RMIT University

Ms Peggy O’Neal AO

Chancellor RMIT University
Peggy O’Neal AO was appointed Chancellor of RMIT University in October 2021.

Peggy has a lifetime of community and business achievements. She is on the board of Women's Housing Ltd and Dementia Australia Network. From 2017-2020 she was a member of Victoria’s Ministerial Council on Women’s Equality and was convenor of the Minister’s Change Our Game Champions program until July 2018.

She has been President of the Richmond Football Club since 2013 and serves on the AFL's Mental Health Steering Committee and the Australian Institute of Sport Athlete Wellbeing and Engagement Advisory Committee.

Peggy is a consultant to Lander & Rogers, specialising in superannuation and financial services law, and was previously a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills. She is chair of Vanguard Superannuation, a director of Infrastructure Specialist Asset Management Limited, VicHealth and the Fulbright Australia Commission.

She is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In 2018, Peggy was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by Swinburne University. In 2019, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to football, superannuation and finance law and for the advancement of women in leadership roles. Peggy was also named Melburnian of the Year 2021.

University Profile

RMIT is a multi-sector university of technology, design and enterprise with more than 94,000 students and 11,000 staff globally. The University’s mission is to help shape the world through research, innovation, quality teaching and engagement, and to create transformative experiences for students, getting them ready for life and work.

With strong industry connections forged over 132 years, collaboration with industry remains integral to RMIT’s leadership in education, applied and innovative research, and to the development of highly skilled, globally focused graduates.

RMIT is redefining its relationship in working with and supporting Aboriginal self-determination. The goal is to achieve lasting transformation by maturing values, culture, policy and structures in a way that embeds reconciliation in everything the University does. RMIT is changing its ways of knowing and working to support sustainable reconciliation and activate a relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

RMIT’s three campuses in Melbourne – Melbourne City, Brunswick and Bundoora – are located on the unceded lands of the people of the Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation.

As a global university, RMIT has two campuses and a language centre in Vietnam and a research and industry collaboration centre in Barcelona, Spain. RMIT also offers programs through partners in destinations including Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Indonesia, with research and industry partnerships on every continent.

RMIT is ranked 238th in the latest QS World University Rankings. The University is also ranked eighth in Australia and 32nd in East Asia and the Pacific for employer reputation, and 22nd in the Top 50 Universities Under 50 Years Old. The QS Graduate Employability Rankings placed RMIT at 77th globally and eighth in Australia for graduate employment. RMIT is also ranked in the world’s top 400 in the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.

For more information, visit rmit.edu.au/about

A GLOBAL UNIVERSITY

RMIT has two campuses in Vietnam and a research and industry collaboration centre in Barcelona, Spain.

ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION IN SPORT

The RMIT Women’s Football Academy was launched in 2018, to promote and develop players, coaches and administrators in women’s football.

CAMPUS TRANSFORMATION

The award-winning New Academic Street has transformed the heart of RMIT’s city campus by creating interconnected learning spaces, outdoor terraces and enhanced library facilities.

WORLD-CLASS FACILITIES

The RMIT media precinct is flexible, future proof and an environment where emerging communication technologies can be developed and explored.

TRANSFORMATIVE STUDENT EXPERIENCES

In preparing its students for life and work, RMIT seeks to help shape the world through research, innovation, quality teaching and engagement.

RMIT University

Governance

RMIT University Council

The Council is the governing authority of the university and is responsible for ‘the direction and superintendence’ of the university as set out in the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Act 2010 (VIC).

Council members participate in the approval of the university’s strategic direction, annual budget and business plan, monitoring of the university’s performance and appoint the Vice-Chancellor and senior executives.

Membership of RMIT University’s Council is as follows:

Ex-Officio Members

Ms Peggy O’Neal AO – Chancellor
Professor Alec Cameron – Vice-Chancellor
Dr Sharon Andrews (to 31 December 2022)

Appointed Members – Governor-in-Council

Ms Janet Latchford (to 28 February 2023)
Ms Sue Eddy (to 31 December 2022)
Dr David Hayward (to 30 June 2024)

Appointed Members – Ministerial

Ms Maria Peters (to 31 December 2022)

Appointed Members – Council

Mr Bruce Akhurst (to 31 December 2024)
Emeritus Professor Stephen Duckett (to 30 June 2025)
Ms Megan Haas (to 31 December 2022)
Ms Sue Dahn (to 30 June 2025)

Elected Members

Associate Professor Tricia McLaughlin – Staff (to 1 August 2024)
Mr Adam Steiner (to 31 October 2022)

Other Governing Bodies

Other Governing bodies within the University include:

Audit and Risk Management

Chair – Ms Megan Haas

Nominations, Remuneration and People

Chair – Ms Janet Latchford

Infrastructure and Information Technology

Chair – Mr Bruce Akhurst

Academic Board

Chair – Dr Sharon Andrews