proactive partnership development
- Expand the breadth and depth of our external engagement for teaching, learning, Indigenous collaboration and research impact
- Continue to proactively identify and document existing partnership development relationships across the Faculty
- Deepen the Faculty’s pipeline of ‘whole of lifecycle’ engagement through external engagement
- Broaden and deepen industry and business partnerships by increasing proactive participation in industry networking and engagement activities
- Create opportunities for co-location with industry
- Increase proactive engagement with strategic partners, particularly for philanthropic organisations and individuals, non-university research organisations and international partners
- Partner with other faculties for major external
- Increase engagement with other UTS faculties for cross-discipline teaching, learning and research
- Deepen relationships and establish new partnerships with other universities for teaching and research innovation
- Expand existing partnerships to ensure multiple touchpoints across the research and teaching and learning ecosystems
- Provide current students with career building opportunities, including networking opportunities and career showcases, by leveraging relationships with alumni
- Engage with other faculties, and or universities, to identify research, teaching and learning best practice
- Create internship opportunities through existing and emerging industry partnerships
- Provide opportunities for Indigenous businesses to collaborate with the Faculty funding opportunities

Research themes and focus

Research performance is of particular importance to our Faculty of Science. Over the period of this strategy, the UTS Science Faculty will strengthen and leverage its current research strengths and look to build new directions in research through increased cross-disciplinary collaboration and support for the growth of new research areas.

Research themes:

Cross-cutting areas of research that are representative of the breadth of research priorities defined across the Faculty.

Research focus areas:

Strong and/or growing, focused areas of research will be prioritised for future Faculty and University funding, appointments and infrastructure.

Find out more

Research with impact

See more stories

For more information

Visit the faculty home page or email Dean-of-Science@uts.edu.au

Faculty of Science

Strategic plan

Report PDF

Faculty of Science Strategic Plan 2026 – 2030

Starting Snapshot*

3,400+

210+

130+

>$30 million

1st in Australia

320+

Vision

Principles

Case study

UTS Science Strategic Priorities

Priority 1

Leverage our research strengths to deepen the excellence and impact of our research

Goals

Initiatives

Priority 2

Provide a positive student-centred experience grounded in real-world application of science

Goals

Initiatives

Priority 3

Position our graduates for success as confident, resilient and adaptable scientists

Goals

Initiatives

Priority 4

Foster a diverse, empowered and inclusive science community

Goals

Initiatives

Priority 5

Broaden and strengthen our partnerships as a key element of our unique identity

Goals

Initiatives

Research themes and focus

Research with impact

Biotech start-up takes leap to regenerate Alzheimer’s damage

Shedding light on the traces of illicit drugs

From pint to pasture: brewing climate-friendly beer

Taking smarter, faster vaccines from lab to production

Biotech start-up takes leap to regenerate Alzheimer’s damage

Shedding light on the traces of illicit drugs

From pint to pasture: brewing climate-friendly beer

Taking smarter, faster vaccines from lab to production

For more information

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