Vice-Chancellor

Professor Steve Chapman commenced his role as Vice-Chancellor and President of Edith Cowan University (ECU) in April 2015.

Prior to joining ECU, Professor Chapman was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University from 2009, and Vice-Principal at the University of Edinburgh from 2006.

Professor Chapman holds the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from Newcastle University. In 2001 he received the Interdisciplinary Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry for his ground-breaking work at the interface of Chemistry and Biology. He has published over 200 scientific papers in prestigious journals and has given numerous Plenary Lectures at International Conferences. He was one of the founders of ScotCHEM, the research "pooling" exercise in Chemistry across Scotland.

Among his board and committee memberships while Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, Professor Chapman chaired the Funding Policy Committee of Universities Scotland and was a member of the Board of the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association.

In Australia, Professor Chapman is Chair of the Higher Education Standards Panel (Member since 2020, Chair from 2021) appointed by the Minister for Education to provide expert advice to the Commonwealth Government on maintaining and improving the quality and standards of Australia’s higher education and research; a Director of the Universities Australia Board (since 2020); a Member of the Board of Governors of the Forrest Research Foundation (since 2020); a Member of the Mindarie Senior College Board (since 2015) and a former Non-Executive Director of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Board (2017 to 2020).

In 2005, Professor Chapman was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and in 2011 he received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Edinburgh. In 2016 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to higher education.

Professor Steve Chapman
Telephone: (+61 8) 6304 2205
Email: vc@ecu.edu.au