DrKate Harrison Brennan

Kate is a Professor of Practice and Academic Director of the Sydney Policy Lab, a multidisciplinary initiative of the University of Sydney. She is an Honorary Associate at the Sydney Law School. Her work broadly asks how policy can be developed for the common good. In particular, she is interested in how universities can be understood as a community of communities that actively conciliates estranged interests and knowledges. Her work is rooted in the connections between political economy, political anthropology, democratic participation, and deliberation. With the Sydney Policy Lab, she researches how the practices of politics and community-building affect policymaking. This research gives emphasis to human dignity, relationships, trust, communities and institutions.

Kate leads the partnership with SEED Futures on a National Primary Preventative Framework and with the Centre for Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA) at SOAS at the University of London. She is co-lead of the Campus Collaboration project, the Universities, Responsibilities and Natural Disasters project with the Sydney Environment Institute, and the Housing Distress project with CAMHRA. Along with Professor Ian Hickie at the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney, she founded the Beyond the Bell project, rethinking the after-school hours landscape in Australia. She collaborates closely with Professor Brendan McCormack, Academic Chair of the CARE program at the Sydney Policy Lab, championing Australia's relational economy. She is co-convenor of the Adaptive policy systems node and co-convenor of the Community of Practice on Universities and Communities.

Prior to joining the University of Sydney in 2022, Kate was the Head of Policy & Design at the Paul Ramsay Foundation, working with communities in Australia to secure thriving futures.

From 2015 to 2020, Kate was CEO of Anglican Deaconess Ministries, a 130-year-old Christian women's foundation, where she worked to reimagine the vision of the organisation and re-establish their work in public and practical engagement.

In government, Kate was an adviser to former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Working with the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff, she worked across the policy portfolios and on caucus management. She had also previously served former Deputy Prime Minister Gillard in the portfolio of social inclusion. Prior to joining the Office of the Prime Minister, she was Director of Strategic Communications and Global Affairs at the Australian Consulate-General in New York.

Kate is a graduate of the University of Sydney and a NSW Rhodes scholar. She holds a D.Phil in Politics and an M.Phil in Development Studies (International Development, with Distinction) from the University of Oxford. She was awarded the Eugene Havas memorial prize for first place in the M.Phil in Development Studies. During her postgraduate studies, Kate was Research Officer at the Global Economic Governance Programme at Oxford, member of the Global Health Governance team, and an Advisor to Richard Curtis on issues in international development. She was awarded a Fleet Fellowship by Magdalen College Oxford to attend Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs.

Kate serves on the Board of World Vision Australia and on the Board's People, Culture and Governance Committee. She has been elected to serve as Director on the Board of World Vision International. She serves on the Advisory Council of SEED Futures.

Kate has published an edited volume on Making Global Institutions Work, articles, policy reports, working papers and submissions to government. Kate has been a reviewer for the British Medical Journal (BMJ). She has written for The Guardian Australia, ABC Religion & Ethics, TechCrunch, Pro Bono Australia and The Conversation. She has been Executive Producer of a documentary in East Timor and she regularly speaks to the news media including the BBC, Bloomberg, and ABC.