Anne Simmons is the inaugural UNSW provost, with Vice Chancellor Ian Jacobs announcing her appointment to staff late yesterday.

Professor Simmons moves up from PVC Academic Excellence, a role she was appointed to a year back. She will now report direct to Professor Jacobs, with responsibility for faculties and the university’s “service management team”.

A 20-year UNSW veteran, she is a biomedical researcher and has led two schools in its engineering faculty. Professor Simmons has worked on academic aspects of  the VC’s 2025 Plan since 2016, including the university’s not universally applauded new research performance metrics (CMM January 16).