Dawn Freshwater is a British academic, university professor,
mental health researcher, and the incumbent
Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Auckland.
Early life and education
Freshwater was born in a mining family in
Nottingham, with two younger brothers. She left school at the age of 15 because her parents became unwell. Freshwater trained as a nurse and was the first member of her family to attend university.
Her doctoral research investigated the impact of
transformative learning
Transformative learning, as a theory, says that the process of "perspective transformation" has three dimensions: psychological (changes in understanding of the self), convictional (revision of belief systems), and behavioral (changes in lifestyle ...
on nursing students for which she awarded a
PhD by the
University of Nottingham in 1998.
[ ]
Research and career
In 2006 Freshwater joined the
University of Leeds.
Her research concentrated on
forensic psychology, and studied the impact of marginalised groups with severe
mental health issues.
Freshwater was appointed the
Pro-Vice Chancellor (PVC) at the
University of Leeds in 2011.
She led the School of Medicine application for an
Athena SWAN award and served a member of the assessment panel for the
Research Excellence Framework
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British higher education institutions. It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is underta ...
(REF).
During this time, she served on the Council of Deans for Nursing and
Midwifery and was a trustee of the
Florence Nightingale Foundation.
In 2014 Freshwater moved to
Australia.
Freshwater joined the
University of Western Australia as Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor in 2016. In 2017 she was made the Vice Chancellor, and led the first Inclusion and Division strategy. She was the first woman to be made Chair of the
Group of Eight in 2018.
She also led the
Matariki
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In Māori culture, Matariki is the ...
network of universities. At the
University of Western Australia Freshwater established the Public Policy Institute, which translates research into real-world solutions for the
Indo-Pacific region.
In 2019 Freshwater became the first woman to be appointed Vice Chancellor of the
University of Auckland.
Publications
She has authored and co-authored numerous publications
including:
* ''Critical reflection for nursing and the helping professions : a user's guide''
*''Therapeutic Nursing''
*''Emotions And Needs (Core Concepts in Therapy)''
*''Blackwell's Nursing Dictionary''
*Counselling Skills For Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitor
*''International Textbook of Reflective Practice in Nursing''
Awards and honours
In 2001 Freshwater was elected
Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN).
Personal life
Freshwater is a marathon runner and has completed the
London Marathon seven times.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freshwater, Dawn
1962 births
Living people
Fellows of the Royal College of Nursing
University of Western Australia vice-chancellors
Women heads of universities and colleges
British nurses