Championing research with purpose and impact

From conversations in local cafés to meetings with staff, when Professor Alan Rowan arrived in Wollongong, he was struck by the pride people had in the University. 

“In my first few weeks here, I’ve met people in town who are genuinely proud to say they’re from UOW,” he says. “That matters. It tells you something important about the deep and rich role this University plays in the community.”  

Joining as the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Professor Rowan says the timing felt right. He was drawn by its identity as a globally connected regional university grounded in its community, which he considers one of its greatest advantages. 

“Universities exist to move society forward” he says. “They’re engines for capability, ideas and opportunity. UOW has strong underlying research capability here, but it’s how we bring it together, build confidence and accelerate the impact.” 

From excellence to impact 

The drive to solve problems isn’t new, as curiosity has driven Professor Rowan throughout his life.  

“I’ve always had an interest in how things work. That’s never gone away,” he says. 

He began university at 17, studying chemistry while simultaneously training as a pilot officer in the Air Force. One early training flight remains vivid decades later. 

“The instructor climbed out and said, ‘You’ve got the aeroplane solo for an hour, go and enjoy yourself,’” he recalls. “Alone, I flew through the clouds and was completely empowered. Everything was suddenly possible, and all boundaries disappeared.” 

That sense of possibility carried him through a PhD in computational chemistry and into a career that spanned continents and disciplines. He moved from synthesis to physics to biology, building microscopes, designing advanced materials, studying wound healing and contributing to nanomedicine. What links them is a willingness to cross disciplinary boundaries and question assumptions. 

“I felt driven to understand and do everything for myself. If someone else had already published it, I wasn’t interested,” he says. “I always approached it like I wasn’t there to correct the literature, I wanted to make it.” 

Over more than two decades in the Netherlands, Professor Rowan rose through the ranks from Assistant Professor to Head of School, becoming fluent in Dutch and German and helping establish a nanomedicine centre in South Africa. He has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has an appointment as an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow. 

He comes to UOW after a decade leading the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland, prioritising research and industry partnerships to create real-world outcomes. But it’s the transition from hands-on science to leadership that he says shapes his purpose. 

Tapping into world-leading strengths 

“At a certain point, you want to go beyond research and do things for other people,” he explains. “When I moved into leadership, losing my research felt like losing a leg. But building things that weren’t about me, supporting people and giving them confidence to try things was incredibly rewarding. That’s why now feels like the right time to come to UOW. It’s my time to empower academics, build capability, and see our research make a difference.” 

“Universities are very good at looking inward,” he adds. “The opportunity for us is to look outward and ask industries, governments and communities what their problems are, and use our capabilities to solve them.” 

His first priority is to build on UOW’s established world-leading capabilities in materials science, health and medical technology, manufacturing, and ocean and climate research. He believes UOW is well placed to lead in those spaces and define itself as a place known for invention and innovation. 

“Let’s be known for what we return to society,” he says. “The big challenges we face don’t sit neatly in one school or faculty, they require collaboration and a clear pathway from discovery through to real-world application. Innovation can’t be an afterthought, it has to be part of the model. That’s what I want to do here.” 

He is also mindful of the broader challenges facing the Australian university sector and the need to rebuild trust and confidence. 

“I’ve been a researcher in this system,” he says. “I’ve struggled with grants, worked through IP, spun out companies. I’ve done the hard knocks as an academic, so I understand the pressures.”  

That experience, combined with his Northern English background and 22 years in the Netherlands - where language has fewer words and less room for ambiguity – shaped his direct leadership style.  

“If I say I’ll try to make something happen, I’ll try my hardest to make it happen. Integrity builds trust. Momentum matters,” he says. “My role is to empower academics to succeed, to build their capability, remove the barriers they face and support their ideas. When researchers win major grants or translate their work into impact, that success is theirs, but University leadership must create the conditions to make it possible.”   

Driving impact  

Professor Rowan lives in Wollongong during the week, embracing the opportunity to be present on campus and in the community.   

“There’s a strong sense of belonging here,” he says. “It’s an aspirational university, future-focused, and the people here have good values. That’s good for our researchers, good for our students and good for the region.” 

On weekends, he commutes to spend time with his family. He’s a sudoku enthusiast who collects cookbooks and single-malt whisky, bakes elaborate French cakes and still chases any chance to fly aerobatic planes. He admits he’s probably a bit of a workaholic, but it comes from a place of passion and energy.  

This energy informs his focus at UOW to help researchers succeed, connect ideas across disciplines and make sure the University positively impacts the real world.  “Bring me big, aspirational ideas. Let’s see how we make them happen. The foundations are here so now it’s about bringing it together.”