Professor Vicki Chen is UTS’s Provost and Senior Vice-President.
Professor Chen graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. She has over twenty five years research experience in the areas of membrane separation, gas separation, bio catalytic systems, nanomaterials, and water treatment.
Prior to joining UTS in 2022, Professor Chen was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and IT at the University of Queensland (UQ). The Faculty comprises over 400 academic and 200 professional and technical staff with over 8000 students enrolled within its programs.
During her time at UQ, Professor Chen led an impressive array of initiatives to uplift UQ’s standing, including major curriculum changes as well as organisational change to address significant teaching and research trajectory issues.
Previously, she was a professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at the UNSW Sydney before taking on the substantive Head of School position. The School is renowned for its research intensive focus on chemical engineering, food science and technology and industrial chemistry.
She was Director of the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology at UNSW, one of only four centres globally. Professor Chen is currently on the editorial board for the Journal of Membrane Science and was formerly on the editorial board for the Desalination Journal. She currently holds ARC Discovery grants and has held funding from diverse sources such as CO2CRC, Coal Innovation NSW, ARC Linkage programs, and CRC-P (Printed Energy).
Professor Chen is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) and formerly a board member of Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy.