Professor Sharon Pickering is the Vice-Chancellor and President of Monash University, appointed 29 January 2024. Professor Pickering is a leading international scholar in the field of criminology with global expertise on border crossings, migration and trafficking. Her work across criminology and higher education has attracted numerous awards including an Australian Human Rights Commission Award, the Leon Radzinowicz Prize, the CM Alder Prize, the International Education Association of Australia Best Practice Award and the Australian Financial Review International Education Award. In 2018, she was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences. Professor Pickering has held an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship and ARC funding over many years and served on the ARC College and ERA panels. She has served on numerous editorial boards and held editorial positions with leading journals and publishers.

In senior management at Monash University, Professor Pickering previously served as Acting-Provost and Senior Vice President, providing leadership of the ten Monash Faculties,
as well as the University’s international campuses: Monash University, Malaysia; Monash University, Indonesia; Monash Suzhou in China; the IITB-Monash Research Academy in India; and the Monash University Prato Centre in Italy.

Professor Pickering has also served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Senior Vice-President with responsibility for education strategy, student experience, teaching and learning, scholarships,