- Posted on 24 Jul 2025
Following an extensive international search, Professor James Bennett has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Design and Society at UTS.
Originally from Australia, Professor Bennett is returning home from the United Kingdom to lead the faculty as it embarks on an exciting new direction – one that combines a strategic focus on our new Creative Industries strategy, a strengthened commitment to teaching and research excellence, and re-invigorated collaboration across disciplines, industry and community.
UTS Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Andrew Parfitt said that Professor Bennett was a natural fit for the role.
“James impressed the panel with his vision, passion and depth of expertise. Notably, it was his passion and experience in building strong and enduring relationships and working collaboratively with staff to deliver both scale and impact that saw James stand out as our next Dean.”
Professor Bennett said he was looking forward to taking on the new role at UTS.
“I am incredibly honoured to be joining UTS at this exciting moment.
"The new faculty is a huge opportunity to build truly interdisciplinary teaching, research and industry partnerships that harness UTS's and Sydney’s unique creative ecosystem and indigenous culture and put them on a global stage. I look forward to bringing my international experience and networks home to Australia to help drive our strategy forward and contribute to UTS’s mission and values. There is much work for us to do together, and I can’t wait to get started."
Professor Bennett is an experienced leader whose research explores the creative, social and technical dimensions of innovation technologies and cultures. He is currently Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Creative Industries) at Royal Holloway, University of London, and serves as Director of both the CoSTAR National Lab—the United Kingdom’s largest investment in the creative industries—and StoryFutures, a cross-institutional innovation unit developed to enable creative industries applied research and development and training.
He previously led the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling, where he pioneered new models of collaboration between higher education and creative industries, and was Head of the School of Media Arts, both at Royal Holloway.
Professor Bennett has been Principal Investigator or co-investigator on more than £80m ($A165m) research grants, making him one of the most successful leaders in UK arts and humanities research and development.
Professor Bennett will join UTS in early January 2026.
Interim Dean Professor Mark Evans concludes his time in the role of Dean on 31 July and will be taking a period of leave before he resumes some transnational projects.
Professor Parfitt acknowledged Professor Evans’ leadership as Interim Dean. “Mark has ably led the faculty through a complex period of transition, positioning it to achieve its ambition and potential to be Australia’s leading institution in the creative disciplines with a focus on achieving global impact.”