Professor Deborah Terry AC is a highly experienced leader in the Australian university sector – and an internationally recognised scholar in psychology.

Since August 2020, Professor Terry has served as Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Queensland (UQ). Prior to this, she was Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University in Western Australia, from 2014 to 2020.

Having grown up in Perth and Canberra, Professor Terry completed her PhD in Social Psychology at the Australian National University in Canberra. She moved to Brisbane in 1990 to begin her academic career in UQ’s School of Psychology. Between 1990 and 2014, Professor Terry progressed through a range of academic positions at UQ before moving into senior university leadership roles, eventually becoming Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

Professor Terry is a Fellow and past President of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and an appointed member of the Australian Research Council Advisory Council. She currently serves on the Boards of AARNET and Westpac Scholars, and she is also a member of the Universitas 21 Executive Committee.

Professor Terry has previously served as Chair of the Board of Universities Australia.

She was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in January 2024 for “eminent service to tertiary education as an institutional leader and academic, to the strengthening of higher education through collaboration and innovation, and to the community”.