Rebekah Brown

Rebekah Ruth Brown is an Australian academic and fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. She has served as interim vice-chancellor and president of the Australian National University since September 2025.^[1] She is an internationally recognized researcher in environmental studies, specializing in urban water management, sustainable development, and transdisciplinary methods.^[1]

Brown holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree with honors from Monash University. She completed her PhD in Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales in 2003, with her doctoral thesis titled "Institutionalization of integrated urban stormwater management: multiple-case analysis of local management reform across metropolitan Sydney."^[2]

Before her academic career, Brown worked as a civil engineer on major infrastructure projects across the United Kingdom, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa.^[1]

Brown has been a figure in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the social and biophysical sciences in sustainable water management since the early 2000s. She is internationally recognized for introducing a sociotechnical dimension to what had previously been an almost exclusively engineering-focused approach to urban water management.^[3]

Brown co-founded the water-sensitive cities research platform at Monash University as a sustainable development solution to urban water challenges globally. She was active in establishing the $120 million (AUD) Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, comprising 86 partner organizations and over 170 researchers.^[4] In this role, she served as Chief Research Officer, and inaugural Society-themed Program Leader, leading the integration of research outcomes from more than 100 researchers and 40 doctoral students across multiple institutions and 20 disciplines.^[5]

Her research has been influential in shaping urban water policy internationally. Her work has been cited in UN-Habitat's formulation of policy on urban drainage (2014–2017), in a major UNESCO analysis of 33 cities (2012), and by the Asian Development Bank to help frame water infrastructure investment strategies for its client nations.^[3]

In June 2024, Brown was appointed Provost and Senior Vice-President of the Australian National University, serving as the senior deputy to the Vice-Chancellor.^[6]

Following the resignation of Genevieve Bell in September 2025, Brown was appointed interim Vice-Chancellor and President of ANU.^[7] She has committed to serving in this role until at least the end of 2026.^[7]

In her first weeks as interim Vice-Chancellor, Brown announced the end of the controversial "Renew ANU" restructuring program and committed to no forced redundancies, seeking to stabilize the university after a period of significant turmoil.^[8] She has outlined a vision focused on three key objectives: creating stability, rebuilding trust, and developing a new strategic direction for the university.^[9]

Brown is serving simultaneously as both provost and interim vice-chancellor during this period, with no separate interim provost appointed.^[10]

Brown has published over 220 papers in journals, including Nature, Science, Global Environmental Change, and Water Research.^[1] Her work has been highly cited, with an h-index of 50 and more than 12,800 citations.^[1]

Brown was the first person in her family to attend university.^[7] She studied engineering as one of only three women in her undergraduate cohort at a time when equal opportunity legislation was being implemented across Australia's education sector.^[7]

• Professor Rebekah Brown at ANU
• Google Scholar profile