As an internationally recognised Computer Scientist and a Queensland native, Professor Wyeth shares her insights on the day in the life of a Dean, her career highlights, and her vision for the future to create the most diverse faculty across the university.
10 questions with Professor Peta Wyeth
Let’s start off with a simple one and the most asked amongst our faculty students. What is the role of a Dean?
As a Dean, I take responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the Faculty of Engineering and IT at UTS. This involves working with many different staff such as teaching staff, administration, institute Directors and Heads of School to focus on providing the very best student experience through facilitating a world-class learning environment.
Secondly, the role of a Dean is also to shine a spotlight on our research output in our many faculty areas including industry leading AI, robotics, data science, and water management to name a few.
What does the day in the life of a Dean typically look like?
I spend most of my days working on faculty priorities, so there are a lot of emails! Today, we are launching a new facility at UTS which involves hosting key personnel from the NSW Government and wider industry. I am then meeting an industry partner around how they might support women in our degrees and how we can work together to enable this success. Later tonight, I have a networking function hosted by the university which will provide a great opportunity to chat to other leaders in Engineering and IT and how we can work together at UTS to support our next generation. There is no pattern to my days, but variety is what I enjoy.
Tell us about your role prior to being the Dean, and any career highlights?
Prior to commencing at UTS, I was the Head of School of Computer Science and then Deputy Dean at QUT. In my last role, I responsible for the Learning and Teaching, research, international, and student support portfolio, and leading the initiatives behind diversity and inclusion. I was also a key researcher and Centre Lead for the Centre of Excellence for the digital child – a 7-year funded project looking for the risks and opportunities in early childhood with our digital age.
Being the Centre of Excellence Lead is my career highlight as research is a passion of mine. Receiving the funding for this project recognised the technology-fuelled issues that parents and teachers struggle with, and it is important to find answers through research to help create guidelines on what good technology use looks like.
What do you hope to achieve as our new faculty Dean?
My vision is to ensure that our next generation of Engineering and IT leaders are focused on future-orientated problems in our world. We as a university need to prepare them for this challenge through practical learning and industry engagement throughout their degree.
From a research perspective, I am committed to looking at societal problems and using those as the starting point for collaborative research. My background is cross-disciplinary and as a Computer Scientist, I have worked with robotics, allied health, education, and business professionals. When we work together, we amplify our outcomes, so It’s important to have a research vision that allows us to work with other faculties and universities both in Australia and globally to achieve this outcome.
I am also focused on how we drive our agenda with diversity and inclusion in mind. I’m passionate and committed to creating the most diverse faculty over the next 5 years through creating positive experiences for Indigenous Australian students, female students, LGBTIQA+ students and staff, and creating a safe environment where we all can belong.
What are some of the engagement opportunities within our faculty open to students?
For any new student to the faculty, the first thing I’d encourage is to connect with those both within and beyond your subjects. The wonderful thing about UTS is our number of engaging student clubs such as UTS Rocketry, Motorsports, Women in Engineering and IT, and so much more.
Student exchange is also something to think about, as well as industry internships. We have an amazing team that are dedicated to ensuring we build these opportunities for our students with leading industries.
If you could pick a course from our faculty to study, what would it be?
As much as I’d love to say Computer Science, let’s go with something different! I would pick Biomedical Engineering, as I love the idea of connecting what we do in engineering to science.
There will be many significant healthcare challenges for us to solve moving forward and I think it is important to focus on growing areas in our world to support societal challenges, such as supporting our ageing population.
What are some of the facilities that you can tap into as a student or industry partner at UTS?
One of the things I have been so impressed with at UTS is the facilities, particularly those that enable authentic learning experiences. UTS Tech Lab is a great example of that, where have industry partners co-located with researchers that will change the way we live and work which is also enabled by facilities on campus such as Rapido. As a consultancy, Rapido focus on research and development, and recruit HDR students to work with them to create minimum viable products to solve critical societal problems that can be launched for funding.
ProtoSpace, our advanced 3D printing facility, is another fantastic space that is open to students and industry and fosters creativity through engineering and pioneers our practical approach to learning.
Finally, the Data Arena is a great place for visualisation that allows us to explain our work on data science to our industry partners. It’s unique as it allows for interaction. It’s a must-see at UTS.
UTS Data Arena. Photo by Tony Burrows
As a Queensland native, you moved to Sydney for the role of the Dean. What are you enjoying about our harbour city so far?
Being new to the city, it has been so fun playing tourist every weekend. I’ve spent time down at Botany on the weekend and worked my way up to the Northern Beaches. Apart from the beautiful landscapes, Sydney siders have been so welcoming, and it has been lovely to experience that. The drive across the ANZAC Bridge everyday has already made me feel relaxed and at home.
What is the best part about your job as the Dean?
The way we build and support our student and staff culture is my highest priority, and I love talking to people and supporting one another to create a positive environment. Without a positive culture, our strategic vision just won’t happen. It’s people that make the strategy work, and the best part about my job is leading that influence.
An important question to end our chat – what is your favourite song to work to?
Anything from the 80s. Although, I get distracted when I listen to songs when working so I usually reserve it for my car journeys!