ProfessorJennifer Barrett

BA (VA), Master of Art Theory (Hons, Class 1), Doctor of Philosophy (Technol.Syd)

Professor Jennifer Barrett has a breadth of work and deep experience at the University of Sydney, recently as Director of the National Centre for Cultural Competence (NCCC), previously as the Director of the University’s Culture Strategy, and prior to that her role as Pro Dean, Academic in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS).

Professor Barrett is of Dunghutti heritage from the Macleay River region in northern NSW and has worked in various roles in the University of Sydney since 2000. Core to her professional history has been involvement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, colleagues and leaders, in teaching, research, external engagement and leadership roles in the arts and cultural sectors.

Professor Barrett publishes on museums, culture, art, and the public sphere. Her monograph, Museums and the Public Sphere, was published in 2011 (Wiley-Blackwell) and her co-authored monograph Australian Artists in the Contemporary Museum (with J. Millner, Ashgate Publishing) was published in 2014. Her current research examines the concept of universalism as it relates to museums, cultural practice and human rights.

She is a Chief Investigator with Avril Alba on the Australian Research Council Linkage project, Australian Holocaust Memory, Human Rights and the Contemporary Museum, that explores the nexus between the Holocaust and human rights through the prism of the Sydney Jewish Museum.

She regularly collaborates with the museum, heritage and gallery sectors and has been Chair of the Board, Museums and Galleries NSW since 2015. Between 2000 and 2011 Jennifer was Director of Museum Studies.