Verity Firth

Background

About Verity Firth

Professor the Hon. Verity Firth AM is the inaugural Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement at the University of New South Wales. Prof. Firth has over twenty years’ experience at the very highest levels of government and education sectors in Australia. She has strong public policy experience and a proven capacity to drive large-scale reform across a range of organisations. Prior to her role at UNSW, Prof. Firth was the Pro Vice-Chancellor Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney (2015-2022). She developed and delivered the UTS Social Impact Framework, a first of its kind for the Australian university sector and founded the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion. She was instrumental in the establishment of the UTS Human Technology Institute. Prof. Firth was NSW Minister for Education and Training from 2008 – 2011, where she focused on equity in education, and how to best address educational disadvantage in low socio-economic communities, including rural and remote Indigenous communities. As NSW Minister for Women (2007-2009) Prof. Firth implemented sector wide strategies to improve women’s recruitment, development and employment in the NSW public sector, and delivered the NSW Government’s first Domestic Violence Strategy. As Chief Executive of the Public Education Foundation (2011-2014), Prof. Firth led the Foundation’s transformation from a fledgling organisation into a major provider of scholarships and support for teachers and students in public education. Prof. Firth was the Member for the state seat of Balmain from 2007 - 2011. Before her parliamentary career, Ms Firth worked as a lawyer and was Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney.