A strategic eye to the future of research

Professor Zee Upton brings energy, enthusiasm and an entrepreneurial spirt to the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation.

Zee Upton

With an extensive research career that’s spread across nations, melding industry and higher education, Zee’s precise focus on strategic capacity building demonstrates why she’s the leader of the Research and Innovation Division.

Professor Upton’s move to the University of Newcastle in 2021 was a strategic, and somewhat sentimental move. After spending six years in Singapore in the innovation space, Zee was keen to return home to Australia. Zee was particularly attracted to this institution as she grew up in regional South Australia, and as first-in-family to attend University, Zee wanted to commit to an institution that shared her values.

“I wanted to join the University because I wanted to go somewhere with the potential to build capacity and change direction, rather than just trying to keep ahead of the pack,” Zee says.

“It was also important that I went somewhere that had values that were aligned to mine, and the University’s Looking Ahead Strategic Plan really, really spoke to me.”

Zee brings a global perspective to the many challenges we face as an institution and tertiary sector looking to the future. A biochemist, tissue engineer, inventor and entrepreneur, Zee’s career has spanned basic discovery research through to implementation and innovation. “I think I bring a range of experience having worked in the CSIRO as a lab technician while at the same time studying for my degree, and then a PhD, forming a start-up company and getting it listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and going through manufacturing and clinical trials in Australia, Europe and the USA.”

Good leaders think differently

Taking on the role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation in early 2022 after almost a year as Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, where she steered the College through enabling change, was an opportunity that Zee firmly embraced. And this new role is not without its challenges. Leading the Research and Innovation Division through a change process in 2022 to deliver on the University’s strategic plan and serve the research community better is something that Zee doesn’t shy away from.

“I was appointed to lead,” Zee says. “And so, you have to actually do that.”

Zee has a leadership style guided by qualities of empathy, humour and kindness. But there is one attribute she prizes above all others: “The number one skill is to have an ability to listen,” Zee says. “I think co-creation is really important in terms of leadership so there’s a mix of top-down and a bottom-up approach. But people absolutely must be heard.”

“I’ve always been pretty open and honest about myself,” Zee says. “Strong, decisive and kind are the three words I think are really important as a leader. If you tell people the truth, and treat them with kindness it’s easier to help people understand why we need to operate in a certain way.”

It also means being able to empathise with those she leads: “I’ve also been a teaching and research academic before, so I know what it’s like juggling both of these aspects.

Growing the big ideas

Looking beyond our immediate bubble is vital for innovation and excellence, and for Zee, that means nudging the people who aren’t paying attention to what’s on the national agenda. “At the moment it’s quite clear that the government expects it’s going to get economic growth by research and development with industry and lifting and shifting our industries.”

“We have to change our behaviour and, as an institution, look at what we can do to incentivise researchers to work with industry,” Zee notes.

“I love seeing our researchers going off and being successful and then nurturing other people to be successful,” Zee says. “Guidance is about being honest about what motivates and drives you so you can work out how to set up a scenario where you can mostly be motivated most of the time and then you’ll be more successful and more effective at delivering.”

Community matters

The University of Newcastle has long held a proud, central role in the community.  “We’ve got to be thinking about what’s important to our communities,” Zee says. “Quite clearly diversification is important as we shift away from coal and become less reliant on one industry.”

“Health is also important because it’s such a huge footprint that the Hunter covers,” Zee adds. “The Local Health District is the largest employer in the region, so we need to do what we can to help the delivery of healthcare, particularly in terms of early intervention and prevention approaches and technologies.”

“If you’re not working with the community, why are you here?” Zee asks. “What will make Newcastle survive into the future is all about good jobs, jobs that are relevant to the community, and as an education institution we need to help people have the right skills. These jobs might be in renewable energy, or in tourism or the wine industry. The community needs jobs, and we need to focus on creating opportunities that lead to employment in the region.”

And that means taking a whole-of-institution approach. “Work integrated learning is really important for this institution,” says Zee. “I think people are increasingly hiring from their networks rather than from traditional advertisements and written applications, so having social skills as a researcher are also really important.”

“For Newcastle to survive and thrive into the future it has to be creating and making jobs here locally and that means working with the local industry,” Zee adds.

Zee intends to build and enhance capacity at all levels across the Division to support the university to deliver on the strategic plan. “We have to be more agile and nimble,” Zee says. “We have to work more collaboratively and work better across disciplines. We have to entice people to work with industry and make it easy to do so. That’s why ecosystems really are important.”

She says that the institution also needs to continually see how we can help larger companies transition and be repurposed for other great opportunities. “We need to listen to what the community needs and what the industry needs and bring the capabilities together to build a collaboration that provides them with novel insights or solutions to the challenges.”

Her recent time in Singapore has really enabled Zee to understand how a country keeps one step ahead through innovation. “In Singapore they have a highly strategic approach to attracting industry because Singapore has to innovate all the time in order to survive,” Zee says. “They have to innovate in areas where there’s growth and good jobs because it’s too easy to outsource to surrounding countries.”

It’s about harnessing smart ideas that address the challenges our communities face. “In Singapore they are very reliant on food imports and this was highlighted during the pandemic, as they only produce 5% of their own food,” Zee explains. “They had supply chain issues and didn’t want to be put into that situation ever again and so decided they needed to produce 30% of their food in-country within 30 years. They put $130 million of research and development funding towards it and now they’re leading the world in terms of manufacturing new proteins and ways of making food.”

Building ideas of the future

Zee believes that we’re getting to a point where people understand that science, technology and innovation is critical for everything they do. “I think we’re seeing people understand that they do need to be science and technology literate.”

“For me, what’s happening with the conversation around climate change is just people being fearful about change,” Zee adds. “I think it’s an important that we learn to live with change and, moving forward, that we embrace change as something that leads to good things.”

One of the things Zee is excited about is the opportunities we have right here, and she’s looking forward to the role she will play in effecting change to the Callaghan campus. “I’m looking forward to seeing the Callaghan campus transform into a thriving, modern ecosystem.”

“If we can strategically make this a place where the community feels welcome, where industry feel welcome and where researchers and students work together, I think that would be terrific.”