Professor Sandra Harding

Emeritus Professor Sandra Harding AO is an Australian economic sociologist and Non-Executive Director. She concluded her 15-year tenure as the Vice-Chancellor and President of James Cook University in February 2022.

During her tenure as Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Harding undertook many leadership and advisory roles in support of national and international policy development and action. From 2013 to 2015, Professor Harding served as Chair of Universities Australia, the peak body for the university sector in Australia and from May 2020 to December 2021 she served as inaugural Chair of the Queensland Vice-Chancellors Committee.

In 2016, the United Nations General Assembly voted without dissent to declare 29 June as the UN International Day of the Tropics, recognising the significance of the tropical nations of the world and the work undertaken by the State of the Tropics project convened by Professor Harding and resulting in the inaugural State of the Tropics Report launched by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on 29 June 2014.

In 2019, Professor Harding was recognised as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to education at the national and international level, and to the community of Queensland.