Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Margaret Seares holds the position of Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at The University of Western Australia.

She holds a PhD from UWA in Music, with her specialty being keyboard music of the 18th century. From 1991-95 she was Head of the School of Music, and Deputy Chair of the Academic Board at UWA, and from 1994-95 she was a member of the University Senate, the governing body of the university.

In 1995, she accepted a two-year secondment to the position of the CEO with the Western Australian Department for the Arts (now the Ministry for Culture and the Arts). During this time she was a member of the boards of the Western Australian Museum, the Art Gallery of WA, the Perth Theatre Trust, Opera Australia and the Advisory Board of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

In 1997, Margaret was appointed for a four-year term as Chair of the Australia Council, the Australian Government’s Arts Funding and Advisory Agency. In addition to membership of the Australia Council, she was a member of the Foreign Minister’s Australia International Cultural Council and a Director of the Australia Business Arts Foundation.

Since completion of her term as Chair of the Australia Council, she has been a member of the Board of the Australia-Japan Foundation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Arts Advisory Committee, the Expert Advisory Committee for Humanities & Creative Arts for the Australian Research Council, the chair of the National Collections Advisory Forum.

Margaret is currently on the Board of the National Australia Day Council, the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Scotch College in Perth. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In 2003, Professor Seares was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of her contribution to the arts and education in Australia.